Install Apps on my HD

Forum: HD Install
Topic: Install Apps on my HD
started by: tellmemore

Posted by tellmemore on Dec. 13 2006,12:05

Dear all,

I´m totally new to linux! Apart from some little use of live cds! Today I installed DSL 3.1 on my old compaq armada 1750 (P2 300 mhz/128mb). Everything is working fine and quite fast!!

Now I just wanted to install some programs (Openoffice 2.0/ amsn 0.96/0.95/tlc8.4/firefox 2.0). I noticed that I had to load them every time I start up with DSL and they were loaded into the ram instead of installed on the harddrive! Now I did some googling and looking around and I was wondering what do you advice me to do when I want to install programs on my harddrive!

Use apt-get? dpkg? Or autopackage?

Does anyone have some short description or some useful links to help me on my way?

thx allot in advance

Posted by ^thehatsrule^ on Dec. 13 2006,14:23

Please look up on how to use frugals, backup/restore, autoloading features, and the difference between mydsl extensions.

Posted by mikshaw on Dec. 13 2006,14:28

DSL by default is designed to run from a read-only filesystem, much like the live cd. This means that any applications or other data added to your system will be stored in ram, and lost when you reboot. This would be very annoying if DSL did not have ways to save your data and applications between sessions.

Various methods of preserving data include auto-loading mydsl extensions, the backup/restore system, and using a persistent home directory. These subjects are covered in the DSL wiki, and more info can b found by searching these forums.

Posted by tellmemore on Dec. 13 2006,16:05

first off all thanks allot for the fast reactions!

As understand it correctly DSL isn´t designed to have programs installed to the HD (ie. firefox/openoffice). It´s only possible to mount programs during startup!

I´ve edit my grub menu.lst

Code Sample

title DSL
kernel /boot/linux24 root=/dev/hda4 quiet vga=normal noacpi noapm nodma noscsi frugal mydsl=hda4/home/dsl/mydsl/

Is this the correct command? Because the files (tcltk-8.4.uci & firefox-2.0-gtk1.uci) inside the mydsl directory aren´t loaded during the startup!?! Should I use

Code Sample

toram mydsl=hda4/home/dsl/mydsl

That doesn´t work either for me!

As far as I understand the backup/restore system and using a persistent home directory. Those two are used to load saved settings from the system. Are they useful for loading an extra program like firefox during the boot?

Posted by ^thehatsrule^ on Dec. 13 2006,16:55

Quote

As understand it correctly DSL isn´t designed to have programs installed to the HD (ie. firefox/openoffice). It´s only possible to mount programs during startup!

Nope... check out the mydsl tool on the desktop (mydsl-load for terminal).

Yes that mydsl= should work if you have home/dsl/mydsl created on hda4. But I seem to remember older versions of DSL did not look for uci type extensions. You can add commands to load them in /opt/bootlocal.sh though if you don't want to upgrade.

toram just loads the image all into RAM (see wiki page on cheatcodes).

Quote

As far as I understand the backup/restore system and using a persistent home directory. Those two are used to load saved settings from the system. Are they useful for loading an extra program like firefox during the boot?

No they are different, but can share some aspects. home is a whole partition dedicated to (and mounted as) /home. Please read up on backup/restore for those details (backup.tar.gz).

Maybe just for clarification, what type of installation are you using?

Posted by tellmemore on Dec. 13 2006,17:58

Quote (^thehatsrule^ @ Dec. 13 2006,11:55)

Maybe just for clarification, what type of installation are you using?

[quick 1st reaction]I´m using version 3.1! It´s a HD install! Not a frugal installation!

[EDIT]When I press right mouse button I can see MyDSL with firebird 2.0 & TCL/TK shell in it! But if I click on one of them nothing happens! Also no desktop icons are loaded! UCI tool is also empty!
When I load an local extension everything goes fine and there is an double entry under MyDSL (right mouse click). So I see Firebird for DSL twice under MyDSL now!

The programs peerguard & amsn are running fine! Although they are not in the mydsl folder! Amsn doesn´t start because tcl/tk isn´t running but when thats started manually it works fine...

Quote

You can add commands to load them in /opt/bootlocal.sh though if you don't want to upgrade.

what exactly should I put there to load for example the tcltk-8.4.uci?

Quote

Nope... check out the mydsl tool on the desktop (mydsl-load for terminal).

This only mounts the programs not installs them permanently right?

Posted by ^thehatsrule^ on Dec. 13 2006,19:21

Ah that explains everything. Again the most obvious statement was left out. Forget those bootcodes. *erases last page*

Quote

I noticed that I had to load them every time I start up with DSL and they were loaded into the ram ...

That only happens on a frugal.

command line for loading mydsl extensions: mydsl-load <file>

Posted by mikshaw on Dec. 13 2006,20:13

Actually now that I'm looking back to the first post it looks like all of the extensions listed were of the uci variety, which do not remain installed even in a traditional style harddrive system.

I have no idea how auto-loading works with this type of setup. You may need to edit /home/dsl/.bash_profile, adding mydsl-load /path/to/filename.uci

Posted by tellmemore on Dec. 13 2006,20:31

Quote (mikshaw @ Dec. 13 2006,15:13)

euh I just added mydsl-load /home/dsl/mydsl/firefox-2.0-gtk1.uci to /opt/bootlocal.sh and the file gets mounted during the startup! Startup just takes a fews secs more but 1:17 is still quite good on a 300 mhz I guess! Atleast thats what the uptime says

Or did you´ve something different in mind?

Bootcodes are for the live cd & frugal system only?

Thx allot to you both guys!!

Posted by ^thehatsrule^ on Dec. 13 2006,21:40

Quote

Or did you´ve something different in mind?

Nope; good job

Quote

Bootcodes are for the live cd & frugal system only?

The ones you were trying out in this thread are only for frugals (ie toram, mydsl=)

Posted by tellmemore on Dec. 14 2006,08:56

Quote (^thehatsrule^ @ Dec. 13 2006,16:40)

]The ones you were trying out in this thread are only for frugals (ie toram, mydsl=)

Didn´t understand that out of the wiki! But it makes sense to me now! Thanks allot for your time and patience! Everything is working smooth now!! :laugh: