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Damn Small Linux 2024

damnsmalllinux.org

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Re: Damn Small Linux 2024

#121

Post by bombcar »

catherinecodes wrote: post #117
alchemist1e9 wrote: post #4

Fantastic to have another option with modern tools! great work that will be appreciated by many. Between this, Puppy, and Tiny Core Linux so much old hardware can be put to potential use. I’d also mention Finnix as an excellent rescue image solution. Any other awesome projects for limited hardware and Linux use that should be more well known?

Linux From Scratch (LFS)[1] is well known but doesn't get a lot of fanfare. It was designed as a learning tool, but the avenues for exploration are endless. 1: https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/

I've always felt Gentoo was a decent cross between LFS and a "real" distro like Debian - much of the install is similar to LFS with some hand-holding, and the end result is a system that has package management tools.

Re: Damn Small Linux 2024

#122

Post by jrockway »

mathiasgredal wrote: post #91
moffkalast wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So uh, who's gonna be first to get it running on a Pi Pico?

Not possible, unless you want to do it using an emulator and external memory. The lowest you can go for Linux is probably an ESP32: https://web.archive.org/web/20230515075935/http://wiki.osll.... https://github.com/jcmvbkbc/linux-xtensa/commits/xtensa-6.4-...

You don't need an ESP32. Someone made an AVR port: https://bit-tech.net/news/tech/cpus/linux-atmel-microcontrol...

https://bit-tech.net/news/tech/cpus/linux-atmel-microcontrol...

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12537653

Re: Damn Small Linux 2024

#123

Post by yjftsjthsd-h »

hackneyedruse wrote: post #119
FreeFull wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would be rather difficult to fit any newer linux kernel onto a floppy, together with all the other software.

This article says > The new goal of DSL is to pack as much usable desktop distribution into an image small enough to fit on a single CD, or a hard limit of 700MB.

FWIW this subthread is about the xwoaf distro, not DSL; the projects have different goals

Re: Damn Small Linux 2024

#124

Post by doubled112 »

Zardoz84 wrote: post #84
haunter wrote: post #38

A truly damn small Linux is the xwoaf rebuild project 4.0 https://pupngo.dk/xwinflpy/xwoaf_rebuild.html >The forth version of xwoaf-rebuild is containing a lot of applications contained in only two binaries: busybox and mcb_xawplus. You get xcalc, xcalendar, xfilemanager, xminesweep, chimera, xed, xsetroot, xcmd, xinit, menu, jwm, desklaunch, rxvt, xtet42, torsmo, djpeg, xban2, text2pdf, Xvesa, xsnap, xmessage, xvl,…

wow! In the same league of μLinux (muLinux). I remember back in the day, running a full X11 environment with only two floppies.

I seem to remember formatting a 1.44 MB floppy to fit more data on it, and it might have been for this.

Re: Damn Small Linux 2024

#125

Post by catherinecodes »

bombcar wrote: post #121
catherinecodes wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Linux From Scratch (LFS)[1] is well known but doesn't get a lot of fanfare. It was designed as a learning tool, but the avenues for exploration are endless. 1: https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/

I've always felt Gentoo was a decent cross between LFS and a "real" distro like Debian - much of the install is similar to LFS with some hand-holding, and the end result is a system that has package management tools.

Absolutely! I recommend Gentoo in a separate thread below.

LFS has the topic of package management covered quite nicely I think[1]. They describe the contraints and approaches that might be possible, and what the real world solutions to those are (PRM, DEB, et al).

There have even been some package managers designed (or at least discussions of what the design would look like) for LFS explicitly over the years, but none seemed to have come to fruition, and I can't find any links to them.

1: https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/view/9.0-systemd/chapte...

Re: Damn Small Linux 2024

#126

Post by devsda »

Medox wrote: post #93
haunter wrote: post #38

A truly damn small Linux is the xwoaf rebuild project 4.0 https://pupngo.dk/xwinflpy/xwoaf_rebuild.html >The forth version of xwoaf-rebuild is containing a lot of applications contained in only two binaries: busybox and mcb_xawplus. You get xcalc, xcalendar, xfilemanager, xminesweep, chimera, xed, xsetroot, xcmd, xinit, menu, jwm, desklaunch, rxvt, xtet42, torsmo, djpeg, xban2, text2pdf, Xvesa, xsnap, xmessage, xvl,…

The desktop reminds me of TinyCore Linux, although bigger by 15-20 MB. Fun fact: It was developed by Robert Shingledecker, who was previously the lead developer of Damn Small Linux.

Around 2009-10s when keeping a dedicated usb drive for live images was relatively expensive (for me), I had a small partition with tinycore installed as a recovery os alongside windows & another full distro.

I never had to use tinycore for recovery but it gave me enough confidence to keep messing with new packages and drivers.

Due to its small footprint the boot times almost felt like instant on.

Re: Damn Small Linux 2024

#127

Post by SuperNinKenDo »

Great memories of the original DSL. New one looks great at a glance, really nice collection of applications. Blown away they managed to fit all that on a CD. From the page, it sounds like they did a lot of work to make it happen.

Really cool stuff. Might stick this on an old laptop when I get home.

Re: Damn Small Linux 2024

#129

Post by codethief »

eKKiM wrote: post #95
codethief wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you looking to build just a minimal kernel or also a minimal distribution? (Which is what I happened to be thinking about last night :)) In the latter case, do you know any good resources about that topic?

Some resources i used in the past are Linux From Scratch https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/ and Yocto https://www.yoctoproject.org/ However i have no idea how up to date these are.

Thanks! I've dabbled with both projects but I've found them rather hard to approach and learn (generic lessons) from how to set up a distro.

Re: Damn Small Linux 2024

#130

Post by itsmartapuntocm »

NoahKAndrews wrote: post #128
_whiteCaps_ wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those are slightly different - mini CDs. The ones the OP was talking about were a weird oblong shape.

How could a CD not be round?

Only the inner part where you can draw a circle contains actual data. The rest is just blank, but as long as it’s balanced it works just fine.
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