My new Morphix/DSL project

Forum: User Feedback
Topic: My new Morphix/DSL project
started by: Set

Posted by Set on Nov. 09 2004,19:36

So, I have ordered a Compaq Armada 1750 Notebook for allmost nothing... $150

Now it's time to do something *really* cool with this piece of hardware.

The specs:

CPU: 366MHz Pentium II
RAM: 64MB SDRAM
HDD: 6GB
CD-ROM: 24X, internal
Display: 14.1" TFT active-matrix LCD, 1024x768 native
Modem: built-in 56K world modem
Floppy drive: 3.5" 1.44MB, internal

This is the condition I will get the notebook in. Not much processing power to brag about, not much hard disk space to brag about. But I DO get a 14" monitor and a ultra portable laptop, this is coolness.

Since my budget is a little big and I feel joyful because I passed Microsofts 70-291 exam today, I'm buying some additional hardware

First of all, I need to connect to LAN and broadband connections. Since I can not afford wireless right now, I went for the Sunsway/ST Lab PC Card 10/100 PCMIA card. This cost me around $40.

64 mb of ram is a bit little for todays standards, another 128 mb is needed. TwinMOS SO-DIMM PC133 128 MB in for the kill!

$34 spent.

4 gb is nothing, but since this little bastard have an usb port, why not buy a USB hard drive? Seagate USB2.0/Firewire 200GB 8MB, 7200RPM is good for almost anything

$270 spent on getting 200 portable gb.

Total cost of this was $494. The USB disk put the price way up there.

As you probably have figured out by now. I want to use either Morphix or Damn Small Linux on this Notebook. The distro that will support my USB drive + letting me use bittorrent, eDonkey client, webbrowser, email application, and stuff like that, will win.

This will be crossposted on both Damn Small Linux forum and Morphix Linux forum. This is NOT something I do to put them up against each other, it's something I do, 'cause I like both distros, but one of theese two will have the features I need.

- Set

Posted by AwPhuch on Nov. 09 2004,20:56

Quote (Set @ Nov. 09 2004,14:36)

$34 spent.

4 gb is nothing, but since this little bastard have an usb port, why not buy a USB hard drive? Seagate USB2.0/Firewire 200GB 8MB, 7200RPM is good for almost anything

Good luck...if you need any technical assistance be sure to ask here...the community here is more than willing to assist

I bet you will find that DSL will run incredibly fast on that machine

Oh Compaq Armada 1750 Notebook for allmost nothing... $150 thats a Damn Good Price hehe

Welcome to the Revolution!!!

Brian
AwPhuch

Posted by ke4nt1 on Nov. 09 2004,21:19

It looks like DSL can fulfill most of your software needs...

bittorrent = bittorrent.dsl
eDonkey = xmule.dsl
WebBrowser = Firefox, Opera, Dillo, G-links, Links
Email client = Sylpheed , Mozilla Thunderbird
Stuff I need = 225+ more extensions in the repository - click-n-run

With 192 MB ram, your machine should run great.
If you keep to the lighter apps, like sylpheed, etc..,
you should try running the entire OS in RAMSPACE,
using the "toram" option .. your 333 will jump for joy!

The USB drive should not be an issue.
There are some posts describing booting DSL from one..

73
ke4nt

Posted by Set on Nov. 09 2004,21:39

Quote (AwPhuch @ Nov. 09 2004,15:56)

Thanks for that. This can be awfully great!

ke4nt1@ This is not a pen drive (just making sure you know that

)

If dsl can meet all my needs, we have a winner (me)

I also bought a Creative Zen Touch 20 gb mp3 player, just for the fun of it.
Any way DSL will support this device?

If my project turn out as I hope, we will see some jaws dropping. If things turn out great, I will (if someone more talented in english than me can help me) write an article about how Linux can give you kickass budget alternatives!

While I'm on it. I'm in need of a functioning msn client. (preferably aMSN, since it goes trough every known firewall).

