Read only HD installForum: HD Install Topic: Read only HD install started by: Joat_Mone Posted by Joat_Mone on Oct. 23 2004,00:53
I have been using Damnsmall as a live boot and it works great. I recently have tried it installed, and that works fine too. What I would like to do is take it over to a friends place (who knows little about computers), and run it there. If the live boot version looses power, you just have to reboot, and everything is back to normal. If the hard drive version looses power, then you have to remount the drive before Damnsmall will boot. Is there anyway to make the hard drive version either read only so it thinks it's the CD version, and not require that extra step, or is there any way to remove the remounting need? Also the cd version does not require a log on and password, but the hard drive version does. Is there anyway to remove that requirement too?I cant count on them to remember how to remount the drive, and therefore they would want to go back to the OS which shall remain nameless... Thanks for the help. Posted by somerville32@hotmail.com on Oct. 23 2004,01:31
I am not sure were you are going with the remounting thing but you can have a poor-man's install (a nickname for what you want to do) by simpling burning the ISO to the hard drive instead of the CD-Rom or so I understand.~Me Posted by ke4nt1 on Oct. 23 2004,02:34
Joat_Mone:You may be refering to the fact that the ext2 partitioning scheme does not like to be shutdown without a proper dismount, and requires an e2fsck check in read-only mode before it can be remounted and used for system bootup.. The "poorman's" install sounds like what you should examine.... Bootup from the LiveCD Copy the "contents" of the cd ( /cdrom ) to an ext2 partition. Using the "emelfm" program, you should see identical files in both the /cdrom directory, and the /mnt/hd?? you chose to copy the files to.. Now shutdown, and reboot with the liveCD again. When you reach the "boot:" prompt, type this... dsl fromhd=/dev/hd?? ( your chosen partition ) Your system will now load DSL from the HD copy, with all the benefits of the read-only CD, and the speed of the Hard Drive... Remove the bootCD and restart your computer and your box will startup as if DSL wasn't there.. ( windows, dos, whatever ) If you like this "test" , and you don't need any other operating systems on the hard drive, you can go for a "frugal" install, which is similar to the poorman's , but requires no bootCD to bootup.. Make SURE you like the current resolution, settings, harwdware choices BEFORE you commit to a frugal install, as it passes those parameters to the new install.. Best to test first with poorman's install... 73 ke4nt Posted by ke4nt1 on Oct. 23 2004,02:35
edit - double
Posted by Joat_Mone on Oct. 23 2004,23:44
Frugal install is what I was looking for (I wondered what that was for....). The reason for DSL is so I dont have to worry about them getting some nasty virus which I'm sure they will unknowingly get. Therefore I dont plan on having any other OS. I just need to make sure everything is set how I want it before I do the frugal install.What about the DSL extensions? I am assuming I dont HAVE to have them installed, but I should put the in the "options" directory once DSL is installed. Thanks somerville and ke4nt1 for both your help. Posted by Joat_Mone on Oct. 24 2004,00:27
That works for what I want. Thank you very much.
Posted by Joat_Mone on Oct. 24 2004,15:20
I spoke too soon... It almost works like I want it. With a CD boot, all you have to do is put the .dsl files in the optional directory. The frugal install has the optional directory, but it wont automatically install them durring boot up. Is there anyway to make that happen?
