COMP 3000 2011 Report: Damn Small Linux - Revision history

MartyV at 03:30, 20 December 2011

2011-12-20T03:30:55Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 03:30, 20 December 2011
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	[[File:DSLLogo.jpg\|thumb\|right\|Damn Small Linux Logo.]]The name of the distribution is "Damn Small Linux". It comes from the fact how small the size of the distro - a whopping 50 megabytes.<ref name = "DSL_main">[http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/, "DSL information"]: damnsmalllinux.org (Last accessed 2011-12-19)</ref> Damn Small Linux or "DSL" was created to see how many usable desktop applications could be crammed into a 50MB disc. It was designed for everyone who wanted a compact operating system and can run fully on a machine with as little 128MB of RAM. John Andrews originally created DSL, but the project has now grown into a reasonably sized community project including Robert Shingledecker, the creator of Tiny Core Linux, who created the MyDSL system, DSL Control Panel, and other defining features of Damn Small Linux.<ref name = "DSL_about">[http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/wiki/index.php/About_Damn_Small_Linux, "About Damn Small Linux - DSL Wiki"]: http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/wiki/ (Last accessed 2011-12-19)</ref>		[[File:DSLLogo.jpg\|thumb\|right\|Damn Small Linux Logo.]]The name of the distribution is "Damn Small Linux". It comes from the fact how small the size of the distro - a whopping 50 megabytes.<ref name = "DSL_main">[http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/, "DSL information"]: damnsmalllinux.org (Last accessed 2011-12-19)</ref> Damn Small Linux or "DSL" was created to see how many usable desktop applications could be crammed into a 50MB disc. It was designed for everyone who wanted a compact operating system and can run fully on a machine with as little 128MB of RAM. John Andrews originally created DSL, but the project has now grown into a reasonably sized community project including Robert Shingledecker, the creator of Tiny Core Linux, who created the MyDSL system, DSL Control Panel, and other defining features of Damn Small Linux.<ref name = "DSL_about">[http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/wiki/index.php/About_Damn_Small_Linux, "About Damn Small Linux - DSL Wiki"]: http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/wiki/ (Last accessed 2011-12-19)</ref>

	The official site of DSL, http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/download.html, hosts the mirrors of the ftp servers to download the bootable image. There are many ways to install DSL; you can use a bootable CD, a USB pen drive, or boot from within a host OS. As noted earlier, the OS (operating system) is only 50MB and have been frequently asked whether it will ever exceed that size, but has always been denied because they feel it would become a different OS if it were to exceed 50MB. DSL was based on Model-K, a very basic version of Knoppix, but later built around the actual Knoppix since it was easier to improve upon it.		The official site of DSL, http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/download.html, hosts the mirrors of the ftp servers to download the bootable image. There are many ways to install DSL; you can use a bootable CD, a USB pen drive, or boot from within a host OS. <ref name = "DSL_faq">[http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/wiki/index.php/Frequently_Asked_Questions#Installing_DSL, "Frequently Asked Questions - DSL Wiki"]: http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/wiki/ (Last accessed 2011-12-19)</ref> As noted earlier, the OS (operating system) is only 50MB and have been frequently asked whether it will ever exceed that size, but has always been denied because they feel it would become a different OS if it were to exceed 50MB. DSL was based on Model-K, a very basic version of Knoppix, but later built around the actual Knoppix since it was easier to improve upon it.

