Curious. . .Forum: Other Help Topics Topic: Curious. . . started by: cphp Posted by cphp on Mar. 30 2005,19:46
Where exactly do files go when I save them in DSL? are they saved to the boot CD, or my hard-drive, or what? Also, if I download a linux program off,say, sourceforge, do I install it the same way I would install a program from the myDSL panel?
Posted by mikshaw on Mar. 30 2005,19:56
Usually depends on you, just like in any other operating system. For example, if you download a file with firefox, you specify where to save it. Some applications that don't give you a dialog box to choose a destination, such as wget, will default to whatever directory you are currently in, or what is set in its rc file (readable config file). But you can typically specify the destination with a command line option. If you speak of automatically downloaded files, such as those obtained through the mydsl browser, they are normally put in /tmp (/ramdisk/tmp). Suggestion: If you are running a liveCD or frugal, you should never save files outside /ramdisk or you will quickly run out of room. The exception to this (and the preferred method) is saving to a mounted drive where the file will remain after reboot, and will not take up ram space. If a file is saved into /ramdisk it will disappear when you shutdown/reboot. /ramdisk on a standard DSL system contains /home /opt and /tmp Second question: no. What you get from sourceforge is either a source archive or a package built for a particular distribution. Either way it will not install with the mydsl system. If it's a source archive you'll need at least a compiler (tcc or gcc1.dsl), and know a little about compiling software. If it's a package, you might be able to install it, or you might not. You'll have the greatest success with debian packages (*.deb), which can be installed with "sudo dpkg -i <filename>" or "apt-get install <package>" (both of these need dsl-dpkg.dsl). Slackware packages are very similar in structure to dsl packages, and with a little work and tweaking may actually install with the mydsl loader. I wouldn't really recommend this, though. I'd stick with dpkg and apt-get Posted by cphp on Mar. 30 2005,22:40
K, thanks. So if I download something to ramdisk it will disappear on re-boot. Hmph. sorta annoying. How would I keep a program I download? (i.e., your suggestion to save to a mounted drive. . .how does that work?)
Posted by mikshaw on Mar. 30 2005,23:43
Very well.If you have a partition available somewhere to which linux can write (basically anything but NTFS) you can backup your files onto that and have them automatically restored next time you boot. Search the forums for filetool.lst and backup...it's pretty simple. The ideal situation, in my opinion, is to have a partition mounted where you can save things and not be bothered with backups. Even more useful is the new persistent /opt and /home, which allows you to easily mount these directories from an existing partition. It will look and behave the same as /home on liveCD, but all your data stays where you put it. boot options: home=<partition> opt=<partition> This allows you to ignore backing up files only if they are located in /home and /opt. The extensions ending with .dsl are installed into the system, which is in ram. The only way to keep these intact is to use a standard harddrive installation of the DSL system. However, if you do have an available partition, you can store these extensions in the root of the partition and have them reloaded automatically by using the boot option mydsl=<partition> |