- Set

Posted by ke4nt1 on Nov. 09 2004,23:43

Again, amsn.tar.gz is in the repository ...

And it works whether you use a USB HD, Pendrive, HDInstall, or LiveCD..
even burn your own custom CD with all the apps on it that you want..
With Firefox and Python running as mountable files
( they use little memory until you RUN them )
You should STILL be able to run all you have
requested in ramspace even from liveCD...

Let us know about the mp3 player, as I'm not familiar with
that piece of gear..

73
ke4nt

Posted by Set on Nov. 10 2004,16:05

Quote (ke4nt1 @ Nov. 09 2004,18:43)

Don't know what to say about the mp3 player... It's Creative's sollution to Apple dislikers. I prefer Oranges

In order to transfer files/mp3's to the device in Windows, you need to have a piece of Creative software installed. If anyone have heard about a program that can do this in Linux, I would be very grateful :=

Posted by ke4nt1 on Nov. 10 2004,17:28

I only know of the GTKpod and GNUpod extensions, for the
apple players.. Never had an opportunity to see if it would work
with other players...

73
ke4nt

Posted by ico2 on Nov. 10 2004,17:37

welcome to dsl

Posted by SaidinUnleashed on Nov. 10 2004,19:50

Creative mp3 players are 0% compatible with linux.

which is why I have decided against one (as well as against an Ipod, even though we have gnupod and gtk-pod .dsl's) and am going after an iRiver H340 (www.iriver.com, cheaper on newegg.com)

mp3, asf, wma, ogg compatible, come formatted as fat32, and since M$ sees it as a mass storage device, its 100% compatible with linux, there is even a script that uses rsync to sync it with a folder (compatible with DSL!!!) < that can be found here >.

It can display .jpg or .bmp images, and with a few minutes worth of hacking, can play movies too.

Kick ass.

-J.P.

Posted by Set on Nov. 10 2004,20:20

Quote (SaidinUnleashed @ Nov. 10 2004,14:50)

That one looked *really* cool. Too bad that it cost almost twice the money I pay for my Creative One. Oh well. My entire legal mp3 collection (I never download music) goes onto my Creative, and I will get a usb hard drive, so I don't really need the mp3 player to be supported in dsl.

Posted by SaidinUnleashed on Nov. 10 2004,20:33

Quote (Set @ Nov. 10 2004,14:20)

yeah, you could have gotten any of iRiver's products, they are all 100% supported by linux.

To me the extra money to have to deal with M$ just a little bit less, as well as better sound, is worth the price.

-J.P.

Posted by Set on Nov. 10 2004,22:05

Quote (SaidinUnleashed @ Nov. 10 2004,15:33)

Quote (Set @ Nov. 10 2004,14:20)

Being on a student bugdet, $200 extra for a device I'm mainly going to use for playing mp3, is not worth it. That Creative player is the mp3 player on the market with 20 gb for the lowest price.

As for sound. Creative is superior to all. At least in the pc / electronic thing that is cool part of the market.

So. How do you think dsl will run on this laptop?

I *really* like Firefox. But I might be hoping too much? 333 mhz is not a lot today. What do you think?

This laptop will mainly excist to impress people new to linux and to provide me with some simple, but important features when I'm on vacation.

- Downloading a lot of stuff from Bittorrent, ftp, and eDonkey
- Giving me the ability to surf the web (firefox or firefox alike browser)
- Reading mail
- Previewing movies (to see if the free and non-pirated movies I've downloaded are what they say they are)
- irc and IM (aMSN and xchat)
- mp3

This mean, that, the worst workload this laptop will have is running eDonkey client, bittorrent client, mp3/video player, irc client, msn clien, and a browser. at once.

Is expecting such a tiny laptop to run this, too much to hope?

The laptop ain't gonna be my main computer. More like a survival and downloading tool in the vacations. I am on a heavily firewalled net connection in my dorm, even ftp is closed. But my desktop computer kick some serious ass, though ;) AMD XP 3200+, 1 gb ram. Just to mention some key specs

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome, good advices, and kind words. Feels good to come here.