	==Installation/Startup==		==Installation/Startup==
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	\|[[File:Splash.jpg\|thumb\|right\|Virtualization Splash Screen]]		\|[[File:Splash.jpg\|thumb\|right\|Virtualization Splash Screen]]
	\|}		\|}
	I went to the official site of Damn Small Linux to find the ISO. The first link on the download page returned an error and the second link said the page it no longer exists, no surprise since its latest release was back in 2008. I decided to click on the last link and found myself at an ftp server. I downloaded the dsl-4.4.10.iso from the current folder and burned it on a disk. I tried booting it at startup but after a few steps the screen was just black for ten minutes or so.		I went to the official site of Damn Small Linux to find the ISO. The first link on the download page returned an error and the second link said the page it no longer exists, no surprise since its latest release was back in 2008. I decided to click on the last link and found myself at an ftp server.<ref name = "DSL_ftp">[ftp://ftp.heanet.ie/mirrors/damnsmalllinux.org/, "FTP Mirror of DSL"]: ftp://ftp.heanet.ie/(Last accessed 2011-12-19)</ref> I downloaded the dsl-4.4.10.iso from the current folder and burned it on a disk. I tried booting it at startup but after a few steps the screen was just black for ten minutes or so.

	Back at the ftp server, I then downloaded the dsl-4.4.10-embedded.zip file. After I obtained DSL I extracted and executed a bat file called dsl-base.bat. A console appeared, listing the I/O devices like my CD-Drive and my hard drive, while booting up the kernel and shortly after I was greeted with a GUI. The whole boot up process took as little as a minute or less. The embedded version of DSL uses an emulation process called QEMU. The emulation uses dynamic translation methods to attain reasonable speeds but it is not as fast as virtual machines such as VirtualBox without the help of the kqemu accelerator.		Back at the ftp server, I then downloaded the dsl-4.4.10-embedded.zip file. After I obtained DSL I extracted and executed a bat file called dsl-base.bat. A console appeared, listing the I/O devices like my CD-Drive and my hard drive, while booting up the kernel and shortly after I was greeted with a GUI. The whole boot up process took as little as a minute or less. The embedded version of DSL uses an emulation process called QEMU. The emulation uses dynamic translation methods to attain reasonable speeds but it is not as fast as virtual machines such as VirtualBox without the help of the kqemu accelerator.

	Since DSL can also be virtualized, I decided to use VirtualBox to launch DSL as a Live CD, meaning I can boot the OS without having a secondary storage system like a hard disk. Here are the steps I used to get DSL running:		Since DSL can also be virtualized, I decided to use VirtualBox to launch DSL as a Live CD, meaning I can boot the OS without having a secondary storage system like a hard disk. <ref name = "DSL_VirtualBox">[http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/wiki/index.php/DSL_with_VirtualBox, "DSL with VirtualBox - DSL Wiki"]: http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/wiki/ (Last accessed 2011-12-19)</ref>Here are the steps I used to get DSL running:
	*Opened Virtual Box.		*Opened Virtual Box.
	*Clicked on the "New" button		*Clicked on the "New" button
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	\|[[File:Dpkg-restore.jpg\|thumb\|right\|Enabling apt-get to use add/remove packages]]		\|[[File:Dpkg-restore.jpg\|thumb\|right\|Enabling apt-get to use add/remove packages]]
	\|}		\|}
	Damn Small Linux, as mentioned before, is based on Knoppix which is also based on Debian. Unfortunately, the entire /var/lib/dpkg/ which is the system that maintains packages was removed to created space on the iso. It is possible to to restore dpkg in order to list all the packages, but the dpkg-restore scripts fails due to the closure of the host server. Luckily, the server can be changed to an existing mirror by editing a text file, or you can find the dsl-dpkg.dsl on the server through the [http://www.ftp.be/packages/damnsmalllinux/mydsl/system// ftp server] and manually download and install it yourself. After executing dsl-dpkg.dsl, the option to enable apt-get can finally be switched on.		Damn Small Linux, as mentioned before, is based on Knoppix which is also based on Debian. Unfortunately, the entire /var/lib/dpkg/ which is the system that maintains packages was removed to created space on the iso. It is possible to to restore dpkg<ref name = "DSL-EnableApt">[http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/wiki/index.php/Enabling_Apt, "Enabling Apt - DSL Wiki"]: http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/wiki/ (Last accessed 2011-12-19)</ref> in order to list all the packages, but the dpkg-restore scripts fails due to the closure of the host server. Luckily, the server can be changed to an existing mirror by editing a text file, or you can find the dsl-dpkg.dsl on the server through the [http://www.ftp.be/packages/damnsmalllinux/mydsl/system// ftp server] and manually download and install it yourself. After executing dsl-dpkg.dsl, the option to enable apt-get can finally be switched on.

