iB::Topic::DSL vs. Feather and other questions

	Damn Small Linux :: Damn Small Linux Board The DSL Forums

» Welcome Guest
[ Log In :: Register ]

Damn Small Linux Board » Damn Small Linux » HD Install » DSL vs. Feather and other questions

		Mini-ITX Boards Sale, Fanless BareBones Mini-ITX, Bootable 1G DSL USBs, 533MHz Fanless PC <-- SALE $200 each!
		Get The Official Damn Small Linux Book. DSL Market , Great VPS hosting provided by Tektonic

Pages: (2) </ [1] 2 >/

[ Track this topic :: Email this topic :: Print this topic ]

Topic: DSL vs. Feather and other questions

< Next Oldest | Next Newest >

dhatcher2@neo.rr.com Offline

Group: Members
Posts: 10
Joined: Oct. 2004

Posted: Oct. 16 2004,20:32

I have used both DSL and Feather Live versions. I installed Feather to HD and used it for a few days and have had several problems. I know almost nothing about Linux so fixing the problems seemed fairly huge to me in my limited knowlege of Linux. DSL looked nicer and more up to date than Feather when I ran it live. They appear to share almost the same software, only DSL seems to have updated it with newer releases. I understand that in a small distro there will be more manual work (i.e. setting up icons, installing software, etc) but is there anywhere to go to learn this stuff. I hate to keep asking stupid questions.

I decided to replace Feather with DSL today and well...I just got through reformatting and reloading Windows due to this decision. I tried to install to a Linux partition OVER Feather but somehow I installed over Windows

. Anywho, from here:

1. How do I setup up Linux partitions for DSL (cfdisk never ran for me when I installed DSL)?
2. Do I need a swap partition for DSL (I did for Feather).
3. If I already have Windows 98SE installed, will the DSL LILO configure for a dual boot when installed to the MBR?
4. Is it easier to network and setup a network printer (connected to a Windows XP box) with DSL than with Feather?

Candid input sincerely appreciated.

afv-13

Group: Members
Posts: 3
Joined: Oct. 2004

Posted: Oct. 16 2004,21:12

1. cfdisk never ran? did you run it as root and like "cfdisk /dev/hdx" (x being the harddrive)? did you get any errors?
2. a swap partition would help, 128Mb should be plenty though. you will need to create the patition with cfdisk (once number 1 has been resolved), set the type to 82, write, exit cfdisk. Then carefully "mkswap /dev/hdxX" and "swapon /dev/hdaxX" (x = harddrive, X = partition number).
3. you will have to edit the /etc/lilo.conf file. at the bottom of the file should be a section on other opperating systems. and then after that is sorted out, run lilo.
4. never tried printing in either.

dhatcher2@neo.rr.com Offline

Group: Members
Posts: 10
Joined: Oct. 2004

Posted: Oct. 16 2004,21:20

So I have to do this partitoning while running the Live version, is that correct, cfdisk will not open and run during the install? How do I log in as root on the Live version?

afv-13

Group: Members
Posts: 3
Joined: Oct. 2004

Posted: Oct. 16 2004,21:30

if you have already done the hdinstall, then you can run cfdisk from the hd, otherwise, off the cd.
you will have to do the partitioning before you run the hdinstall script.
"sudo su" will get you to be root, but that should ONLY be temporary, once you have set your root password, get rid of sudo and use "su" to become root.

Max

Group: Members
Posts: 211
Joined: July 2004

Posted: Oct. 16 2004,22:52

The live version doesn't need a swap partition. From my limited experience with DSL it seems you have a few options:
1. Run purely live and just use the backup facility to save the files you want (e.g. personal files) and configuration files to wherever (hard disk, USB key, CF card, etc.)
2. Run the live version, but from the hard disk. I think on this forum they call it a "frugal" install. This is actually pretty cool. You basically are putting the live CD image on a hard disk and booting to that. Then you put all you data files and DSL extension (e.g., ".dsl" files) on another partition and at boot you can tell DSL where to find them so you have access.
The beauty of this setup is when a new version of DSL comes out or if you happen to trash you system, you just write the new ISO files over the DSL partition.
3. A traditional HD install. Everything is remembered from boot to boot, however, if you trash your system you may be in for some work to get it "right" again.

I've been using DSL about 5 months now and use the live cd on a couple of notebooks I have. I keep a CF card in one of the PCMCIA slots and make the backup to there. After some trail and error, I pretty much get "everything" back to how I like it from boot to boot.

Early in my use of DSL I did a full HD install to another notebook in the kitchen for my kids. (I finally got tired of reloading windows when they'd surf and invariably load some activeX tool bar or other spyware). Anyway, since I was new to DSL (and really to Linux) I didn't know quite what I was doing and there are some things on that machine that aren't exactly how I would like them now and some mistakes I made trying to install stuff. I think when I decide to upgrade that box to the next version, I'm going to go for the "frugal" HD install since I think it gives so much more flexibility.

One caveot though. If you end up using a lot of apps that you manually install (e.g. not available in the DSL repository) then the frugal install may not be the way to go as you would have to modify your install script to "re-install" these apps everytime you reboot. (If I'm wrong on this point, I'm sure someone will correct me.)

Hope this helps a little.

--------------
Using DSL on: IBM T42, IBM 560x, Dell Dimension CPx

8 replies since Oct. 16 2004,20:32

< Next Oldest | Next Newest >

[ Track this topic :: Email this topic :: Print this topic ]

Pages: (2) </ [1] 2 >/

Damn Small Linux Board » Damn Small Linux » HD Install » DSL vs. Feather and other questions