- Set

Posted by ke4nt1 on Nov. 16 2004,07:56

Quote

My entire legal mp3 collection (I never download music)

Oh no.. The RIAA has ingrained itself upon the mindset of Amerika !

You don't REALLY think your doing the ARTISTS a favor by
BUYING PRODUCT from the MAJOR LABEL INDUSTRIES,
rather than simply contacting the artist yourself, do you ?

Send then a cup of coffee, or a individual size bag of chips, and you'll be
donating more to their cause than they get from your $12.99 CD purchase..
The CD , with artwork ( what you get of it these days ) and packaging,
costs about 20-30 cents to make..
( That may be high, as you can BUY your own blank discs and boxes for LESS )
The artists get less than that per disc sold ..
PLUS, they have to cover ALL THE EXPENSES before they truly
get ONE DIME ( advances get paid back as well ) of EARNED INCOME ..

What happened to the Concerts and "Album Sides" on the radio..
We use to get "qued" by the disc jocks on air to "get your tape player ready"
Remember the "King Biscuit Flower Hour" , or "Friday Nght Album Hour"
where thay would play the entire disc, not just THE HITS ..

We recorded EVERYTHING off the radio, or another tape, or from vinyl to tape
for the car.. There was never any problem. ever.. EVER...

Comedy Shows, Public Radio, Interviews, all sorts o' stuff..
( If you remember the "Ellis Deagh Talk Show" , you are permanently fscked up )

The ALBUM COVERS were more in demand than the VINYL ..

It all went to hell when the idea was to make m o n e y selling CD's ,
and not the IMAGE, or the BAND, or the LIFESTYLE ..
( often times , the merchandise is sold directly by the artists , which is GOOD )

Now, I had loads and loads of "store bought USED records"
"Pawn Shop 8-tracks" and "Garage Sale" tapes.
So, don't give me the scoop about the artists losing money crap,
They weren't losing a penny from my actions..

Then I'd make my "Own Distro" of stuff, and pass it around to my buddies..
It was what everyone did.. it was NO PROBLEM ..

Why don't you just borrow a friends?
( Don't you do that now anyway with CD's DVD's VHS from your friends and family? )

Maybe you goto your local B.Buster outlet, or mom&pop video store.
Rent it for a night, rip it, and return it.. What's the difference?
You don't think the ARTIST is gonna see any of that rental cash, do you?
The PRODUCT was paid for after the first 10 or so rentals, so
WHY CAN THEY MAKE MONEY LEGALLY OFF OTHER ARTISTS TALENT,
with no compensation towards the artists, and yet you get in "trouble" for
making yourself a "copy" ? when your the 100th guy or gal to rent it ??

What's up with THAT... that's WACKED !!

Even now, you could record the radio, if they would play a WHOLE SONG...

Set up a streamripper, log into your favorite internet radio station, go to bed.
Wake up, bust that big fat mp3 up into 50-100 pcs, and burn it !

All you did was record some FREE RADIO !!

Next is the MPAA , with their load of bull and their lawyers..
Movies are makin more FAT MONEY RE-RELEASING old sh*t than you can believe.
you can't imagine what I read in the trade journals..
Next will be "blue ray" , and we get to BUY some MORE of the SAME STUFF!
AGAIN !!

{soap box mode - OFF}

You would be "supporting" the artists much more if you were to
send a donation to their website, fan club, personal promotions, etc.
Just like you do with Linux.. feed the ARTIST , not the RIAA money machine..
Or, show your support by s h a r i n g their music with new listeners ..
Just like you do with Linux..

73
ke4nt

I'm both a radio operator, and a music industry professional..
And I wholeheartedly support the efforts of fellow musicians everywhere.
Independent Music Rules ! Keep It Free - Keep It Real - FREE RADIO !

Posted by AwPhuch on Nov. 16 2004,17:08

I wuv you ke4nt1, you think just like I do on that!!