	Like any Debian based OS, list all the packages by this command:		Like any Debian based OS, list all the packages by this command:
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	==Major Package Versions==		==Major Package Versions==

	The following list displays a few major packages that are included in DSL.		The following list displays a few major packages that are included in DSL. <ref name = "DSL-Packages">[http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/packages.html, "DSL - Packages"]: http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/ (Last accessed 2011-12-19)</ref>

	Kernel<br>		Kernel<br>
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	==Initialization==		==Initialization==
	Searching around the directories, I was lead to the /etc/rcS.d, where I found some boot scripts, although it runs the scripts in the /etc/init.d folder. The knoppix-autoconfig is the first script ran by the init process. It first configures the regional settings such as the timezone and keyboard mapping, then tries to detect all the available hardware and load the right modules and setup the network using DHCP. The script finally scans all storage partitions and create a fstab. A fstab is a filesystem table, a system configuration file that can list all disks and their partitions and indicates how they are integrate with the filesystem.		Searching around the directories, I was lead to the /etc/rcS.d, where I found some boot scripts, although it runs the scripts in the /etc/init.d folder. The knoppix-autoconfig is the first script ran by the init process.<ref name = "DSL_BootProcess">[http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/wiki/index.php/DSL_Boot_Process, "DSL Boot Process - DSL Wiki"]: http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/wiki/ (Last accessed 2011-12-19)</ref>
			It first configures the regional settings such as the timezone and keyboard mapping, then tries to detect all the available hardware and load the right modules and setup the network using DHCP. The script finally scans all storage partitions and create a fstab. A fstab is a filesystem table, a system configuration file that can list all disks and their partitions and indicates how they are integrate with the filesystem.

	Next comes the dsl-config script which controls DSL specific configuration. It starts off by, creating a symbolic link, a file that contains a reference to another file or directory using absolute or relative path, to /opt to the ramdisk to allow /opt to be written to. Then sets up /home/dsl using /etc/skel as a template, loads DSL extensions and finally if it exists, restore a backup file. The /opt directory contains the bootlocal.sh script which in turn runs all the startup programs such as acpi, jwmThemes, monkey, samba and any other custom startup programs you command.		Next comes the dsl-config script which controls DSL specific configuration. It starts off by, creating a symbolic link, a file that contains a reference to another file or directory using absolute or relative path, to /opt to the ramdisk to allow /opt to be written to. Then sets up /home/dsl using /etc/skel as a template, loads DSL extensions and finally if it exists, restore a backup file. The /opt directory contains the bootlocal.sh script which in turn runs all the startup programs such as acpi, jwmThemes, monkey, samba and any other custom startup programs you command.

MartyV: /* Part 1 */

2011-12-20T03:12:37Z

Part 1

← Older revision		Revision as of 03:12, 20 December 2011
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	=Part 1=		=Part 1=
	==Background==		==Background==
	[[File:DSLLogo.jpg\|thumb\|right\|Damn Small Linux Logo.]]The name of the distribution is "Damn Small Linux". It comes from the fact how small the size of the distro - a whopping 50 megabytes. Damn Small Linux or "DSL" was created to see how many usable desktop applications could be crammed into a 50MB disc. It was designed for everyone who wanted a compact operating system and can run fully on a machine with as little 128MB of RAM. John Andrews originally created DSL, but the project has now grown into a reasonably sized community project including Robert Shingledecker, the creator of Tiny Core Linux, who created the MyDSL system, DSL Control Panel, and other defining features of Damn Small Linux.		[[File:DSLLogo.jpg\|thumb\|right\|Damn Small Linux Logo.]]The name of the distribution is "Damn Small Linux". It comes from the fact how small the size of the distro - a whopping 50 megabytes.<ref name = "DSL_main">[http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/, "DSL information"]: damnsmalllinux.org (Last accessed 2011-12-19)</ref> Damn Small Linux or "DSL" was created to see how many usable desktop applications could be crammed into a 50MB disc. It was designed for everyone who wanted a compact operating system and can run fully on a machine with as little 128MB of RAM. John Andrews originally created DSL, but the project has now grown into a reasonably sized community project including Robert Shingledecker, the creator of Tiny Core Linux, who created the MyDSL system, DSL Control Panel, and other defining features of Damn Small Linux.<ref name = "DSL_about">[http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/wiki/index.php/About_Damn_Small_Linux, "About Damn Small Linux - DSL Wiki"]: http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/wiki/ (Last accessed 2011-12-19)</ref>