Posted by ke4nt1 on Oct. 24 2004,18:26
If you place your extensions in a directory called " /optional " , they are available to LOAD thru your menu, under myDSL >Install Optional Extensions If you want them to be already LOADED , and ready-to run from menu or icon, then place the extensions in the top level directory, commonly called root or ' / ' ( not to be confused with /root, which is ONLY for the ROOT USER ) So, what you'll see in your installed partition is...... ( the usual three ) /KNOPPIX /boot index.html ( plus whatever you add ) firefox.uci dsl-dpkg.dsl gnu-utils.dsl j2re1.4.2.uci backup.tar.gz This would have FIrefox ready to run, with java enabled, apt enabled, and the full GNU utilities.. 73 ke4nt Posted by Joat_Mone on Oct. 24 2004,21:00
You had the answer (not a big shock there). I have a couple of clarifying questions though. Why do you need the "optional" directory on the CD to load the .dsl's? Or am I just doing it wrong from the beginning there? Also I have noticed that I cant copy, move, delete anything using emelfm (which is not a bad thing because it prevents others from screwing up the system), I need to go into a bash, make myself superuser and then I can change things. Why is that?Thanks again for all your help. Posted by Joat_Mone on Oct. 24 2004,22:16
Another question. I have been watching it boot up, and it goes through the myDSL apps twice. Is that going to use up the ram/
Posted by Joat_Mone on Oct. 26 2004,23:03
I have noticed that the more dsl files the computer boots up with, the slower it goes. I'm going to assume that each one of them is unpacked durring boot up, and therefore uses the ram. Great if you want to use them quickly, but not very good if you have an older system. Am I correct in also assuming that you can keep the dsl files on the hard drive, and just "install" them when needed? If that is the case, how would I "uninstall" them without having to reboot?
Posted by ke4nt1 on Oct. 26 2004,23:50
You are correct...That's where the beauty of the "/optional" directory comes into play. The extensions are convienient , but NOT LOADED into your ramspace. If they are in the "root" of your partition, they DO LOAD and USE RAM. If you have extensions in BOTH places, this may be why you see two sets of extensions listed in yellow at boottime. The extensions cannot be "unloaded" .. Just like with any other linux distro, installing from sources, or from tarballs, once installed into your filesystem, they are there to stay ( until reboot, with a "live" filesystem ) If they are '*.tar.gz' extensions, and not '*.dsl's' , they only write to the /home/* , /tmp , and /opt directories.. It's pretty safe to use the command " tar -ztf nameofextension.tar.gz > list.txt " to see what's inside the extension, and then remove all the files named in the list.txt from your filesystem. With .dsl's , the loading of an extension may OVERWRITE critical files in your filesystem with same or updated versions. Removing these files may result in leaving a "hole" in your filesystem, causing failure, because of the missing files.. For example, An extension may contain several files already in your /usr/bin directory. Easy enough, when you install it, it simply overwrites them with the new copies, regardless of whether they are the same version or a later build.. But "uninstalling" them, without having the "old" copies somewhere, leaves you without ANY copies, which leads to filesystem failure... 73 ke4nt Posted by Joat_Mone on Oct. 28 2004,01:56
Wow, lots of useful information... Thanks again ke4nt1 (is anyone taking notes here?). I'll have to check the double loads later, the computer is at a friends house and I am not. I should say that the origional problem has been fixed, and it works like a charm thanks to ke4nt1 Posted by beakmyn on Nov. 10 2004,01:27
Ok, now I've got a question. I'm in the process of building a digital picture and I did a standard HD install. I then enabled apt and used it to install feh and unclutter. I also created a few scripts modified the .xinitrc and added a link in rc5.d to run get the whole shebang running.I'd like to do a new install with the first partition (/dev/hda1) holding dsl, feh, unclutter, scripts, etc and be read-only and then have a second partition (/dev/hda2) to hold all my pictures and have it be read/write so that I can add pictures. Would a frugal install still work? [EDIT] I've booted and run the DSL CD again. Wiped my hard drive and recreated my partitions and made them ext2. I enabled apt and installed feh and unclutter. I rewrote my scripts. I believe this is all now sitting in RAM. Now, I want to install all this to the hard drive, since I want it to be ready-only this means I should do a frugal install. So, I'm at the 2nd step in the frugal install where it asks Install from [L]iveCD, From [F]ile, from [W]eb. (l/fw) what option do I want to use so that what's in RAM (scripts I created, feh) get written to teh hard drive? Posted by beakmyn on Nov. 10 2004,20:34
<bump> I'm itching to make this work
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