RIAA and M$ can suck by ***-edit-***

Brian
AwPhuch

Posted by Set on Nov. 17 2004,00:04

[quote=ke4nt1,Nov. 16 2004,02:56][/quote]
ke4nt1

Do you have a problem with me supporting the bands I like?

Neither Iced Earth, Kreator, Ram-Zet or any other band I know does accept money just for money from the fans.

I actually enjoy having cd's, but I can't carry them around all the time. RIAA and those people I don't give a rat's ass about.

And just for the record... I'm not american. What make you belive that?
I am getting yelled at for not downloading music. Get real man. Who get the money does matter. Someone took the effort to get the damn cd's into the store.

As for radio. You do know that the artist get paid so that the radio stations can broadcast their songs?

My favorite band, Iced Earth lost their vocalist because he couldn't make a living on the music. There was no donation button on their site saying "Give Matt food and rent money so he can afford to spend a month in the studio".

Besides. Before the band start distrubuting music all by themselves, no-one buying the cd's does actually matter. The mp3's you download does breed from a cd, you know?

Don't you think there is a slight difference in between digital copies that does not get bad with time and the tapes from the 80s?

But this is it. I'm leaving the dsl community. no matter what I say in here, it's wrong. First my wonderings about DooM 3 being possible to install on dsl, now this.

Good luck to you all.

Posted by ke4nt1 on Nov. 17 2004,01:57

Truly, knowing that I was in-part responsible for running someone off the message forums, would not help me to attain the level of nirvana that I seek ..

But if you want some... I CAN deliver.... Flame On, Johnny..!

My earlier post was not flaming YOU personally, only the message behind the one (1) sentence ..
( I don't think I mentioned your name anywhere .. and any references to the word "you" were directed to a collective mentality.. )

Let's begin...

Quote

Do you have a problem with me supporting the bands I like?

I have no idea what your level of support of any musicianship is.
This discussion is about "mp3's" and "downloading" , but I feel that your idea of support is skewed if you believe that purchasing commercial product thru common distribution channels is "supporting" anything but your own desire to own material goods, and the wallets of large conglomerates like Sony Music and Time Warner.. You affirm this later in your post by stating that known musicians can't "make a living" ...

Do you feel that it is a lack of "sales" that makes then fail ? RIAA reports that "sales" of music product is actually "up" from years past, but profits aren't ..... awwww ..
No more "Bahamas" for you mr. agent, while good musicianship starves ..

Quote

Neither Iced Earth, Kreator, Ram-Zet or any other band I know does accept money just for money from the fans.

Really..? Did they just send it back to you return postage paid? Or, perhaps they sent you an autographed picture or momento, in exchange for your support, or even a hand-written letter?
These are just examples of stories I hear from up-and-coming musicians and artists that I work with every day, who truly WANT to be loyal to their fanbase..
Do they have a website? Do they sell memorabilia? Do they have a fan club that you can subscribe to , and get the latest news about THEIR supporters?

Quote

I am getting yelled at for not downloading music. Get real man. Who get the money does not matter. Someone took the effort to get the damn cd's onto the store

Ahh.. stick a fork in it now, cause its a done deal ..
We're not "yelling at YOU" , only the message behind your sentence. Who gets the money DOES matter to me ,
It matters to your prized starving lead singer , and, unfortunately and unfairly as it is, it matters to the manufacturers of media - worldwide..

They'd sell you old turds in a plastic box if it would get you to try it ..

Quote

As for radio. You do know that the artist get paid so that the radio stations can broadcast their songs?

..cough.. ..cough.. (ke4nt mind explodes on that statement)
I have yet to hear of an instance where Clear-Channel or any other radio conglomerate wrote a "CHECK" to any talent, other than radio jocks..
There ARE plenty of people paying the radio station BIG BUCKS to advertise their warez alongside all of that FREE MUSIC thru our public-owned FREE AIR WAVES.
" Hi!, KLOL, I'm here to pick up my checks !" good grief, charlie brown ..