	The official site of DSL, http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/download.html, hosts the mirrors of the ftp servers to download the bootable image. There are many ways to install DSL; you can use a bootable CD, a USB pen drive, or boot from within a host OS. As noted earlier, the OS (operating system) is only 50MB and have been frequently asked whether it will ever exceed that size, but has always been denied because they feel it would become a different OS if it were to exceed 50MB. DSL was based on Model-K, a very basic version of Knoppix, but later built around the actual Knoppix since it was easier to improve upon it.		The official site of DSL, http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/download.html, hosts the mirrors of the ftp servers to download the bootable image. There are many ways to install DSL; you can use a bootable CD, a USB pen drive, or boot from within a host OS. As noted earlier, the OS (operating system) is only 50MB and have been frequently asked whether it will ever exceed that size, but has always been denied because they feel it would become a different OS if it were to exceed 50MB. DSL was based on Model-K, a very basic version of Knoppix, but later built around the actual Knoppix since it was easier to improve upon it.

MartyV: /* References */

2011-12-20T02:55:55Z

References

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:55, 20 December 2011
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	==References==		==References==
	~~asdas~~		<references />

MartyV: /* Initialization */

2011-12-20T02:04:44Z

Initialization

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:04, 20 December 2011
Line 162:		Line 162:
	==Initialization==		==Initialization==
	Searching around the directories, I was lead to the /etc/rcS.d, where I found some boot scripts, although it runs the scripts in the /etc/init.d folder. The knoppix-autoconfig is the first script ran by the init process. It first configures the regional settings such as the timezone and keyboard mapping, then tries to detect all the available hardware and load the right modules and setup the network using DHCP. The script finally scans all storage partitions and create a fstab. A fstab is a filesystem table, a system configuration file that can list all disks and their partitions and indicates how they are integrate with the filesystem.		Searching around the directories, I was lead to the /etc/rcS.d, where I found some boot scripts, although it runs the scripts in the /etc/init.d folder. The knoppix-autoconfig is the first script ran by the init process. It first configures the regional settings such as the timezone and keyboard mapping, then tries to detect all the available hardware and load the right modules and setup the network using DHCP. The script finally scans all storage partitions and create a fstab. A fstab is a filesystem table, a system configuration file that can list all disks and their partitions and indicates how they are integrate with the filesystem.

			Next comes the dsl-config script which controls DSL specific configuration. It starts off by, creating a symbolic link, a file that contains a reference to another file or directory using absolute or relative path, to /opt to the ramdisk to allow /opt to be written to. Then sets up /home/dsl using /etc/skel as a template, loads DSL extensions and finally if it exists, restore a backup file. The /opt directory contains the bootlocal.sh script which in turn runs all the startup programs such as acpi, jwmThemes, monkey, samba and any other custom startup programs you command.

	==References==		==References==
	asdas		asdas

MartyV: /* Initialization */

2011-12-19T03:18:21Z

Initialization

← Older revision		Revision as of 03:18, 19 December 2011
Line 161:		Line 161:

	==Initialization==		==Initialization==
			Searching around the directories, I was lead to the /etc/rcS.d, where I found some boot scripts, although it runs the scripts in the /etc/init.d folder. The knoppix-autoconfig is the first script ran by the init process. It first configures the regional settings such as the timezone and keyboard mapping, then tries to detect all the available hardware and load the right modules and setup the network using DHCP. The script finally scans all storage partitions and create a fstab. A fstab is a filesystem table, a system configuration file that can list all disks and their partitions and indicates how they are integrate with the filesystem.

