iB::Topic::My ideas and suggestions for DSL

	Damn Small Linux :: Damn Small Linux Board The DSL Forums

» Welcome Guest
[ Log In :: Register ]

Damn Small Linux Board » Damn Small Linux » DSL Ideas and Suggestions » My ideas and suggestions for DSL

		Mini-ITX Boards Sale, Fanless BareBones Mini-ITX, Bootable 1G DSL USBs, 533MHz Fanless PC <-- SALE $200 each!
		Get The Official Damn Small Linux Book. DSL Market , Great VPS hosting provided by Tektonic

Pages: (6) </ 1 [2] 3 4 5 6 >/

[ Track this topic :: Email this topic :: Print this topic ]

Topic: My ideas and suggestions for DSL

< Next Oldest | Next Newest >

lub997

Group: Members
Posts: 26
Joined: July 2005

Posted: Oct. 01 2005,04:32

I feel so strongly that it is a basic necessity of any non-newbie linux user to be able to compile their own kernel and hook up to the internet with the most common modem chipset in the world that I would be more than glad to put the time into creating .dsl files of all of these packages and their dependencies, but need to know the specifics of how .dsl files are created, and what specifications they need to conform to. They appear to me to be just helloWorld-x.xx.tar.gz files renamed helloWorld-x.xx.dsl, since I have tried tar -xzvf on them and it works, but is there anything more to it than that? Are there any specific specifications or guidelines that need to be followed to create .dsl files that will work for everyone? Also, does anybody know why the newer kernel source (new as in 2.6.13) won't extract on DSL? I will also need to create a .dsl file for whatever program is necessary for this, but need to know what is missing. The older kernel source .tar.bz2 files extract fine, but the newer ones will not extract on DSL; <<tar -xjvf linux-2.6.13.tar.bz2>> does not work, but <<tar -xjvf linux-2.4.26.tar.bz2>> does work is what I am trying to say. Why is this? I need to know what is lacking in order to provide it. Assuming I am able to create these .dsl files, who do I need to give them to in order to make them easily accessible and easy to find by all DSL users right on the internet for download, and hopefully in myDSL Browser? I have always wanted to contribute to a smaller linux distribution, but have never gotten around to it. I think the flexibility DSL offers on older hardware makes DSL something I am interested in contributing to, but I need to know how to do it since I never have before. Also, as far as compiling the ltmodem driver, drivers on linux have to be compiled for the specific kernels that will be running them. What EXACT kernel source .tar.bz2 do I need to download in order to accomplish this, and an exact http:// or ftp:// address of where to download it would be extremely helpful. If I'm going to go through the time I don't have to create these packages, I don't want to compile things for the wrong kernel and then have them be of no use to anyone because they are compiled for the wrong kernel version. For instance, I don't want do download the source for a vanilla 2.4.26 kernel and then have the ltmodem driver not work for everyone because DSL uses a knoppix kernel, and I don't know what the difference is between a knoppix kernel and a vanilla kernel, so a web address of where to download the exact kernel source that DSL uses (not just the headers) would be very helpful, since I don't even know what to look for as far as finding kernel source that can create driver modules that every DSL user will be able to use. Anyone who has suggestions for creating good .dsl files of these packages, your suggestions are certainly welcome. I am a fairly experienced linux user and have no problem compiling most things, but need to know how to turn my compilations into .dsl files that everyone can use.

mikshaw

Group: Members
Posts: 4856
Joined: July 2004

Posted: Oct. 01 2005,04:48

You can find documentation on creating MyDSL extensions in the wikki (link on the damnsmalllinux.org main page) and in the current/pdfdocs directory of the DSL download mirrors.
They are essentially just tar.gz files, as you guessed, but there are a couple of things that need to be addressed in order for them to work well as mydsl packages....mainly file ownerships, which if set incorrectly could cause some applications (or the mydsl system itself) to break.

As I mentioned earlier, there has already been success with the LT modem modules, so unless you really want to build them yourself you might consider trying out the ones that Stinky made. There's a very recent thread (within the last week) about it, so a search should find it pretty easily.

--------------
http://www.tldp.org/LDP/intro-linux/html/index.html

lub997

Group: Members
Posts: 26
Joined: July 2005

Posted: Oct. 01 2005,04:57

I don't even have a winmodem anymore. I have wireless. I merely noticed it being the most complained about topic on the networking forum and am more than willing to compile modules for it since everyone else seem to have so much trouble with it and I have done it successfully in the past, but if someone has already created modules that work, then great! It would be really great though if the person who created the modules could get a .dsl file of the compiled modules into the myDSL Browser for any newbie to download because I know it is a very big turn off to newbies who switch over from Windows and can't even connect to the internet, and in many cases results in people giving up on linux and never trying it again. Those of us who are experienced with linux need to make it easy for newbies to do basic things like using their winmodems so they can easily get connected to the internet and not get discouraged and give up on linux forever the first time they ever use it.

WDef

Group: Members
Posts: 798
Joined: Sep. 2005

Posted: Oct. 01 2005,13:46

$0.02:

It'd be difficult to say that you are not right to some degree about much of what you have raised.

But, to state the obvious: this is one of those projects where a small number of people clearly put it a lot of time for no money, purely for the love of it. There will be imperfections.

You've hit upon the right idea though: do it/fix it for yourself. Then post your work for the benefit of others as well. It'll be there for future reference.

lub997

Group: Members
Posts: 26
Joined: July 2005

Posted: Oct. 01 2005,18:10

I created XFree86-devel.dsl, XFree-86-devel.dsl.info, and XFree86-devel.md5sum.txt and emailed them to extensions@damnsmalllinux.org It wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought it might be, but I would really like it if someone could try to install my XFree86-devel.dsl out of myDSL Browser if/when it gets added just for the sake of testing it to see if it installs automatically like I intended or if I still need to make improvements to it. It's hard for me to test it on my system since because I created the .dsl on my system the XFree86-devel files were already present on my system in order for me to tar and gzip them into a .dsl file, so if I try it on my system it is going to work regardless of whether or not I made a good .dsl file since the files are already present, and I'm working off of a permanent hard drive install, so what I install stays permanently. If someone isn't experienced with Xlib programming but would like to test it to see if it works on their system, I can provide a URL to a simple-window.c that can be downloaded and you could test it with that quickly and easiliy. I tried to provide easy instructions on how to use it in the .info file just in case the person who tests it does not have Xlib experience. Help in testing it would be greatly appreciated as if I am successful with it I plan to make more .dsl files for other packages too, but need to know if I'm on the right track in making good .dsl files. Might be best for someone with a non-hard drive install to test it so it won't be permanent if it doesn't work right.

28 replies since Sep. 29 2005,07:01

< Next Oldest | Next Newest >

[ Track this topic :: Email this topic :: Print this topic ]

Pages: (6) </ 1 [2] 3 4 5 6 >/

Damn Small Linux Board » Damn Small Linux » DSL Ideas and Suggestions » My ideas and suggestions for DSL