To all the new Frugal installers
Forum: User Feedback
Topic: To all the new Frugal installers
started by: clivesay
Posted by clivesay on Aug. 16 2005,18:31
I wanted to take a minute to welcome the new people to DSL and encourage them to consider a Frugal DSL install as opposed to a regular HD install. As Robert has said before, 'It's not your father's operating system'. To all the new Frugal installers, thank you for trying it out. Since I have started my Frugal crusade many people have given it a try and have been surprised with the flexibility of such a system.
Even if you are skeptical of frugal I encourage you to give it a try.
< Learn Here >
Posted by ke4nt1 on Aug. 16 2005,22:21
Frugal! Frugal! Frugal! \o/ Why frugal? ..cuz I CAN !!!!!
1. Nearly bulletproof.
Reboot, and back to fresh state.
Especially good for dealing with dep-hell, errant compiles,
incorrectly edited files, or accidental data loss..
2. Easy to upgrade.
Typically copy the contents of a new DSL CD over
your frugal install, and reboot. Your upgraded ..
3. Boottime options.
With the frugal-grub install, setting up multiple groups
of boot options, mydsl extensions, and persistant shares
are super easy. Edit your /boot/grub/menu.lst, and reboot.
Create various combinations of resolutions, runlevels,
backups, extension groups, lowram tweaks, security options,
and various persistant directories and hostnames.
Easily edit your combinations as you desire.
4. Toram.
Need a tweak in the performance arena ?
Toram is the ticket. Run your entire OS in ramspace.
For low-speed CPU's with generous ram (+128MB's),
it truly improves application performance..
For larger ramspaces and fast CPU's , it's blindingly fast.
5. Portability.
Synonymous with LiveCD, Pendrives, Compact Flash.
Run your "frugal" install on just about any storage device.
Mirrors the original distro. Copy over your backup.tar.gz file
to another medium, boot with similar boottime options,
and your custom tweaked system runs anywhere,
on most everything. No being tied to one computer.
6. Expandability with flexibility.
You choose to have a new app become a permanent part of
your custom OS, or not. Uninstalls? simply reboot!
Less grief with dependencies, and leaner apps than using .debs,
DSL recommends the apt-get system for Hard Drive installs ..
Not so with frugal installs.. Select from a variety of extensions
from the repository..
Install as needed, or have them loaded at every bootup..
73
ke4nt
Posted by green on Aug. 16 2005,23:48
Hey!!!! I'll give that a try!!! It sounds like the best thing since popsicle sticks!! Does DSL get any better!? There is no way anything can be ANY better than DSL !
Posted by Coma on Aug. 17 2005,01:02
hooray for FRUGAL "ever have that friend that is always callin ya over to fix things again and again" Do them the frugal favour, it's like settin them up perfect every time they reboot, bullet proof. I love it Now thats fresh
Coma
Posted by adssse on Aug. 17 2005,02:02
Frugal is awesome. I would highly advise trying it if you havent, it is definetely worth it. One of the many reasons that dsl is ahead of the curve.
Posted by mqarkcambie on Aug. 17 2005,18:42
Hi, can ya spare a few lines of text for a total frugal noob?Ok, here's the gist, can I do a frugal install on a CF sitting in my netvista n2200 thin client?
If I can - Great! How the heck do I do it, and are there any guides lurking around?
Finally probably a really dumb question, does a frugal install still give me all the same desktop power of the DSL cd but on the CF card?
I have used's 8636's build of linux with his specifically compiled kernal and that works great - but as a beginner, it doesn't give me the things I was trying to achieve with the box, such as httpd and ftp serving etc. Maybe a splash of VNC and a hint of no-ip d.u.c.
Is it possible to marry this specific kernal with a regular dsl build and install it on the CF?
Thanks for your time.
Regards,
Mark.
Posted by adssse on Aug. 18 2005,04:22
Clivesay has put up a great step by step tutorial here: < http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub....wto.pdf >You can install on a compact flash card you but you would not want to use a persistent /home or /opt directories. You would also not want to use a swap as these would all cause high wear on your device. For example, you could set up hda1 for your filesystem and hda2 for mydsl and backup/restore. That way it would look for and load your extension files at boot and backup everything when you shutdown, but would not be writing to the device all the time.
Sorry, not sure that I can help with any of the other questions.
Posted by mqarkcambie on Aug. 18 2005,13:59
Hi, Thanks for the link, I'll experiment with it and see if I get anywhere.Regards,
Mark.
Posted by taps on Aug. 18 2005,15:49
Frugal IS great. Which begs the question, why isn't it mentioned whatsoever in the 'getting started' documentation upon booting into DSL? It seems to me that the time to introduce a user to what a frugal install does is when he's first booting up and possibly deliberating an installation method, not when he's randomly browsing through the dsl forums.
Posted by mqarkcambie on Aug. 18 2005,18:20
hehe, I agree with you taps! I'm still not sure 100% what a frugal install actually does that's better or worse than a regular hd install or just running it live from CD.
Posted by NotTheMama on Aug. 19 2005,11:29
I've done a frugal install now with grub... Better than lilo.. Much easier to configure...Just mount root disk and edit /mnt/<rootdisk>/boot/grub/menu.lst... Had some problems with my installations.. But got it working now with XFree86 and nvidia driver...
I just need to remember to put files in .filetools.lst.... Sometimes forgetting it....
Runs great....
Keep on the good work....
