Other Help Topics :: Running  DSL from CD, but no hard drive



Linux Noobie has an extra, old Dell Latitude w/ 128mg of RAM, cd reader, one usb port, a working hard drive, but no internet connectivity. The F2 BIOS setup doesn't offer booting from USB.

I want to make one of those digital picture frames as a christmas gift for an elderly couple, who doesn't have internet -but has a grandson who can 'reload' a USB pen drive with pics.

I want to remove hard drive & fan to make the unit silent after the initial boot from CD. Of the many 'digital picture frame' project sites on the web, I couldn't find any that were similar. Nor did I find any linux distros that met these specific needs, so I'm attempting to use DSL.

So far I have been able to
-burn the standard DSL cd
-boot from that cd
-install DSL to the hard drive (just for practice and learning).
-run DSL on my newer pc using VirtualBox
-mount the USB via default DSL desktop UI
-view pics on USB using xzgv viewer from the DSL startbar

I have found it hard to google for answers as searches containing 'CD USB DSL'  return hundreds of hits about booting from the USB, which this laptop won't do.

Here are my specific questions, to which I would greatly appreciate any response. Even you just have links to other forum topics - as I didn't see any Categories for 'picture frame' or 'DSL on PC with no harddrive' within this forum:

1) Need basic strategy -Should I install to existing harddrive, make changes (boot scripts and different image viewer),copy hardrive image to new pc that has a cd burner then remaster? OR load DSL image to newer PC, make changes ? OR use Innoteck Virtual Box on newer pc for everything?????

2)Need info on downloading/installng apps when apt-get won't work on pc without internet connection. I downloaded feh viewer tar.gz file, but receive a DSL 'cant find a C compiler' error in response to my ./configure attempts. Need compiler? need to set path?

3)Need location of boot scripts to mount usb and run slideshow from boot.

Thanks for any help
Brian






After looking at xvsa
2) Feh is available in MyDSL extensions (readily compiled)
3) You should use /opt/bootlocal.sh for mounting the usb, and /etc/skel/.xinitrc for starting the slideshow

And to archieve this with a cd, I would boot DSL up on a newer pc, download all the extensions needed (like Feh), and make a remaster. There's a huge remastering thread in here, but quickly it's:
- copy contents of /cdrom into a directory on your HD or in ram
- uncompress KNOPPIX image
- edit the files you want
- compress it back, and copy it over the old KNOPPIX
- make a directory "mydsl" in the one where you copied the /cdrom contents
- move all the extensions there (they will be autoloaded)
- create the iso, and burn
Several have done this in the community. You can search the forums for it.

Chris Negus wrote an excellent chapter (Chapter 15) in The Official Damn Small Linux Book. He steps you through the entire process. Even to mount the old lapton in a frame! Not only does it do a slideshow but can also play music. He choose GQView.  He shows how to add content via usb, cdrom, net via ssh or even samba. Very complete if you want to make a great looking Digitial Media Frame using DSL.

No need to do a full remaster. Can use the MyDSL system. Or even the MkMyDSL easy custom CD.

original here.