sub-distros for DSL

Forum: DSL Ideas and Suggestions
Topic: sub-distros for DSL
started by: Bilal

Posted by Bilal on April 13 2004,03:42

i really think it is a good idea to have costomized DSL for specific uses.. im really impressed with that fact that i can load DSL to ram and run it from there. also it's small size if good for embaded stuff, personally all i care is DSL with rxvt and fluxbox and wmcpuload. that is about it , the rest of the space is for gcc and scite so that i can develope my applications on DSL.
some other people may want DSL as a server so they want certine kind of applications. and still they will get smaller than usual OS.
i really think if this will happen that ull have a lot of people interested in DSL.

Posted by Grim on April 13 2004,07:34

That's a really good idea. I'm surprised no one else on the forums has ever thought of that... So, when can we expect your customised version of DSL to be released?

Posted by Bilal on April 13 2004,13:52

i wish i know how to costumize DSL, but i dont, im hoping that the people who created DSL and the other developers will. :angry:

Posted by hasty on April 13 2004,17:52

Do a search, as there have been remastering threads on both these forums & the knoppix ones.

Use DSL as the basis of your own distro and add what you like.
Not forgetting to remove what you don't want

Posted by Rapidweather on April 15 2004,05:11

My remaster (using it now) has Firefox and Wvdial. Firefox has a built-in home page, with over 80 links. The Dialer part of the Menu is arranged where it can be easily "torn off" and positioned near the throbber in Firefox, for dial-hangup.
Added a couple of clocks, a
scientific calculator, a calendar (with daily notes) and QuickList. For some fun (for some) I added Snowflake.
(Not quite as much fun as Mr. Potato Man, but close,
appeals to kids, I suppose. )
I notice that a new game has been added to 0.6.3,
so when I get to remastering the new DSL, I'll have to add some more games, too. The transition to 0.6.3 will involve setting it in a new partition, for remastering purposes, so I can access some of the things I have put together for 0.6.2 in it's partition. I'll rotate these DSL builds out, since I have three partitions for remastering, and the oldest DSL will get replaced when new Damn Small editions come out. Technically, I can still work on the older editions, such as 0.6.2 that I have now, and make .iso's to burn for that. I'll migrate most of the remastering effort to 0.6.3, however, it appears to have lots to work with!
I have been running about 60 Mb. I have an extensive Getting Started Guide in the
remaster, and nice start up graphics, made with Gimp.
Also included are about 25 nice outdoor scenes, that I hand-picked from many on
Webshots. These can be viewed using XZGV, where you can cycle through them with the space bar. Full instructions are given to use any of them for wallpaper. I added the icon for Synaptic, and give instructions for that, also.
Oh, and I added "Bump Scope" for XMMS.
I kept all of the standard DSL 0.6.2 applications, but changed the default menu.
I use the "outcomes" style for fluxbox. That works well no matter what screen resolution is needed. On that subject, I changed the xsetup.sh so the dpi choice screen is taken out. Wanted to speed up the setup process. Also, it is possible to make a custom remaster for a particular computer, with a .xsessionrc, so no choice screens are presented.
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So, that's what can be done, a customized DSL via remaster. Most of the time, however, it won't be under 50 MB, but I leave that up to the developers to accomplish with the base DSL.
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I'm not distributing my remaster(s), they are simply a research project, a work in progress. I do a new build every few days.
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Posted by charpie on April 16 2004,04:08

Hi Rapidweather, is your how to available? Can you publish it on your web site?

I did a remaster, work great. Now I would like to figure some stuff like automating the setup process, adding a wallpaper. How to add/remove stuff without using synaptic (limited)

charpie

Posted by Rapidweather on April 16 2004,04:46

Ok, I have downloaded DSL 0.6.3, and have remastered it to add in Firefox, Wvdial, and some of the applications mentioned for my remaster of 0.6.2.
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I have BuiciClock, xcalendar, and Quicklist Version 0.8.6, all downloaded with Synaptic and placed in the remaster using emelfm. (need to get everything, or
they won't boot). Since these were already downloaded for my 0.6.2 remaster,
all I had to do was refer to my notes, and copy from /dev/hdb5 to /dev/hdb6.
---
(I can still finish work on the remaster in hdb5 for 0.6.2)
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Here is my filetool.lst:
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/opt/ppp
/home/damnsmall/download
/home/damnsmall/upload
/home/damnsmall/Calendar
/home/damnsmall/QuickList
/home/damnsmall/Mail
/home/damnsmall/.sylpheed
/home/damnsmall/.phoenix
/etc/wvdial.conf
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I am up and running with the new 0.6.3 remaster Firefox/wvdial right now.
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I will get the Getting Started Guide put up on the web tomorrow. It is lengthy, and has been gone over many times, but lacks a lot on the many applications that are offered in DSL. I do not have anything on many of them, as I do not
connect to a network, for instance, and have zero on how that is done.
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Eventually, I suppose, DSL will go over the 50 MB limit, when the media supports that. DVD's are going to double in capacity soon, and the little card sized cd's may pack more in soon, too. Then, remasters such as mine will be
unnecessary. I just had to have Firefox, and a cheap (floppy) restore.
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Posted by charpie on April 17 2004,00:37

super. is there a way to see and access the .file when using emelfm

so far i cant see the hidden file and must work with a terminal. This is of course a bit more work

:;):

Posted by charpie on April 17 2004,15:19

Ok I found it. It was right in front of me and never saw the H button.

Sorry.
Cheers

Posted by hasty on April 17 2004,16:04

Linux is frequently like that.

Posted by Rapidweather on April 17 2004,21:46

Here is the link to my Getting Started Guide that I have in my remaster of DSL 0.6.3.
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< http://www.angelfire.com/ms/telegram/getting_started.html >
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Posted by charpie on April 17 2004,22:10

Great work Rapidweather