GTZ.,
Remco
Posted by senorian on Sep. 13 2005,17:00
I was running DSL1.5 and , in the forums, found the link to the "clivesay walkthru". But I was unable to access the pdf.I closed DSL and used my Mepis (hd install) to read it.
It seems a bit odd that I was unable to access the pdf about DSL using DSL!
In the pdf I am confused by the following entries:
default restore partition "y"
enter the partition "hda9"
a different partition for mydsl "y"
enter the partition "hda9"
Also at the end is a suggestion to use "uci" extension.What is this?
The "walkthru is( apart from the above) very clear and deserves to be listed(very prominently) as a tutorial.
Posted by SuperLou on Sep. 13 2005,17:23
I used to be HD, but when I switched to frugal I lost 20 pounds, have more energy than ever, and used the money saved to buy myself a brand new yacht.Frugal is awsome.
UCI is tailored to frugal in some way i believe. Not really sure how. The default restore partition is where you want DSL to backup the information after each session. Since frugal always goes back to the default iso stored on HD after reboot (like a liveCD), the resotre partition holds on to your changes and reapplies them at boot. The different partition for myDSL lets you specify where you want to stick .dsl apps so that DSL knows where to find them and mydsl-load them.
Posted by undertow on Sep. 13 2005,17:52
tis all what ive been saying about the bottleneck being the learning curve....this attitude aggravates me. If you want dsl to be used for a specific purpose, a more positive way of bringing that around is to make that the EASIEST option, rather than discouraging everyone that uses it in a way you didnt intend.
Posted by SuperLou on Sep. 13 2005,19:30
I apologize. I did not intend for my comments to be discouraging or seem curt. I am rather new to all of this myself and am only trying to assist with what I have found out. For more information on .uci and .dsl extensions, check out < http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/talk/node/68. > There is still a lot of useful info on those pages that haven't been carried over to the wiki yet (i think, still getting used to the new format).
Posted by undertow on Sep. 13 2005,22:20
SuperLou - total misunderstanding and misfire. That comment wasnt aimed at you, i was reading this post and another one at the same time and dropped my angry load in here. i totally apologize.:(
Posted by undertow on Sep. 13 2005,22:43
ugh, multi-post....
Posted by Your Fuzzy God on Sep. 13 2005,22:54
Poor SuperLou... We all still love you!
Posted by SuperLou on Sep. 13 2005,22:55
No problem. I've done it before. On the uci note, ^Cricket^ says ".uci is a .tar.gz'ed cloop file, the .dsl is a .tar.gz that calls the script that copys more of the file system in to ram". From what i've gotten, cloop is a module for the linux kernel but on reboot goes back to normal.
Posted by mikshaw on Sep. 14 2005,01:31
Just to be picky.....UCI is a cloop file, not tarred or gzed. The cloop filesystem itself is compressed...maybe uses the same algorithm as gzip, but i have no idea. The cloop file is mounted just like any other filesystem, such as ISO9660. The "goes back to normal" is a result of the filesystem being umounted when you shut down, and then not automatically mounted when you boot (since it's not in fstab).
Posted by friedgold on Sep. 14 2005,02:16
| Quote |
| maybe uses the same algorithm as gzip, but i have no idea |
When using the highested compression each block is compressed using either gzip or 7zip, depending on which offers the greater compression ratio.
Posted by txemi on Sep. 16 2005,00:45
Interesting topic. I'm still running DSL from a CD but I'm gonna try it as soon as I'll install my new 120 Gb HD.By the way, I have translated the FrugalHowTo into Spanish.
You can find it here:
< www.txemijendrix.com/dsl/FrugalHowTo_ES.pdf >
It's done with Scribus 1.2.1 (maybe someone could make an Scribus 1.2.3.uci? thanks in advance).
Bye
Posted by AwPhuch on Sep. 16 2005,16:48
Frugal rocks...You prolly wont need more that a gig or two...but man its so simple to setup and run and is 1000x more resiliant than a HD install!
I still have a few questions about it, but it works very very well!
Brian
AwPhuch
Posted by larkl on Sep. 16 2005,21:19
Well, This is pretty cool. Did a frugal install today. HAd a bit of problem trying to get it onto 2 hard drives. DIdn't really need to as the image is so small. SO, dropped to one drive and it's working great. Have used RH6, Knoppix, and Feather. Got a bit tired of the lib dependencies issues with HD install debian style. WIll try this awhile. Haven't got the persistent myDSL stuff working right yet, but there's always tomorrow.
Clivesay! - Weren't you a feather forum regular?
Posted by AwPhuch on Sep. 16 2005,22:30
Actually you dont need 2 drives...all you have to do is partition 3 partitions...1. 50-60Meg partition for Frugal cd image (bootable)
2. However big partition for swap (if you need it)
3. However big a partition is that you want your /home and /opt directories to go to...
If you goof and forget to put the /home and /opt to the 3rd drive, you can then go in and edit the grub boot loader (after you install it (by right clicking and going to tool)) to use that 3rd partition and it will build em on the fly..once they are there the NEXT time you reboot the data/changes and all that will be permanent
The MyDSL apps go in the root directory of the 3rd partition..in otherwords not in a folder...just stick em in there and boot will autodetect them, same goes for the uci files
Brian
AwPhuch
Posted by clivesay on Sep. 16 2005,23:17
| Quote (larkl @ Sep. 16 2005,16:19) |
| Clivesay! - Weren't you a feather forum regular? |
Yes I was. I used to do alot with Feather and DSL. I've been pretty much exclusive DSL for quite awhile. I still stop in over there from time to time to see what's going on. Welcome to DSL and the Frugal install!
Chris