Quote

Besides. Before the band start distrubuting music all by themselves, no-one buying the cd's does actually matter. The mp3's you download does breed from a cd, you know?

I buy CD's , you buy CD's , my brother - he buy's CD's too..
This isn't about "buying" CD's - this is about the fact that the public has this notion that buying cd's "supports" artists, and that the media bias has made it "politically incorrect" to do anything with it once you've bought it..
We could get into long discussions about my rights to "loan" it to my friends, rip it into my MP3 player, etc. etc.. What if I bought it from a neighbor? DO I still have the right to download it, if I "have" a copy? What if my copy turned to pieces, Did I 'lose" that right ? What if I owned it on vinyl? Can I download it now?
Can I record it off the radio ?
Can I Tivo it? Can I record it and watch it later with my friends, or do they need to OWN a copy first..

This is all BS - Deep Doodoo ..
And the big thing is, it's --< i m a g i n a r y >-- ..
These issues are "made up" stories..
Fueled by the big pockets of large industry, and lawyers who need to feed off of that bankroll in any "creative" or " devious" methods they can get lobby support for...

Have no doubt that TRUE piracy takes place every day around the globe, in the billions of units, especially in east asia ..
And I support prosecution of that type of "crime".
But the crap about going after "Little Johnny B." who offered to share his collection of "favorites" with his classmates or friends, is a BIG LOAD of propaganda. It's a scapegoat tactic..
A better scenario is that those "friends" all liked the "samples" they heard, and like all GOOD PROMOTION , went looking for more, which helps to ...
Generate true artist revenues by attending shows and concerts,
Sponsorship of artist-driven promotional items..
( Hi, I'm Alice Cooper, and I ..l o v e .. Pampers Diapers.. )

And yes, buying CD's
( does their website sell them, rather than WalMart? )
Then they get ALL the cash, not some chump change..

I am protesting only the mindset placed in the public eye by an organization that is now struggling to survive after being a "fat cat" monopoly thru the 60's, 70's, and 80's.

The "SCO" fiasco is very similar to the RIAA tactics of today.

Set, sorry your leaving.... Your missing out on a great group of folks here.
Perhaps try logging in as another userid, poke around anonymously, and see the level of help, assistance, and "support" that takes place here.....voluntarily..

It's a nice place to learn and share.
( sshhh.. don't kiss-n-tell, but we even share ....SOFTWARE !?!? !WHAT!! !! !! ....sshh ... )

Actually, I'm v e r y close to having a working xf86 server,
and compiled nvidia driver under DSL for Quake 3..
( I can see the eyes glazing now.. STOP IT! its in way early stages.. )
I'm guessing that would be a good starting platform
for an attempt at Doom 3 ...

73
ke4nt

Posted by hasty on Nov. 17 2004,17:43

Hang in there SET...... ke4nt gets his medication any minute now

Though I've got to agree with "They'd sell you old turds in a plastic box if it would get you to try it .."

Don't buy anything without trying it first and KEEP MUSIC LIVE.

Posted by Bill on Nov. 22 2004,13:48

This thread has gone slightly off topic!

There is nothing that a 333mhz machine can't do apart from gaming. Blimey I use a machine running win2k with 128mb ram and it's fine.

Your hardware is fine, and dare i say, you'd get quite a bit of mileage using win98 on that.

I think damn small should be addressing the <266mhz market as anything up should be able to run something a bit more weighty.

However I like really like the sound of your project.

Posted by Set on Nov. 24 2004,10:48

Quote (Guest @ Nov. 22 2004,08:48)

Let's get this back on topic.

Got the laptop today. Time for action!

This thread will now turn into an interactive "help Set on his way to set up dsl" thread.

After school today, I will first wipe out the harddrive and install Windows 98 on one partition. After that, I'm going to need your help on the way to Damn Small Linux glory.

I will update this when I get starting (in about 4 hours).

- Set