Damn Small Linux - Not!

kkpity · Joined: 19 May 2006 Posts: 13

Hi,

I'm using DSL from a pendrive with 512MB but...

I was trying to use ndiswrapper to install a driver for my wireless card.

After running "ndiswrapper -i <driver name.inf> I receive a message that I have no more space on /etc/ndiswrapper

In fact I have only some MB in my "/" directory.

It is a new installation. I just create a pendrive installation from CD. I have not installed anything else.

Can someone help me?

Thanks a lot!

kkpity

roberts · Joined: 17 Apr 2006 Posts: 320 Location: OC CA USA

Boot with the [b]write[/b] option or copy the .inf and .sys to your home or /opt directories.

kkpity · Joined: 19 May 2006 Posts: 13

Sorry for disturbing again...

I've tried a lot of things to have my configuration saved after reboot, but it always fail.

I am doing something wrong but I do not know what...

I have a fresh new intallation on pendrive and I just want to install a driver for my wireless card.

I'm using the option "dsl unionfs" at startup.

I see that the dir /UNIONFS is created and I can install my stuff on /etc, but after reboot all things there just disapear.

I am not using the backup tool because I do not know if this is related to save configuration (I've already try to use it but the laptop get stuck for a long time and just the mouse works after that).

Is there any documentation that I can follow in order to have this working?

I really love the idea to have all my system just in a pendrive Wink

Thanks again!

kkpity

kkpity · Joined: 19 May 2006 Posts: 13

Hi,

Please can someone help with that?

Basically I need to install my wireless card. When I did that, on /etc dir is created a ndiswrapper dir with my card configuration.

When I restart my laptop, the configuration just disapears Sad

I've also tried backup tool with no sucess (my laptop crashes and just the mouse works).

What I am doing wrong?

I really like to use DSL-N with my pendrive.

I've a Dell D610 laptop with intel wireless 2200bg card.

thanks a lot!

kkpity

[IDC]Dragon · Joined: 22 Apr 2006 Posts: 41 Location: Hannover, Germany

I'm a beginner, too, but had some success with installing a few things.
UnionFS gave me issues (forgot the details), wasn't working along with the myDSL extensions.

ATM I'm not using unionfs, instead I wrap my stuff into .dsl extensions. Maybe there's more to them, but to me a .dsl file is just a renamed .tgz of the file tree you want to add. They get unpacked at boot time, if you point the kernel to a directory containing .dsl's.

The disadvantage is that you can only write to parts of the file system, which are writeable and physically reside in the ramdisk. At one point I had to alter my package a bit, to move the parts there. At another, I failed to make a package because of this (captive NTFS support).
"Practice" your setup by placing the files into their destination, to check if the places are writeable.
Then create a clean tree of only your stuff in a temp directory, with a directory structure as if this was the root dir. Targzip this dir, and you have a new .dsl extension file. Dunno if there are scripts to make this easier.

I also noticed that the root dir is writeable, but only with a few MB. Don't know why. There must be a good reason, the status of this quota is also shown at the desktop.

kkpity · Joined: 19 May 2006 Posts: 13

I understand your point but in my case, I am running ndiswrapper that does all things automatically to install the wireless driver.

I do not know which files/directories it creates/changes.

In this case I'm not able to create a dsl extension.

I think this is not the correct way to work...

I am still trying to figure out how can I use dsl (on a pendrive) and have same behaviour as other distributions installing a lot of things (applications, games, office, tools...) and have all of them "restored" after boot.

thanks

kkpity

lying2Eagles · Joined: 23 Jun 2006 Posts: 1

Hi,

You have another option, find the PaleKat linux forum and look for an article
on booting from usb zip/pendrives.

His method will allow you to partition a 512MB pen into whatever you want it to be using cfdisk.
Then after copying the files from the cd or iso, you use syslinux with the -z option
to make a bootable usb pendrive.

The frugal install method does not let you specify the size of the install directory since it is set in the install script.
The same is true with install to zip or other methods provided in DSL-N.

You get the added benifit of the DSL-n logo at startup instead of a blue background with the boot prompt.
Smile