	==References==		==References==
	asdas		asdas

MartyV: /* Basic Operation */

2011-12-19T01:54:58Z

Basic Operation

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:54, 19 December 2011
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	\|[[File:Games.jpg\|thumb\|right\|Games]]		\|[[File:Games.jpg\|thumb\|right\|Games]]
	\|-		\|-
	\|~~[[]]~~		\|
	\|[[File:TCC.jpg\|thumb\|right\|Tiny C Compiler]]		\|[[File:TCC.jpg\|thumb\|right\|Tiny C Compiler]]
	\|}		\|}

MartyV: /* Major Package Versions */

2011-12-19T01:48:11Z

Major Package Versions

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:48, 19 December 2011
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	Latest Stable Version: 2.6.2		Latest Stable Version: 2.6.2

	Most of the vintages of the packages can not be found and almost every package is behind their latest stable counterpart except for XPaint which stopped iterating after version 2.6.2. The kernel was definitely modified heavily by just look at the version ~~included in~~ the ~~distribution~~. Each package was selected because ~~of the minimal use of space which also reflects the versatility of each package, but are suitable for what needs to be done~~.		Most of the vintages of the packages can not be found and almost every package is behind their latest stable counterpart except for XPaint which stopped iterating after version 2.6.2. The kernel was definitely modified heavily by just look at the version provided by dpkg. It is based on the Linux 2.4 kernel because the 2.6 version is much larger and drops a lot of support for legacy technologies and hardware. DSL with a 2.6 kernel is available through DSL-N(Damn Small Linux Not!). Each package and I mean each package was selected because they were written with size-optimization and limited resources in mind.

	==Initialization==		==Initialization==

MartyV: /* References */

2011-12-19T01:20:42Z

References

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:20, 19 December 2011
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	==References==		==References==
	~~{{reflist}}~~		asdas

MartyV: /* References */

2011-12-19T01:20:30Z

References

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:20, 19 December 2011
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	==References==		==References==
	~~<references />~~		{{reflist}}

MartyV: /* Software Packaging */

2011-12-19T01:18:07Z

Software Packaging

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:18, 19 December 2011
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	\|[[File:Dpkg-restore.jpg\|thumb\|right\|Enabling apt-get to use add/remove packages]]		\|[[File:Dpkg-restore.jpg\|thumb\|right\|Enabling apt-get to use add/remove packages]]
	\|}		\|}
	Damn Small Linux, as mentioned before, is based on Knoppix which is also based on Debian. Unfortunately, the entire /var/lib/dpkg/ which is the system that maintains packages was removed to created space on the iso. It is possible to to restore dpkg in order to list all the packages, but the dpkg-restore scripts fails due to the closure of the host server. Luckily, the server can be changed to an existing mirror by editing a text file, or you can find the dsl-dpkg.dsl on the server through the [http://www.ftp.be/packages/damnsmalllinux/mydsl/system/ftp server] and manually download and install it yourself. After executing dsl-dpkg.dsl, the option to enable apt-get can finally be switched on.		Damn Small Linux, as mentioned before, is based on Knoppix which is also based on Debian. Unfortunately, the entire /var/lib/dpkg/ which is the system that maintains packages was removed to created space on the iso. It is possible to to restore dpkg in order to list all the packages, but the dpkg-restore scripts fails due to the closure of the host server. Luckily, the server can be changed to an existing mirror by editing a text file, or you can find the dsl-dpkg.dsl on the server through the [http://www.ftp.be/packages/damnsmalllinux/mydsl/system// ftp server] and manually download and install it yourself. After executing dsl-dpkg.dsl, the option to enable apt-get can finally be switched on.

	Like any Debian based OS, list all the packages by this command:		Like any Debian based OS, list all the packages by this command: