The best just got better

Forum: User Feedback
Topic: The best just got better
started by: subarus

Posted by subarus on Jan. 14 2006,06:21

I have been using DSL for awhile now. I used to carry a cd case full of livecds for various application scenarios ie. gis, games, servers, forensic, security, hacking & network analysis. Obviously there is no one size fits all livecd out there; well guess what, there actually is, its Damnsmalllinux, believe it or not.

Here are the list of show stopper problems I encountered in the past and the solution:

1) no wifi on centrino wireless, solution: download ipw2100 or ipw2200 extension. edit bootlocal.sh script to automate wifi

2) no wireless sniffers, had to use auditor, solution: apt-get kismet or download kismet extension

3) no internet privacy, had to use ELE, solution: download tor extension and switchproxy

4) no firefox version >1.0 for rss, had to use knoppix, solution: its in dsl 2.0

5) kismet not working with centrino, had to use orinoco or auditor, solution: download kismet latest tarball, use gcc1 to compile

6) fluxbox hang when on thinkpad after lid re-open to resume dsl2.0, had to avoid closing lid, c-a-del to restart fb, use dsl1.5, solution: use the dsl-2.0-syslinux.iso version instead of the isolinux version and the laptop wont go into standby

7) cannot send yahoo email with dsl 1.5, had to use opera, solution: use dsl 2.0

8) K3b stop working on dsl2.0, solution: learn to use native CDW, there is nothing it cant do

and the list goes on and on... the thing about dsl is, it continously improves.. and I believe anybody who are serious about modern computing should pay attention to dsl

ok. now for some suggestions for improvement:

1) documentation is a mess.
I had major problems with mkmydsl, its all my fault because I was too lazy to read properly. I never got to the part for .iso creation because I didnt type "OK" to proceed, but if the exit message care to say "script aborted, you type "fubar" instead of "OK", didnt your mother teach you how to read?", I would have proceeded to the next stage without a hitch.

After I finally created my precious custom mydsl livecd, the dang thang wont boot. ofcourse I saw the error message where DSL failed to change the file ownership but so what if I took notice, I dont know what to do with that information. It turned out that I had to provide the ext2 filesystem for the extensions and filesystem temp space..not vfat!! If the message said something to the effect of: Enter the your extension directory. (example /mnt/master): and make sure that its on a ext2 filesystem instead of vfat, or else you are going to waste weeks debugging why your custom livecd wont boot, and dont say I didnt warn you:

I realise all the debug information is available if I search the forum, but my point is all the agony could be avoided if the proper information is conveyed before the mistakes occur.

thank you.

Posted by mikshaw on Jan. 14 2006,15:51

I agree that documentation is lacking in places...but who likes to write docs and keep it all organized? It's tedious work.

One thing i will say in its (the documentation's) defense: A lot of people seem to expect DSL to be "linux-newbie friendly", and i don't understand that. In some respects it's much more difficult than some of the big guys....not only because of stripped docs, but because the size and resource-use limitations mean many of the applications are not as friendly as a linux newbie might hope. It's my belief that DSL documentation should focus on DSL...not on Linux in general. The permissions issue with vfat is (or should be) common knowlege for a linux user, and should not need to be included in DSL-specific docs. If you're using Linux, don't waste your time and effort with Windows file systems...common knowledge.

Posted by roberts on Jan. 14 2006,16:29

Not being a windows user, I would have never thought anyone would expect a remaster to work on a vfat filesystem. Never enter my mind. But you bring up some good points. I am doing a rewrite of mydsl with Lua Fltk so it should be more friendly.

Docs we need volunteers. But I guess one must first learn the system in order to write the docs. Then the development of DSL moves so fast that the docs are soon out of date, or simply mis-leading or flat out wrong.

But this is a volunteer project, led by John and myself. We don't have the resources of the BIG guys. We do have a nice community of knowledgeable users.

Contributions of documentation would be most welcome.

Posted by Domhnull on Jan. 15 2006,16:36

What's the best way to submit documentation? I'm still learning and don't consider myself to be an expert but I might be able to find some time to help out. Thanks to the forum, wiki, and older docs I managed to figure out enough to put together a Mini-ITX system running DSL in frugal mode from a compact flash IDE. Writing documentation is often a good way to learn.