COMP 3000 2011 Report: linuX-gamers Live

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Revision as of 02:18, 20 October 2011 by Dlpkelly (talk | contribs) (Basic operation)

Background

This section should detail background information about your distribution. Please describe: The name of the distribution, its goals and target audience, who develops it, how it may be obtained, its approximate size, and its heritage (what other OS distribution(s) is it derived from. Also include any other background information that you feel is relevant for understanding the rest of your report.

linuX-gamers.net Live DVD (lglive) is a Linux live distribution aimed at gamers allowing them to carry a collection of Linux games and utilities bootable on any computer of sufficient power without any required installation. lglive comes in two versions, the Big edition, and the Lite edition. Both editions are identical except for the Lite edition contains less games, more specifically getting rid of games that require more powerful hardware or are unsuitable for children. The Lite edition contains 18 games and is about 654 MB, and the Big edition contains an additional 17 for a total of 35 games, and is about 4.36 GB. Both editions contain XChat for IRC, Arora for web browsing, and Mumble for voice chat. As well both versions support network booting and hosting support allowing one copy of the distribution to run on multiple computers over a LAN. The distribution is based off of Arch Linux and was originally developed by some member and staff of linuX-gamers.net, and is now primarily developed by Sven-Hendrik 'Svenstaro' Hasse. The distribution may be obtained through the sites download section or by downloading and compiling the source code from projects git hub page.

Installation/Startup

In this section, detail how you got the distribution up and running. Ideally, include a screenshot or two of the installation/boot procedure. Describe the setup of the virtualization software you used, if any. Also detail any problems you encountered and how you overcame them (or didn't).

Installation is very easy for lglive as it is a Live distribution meaning installation is as easy as downloading the iso and burning it to a CD/DVD or writing the iso to a USB flash drive. If on Windows, lglive recommends using InfraRecorder for burning to a CD/DVD and Win32DiskImager if writing to a USB flash drive. Both are available for free online. Once written you can then boot from the device you installed it on from almost any computer. You can also boot multiple computers from the same device over a network. Below are the different methods of Installinion and Startup.

Installation

Burn to a CD/DVD

  1. Download the latest version of lglive from [1].
  2. Place a blank CD or DVD of sufficient size for your selected version into your CD/DVD writer.
On Windows (with InfraRecorder)
  1. Open InfraRecorder. If not already installed you can download InfraRecorder from here.
  2. Select the "Write Image" option.
  3. When prompted locate and select the lglive iso you downloaded earlier.
  4. Select the appropriate drive from the drop down menu and press "OK".

Write to a USB Flash Drive

  1. Download the latest version of lglive from [2].
  2. Connect to your computer the flash drive you wish to install lglive on to.
  3. Back up any data or programs on the flash drive you wish to keep as all data on the flash drive will be lost.
On Windows
  1. Open Win32DiskImager. If not already installed you can download Win32DiskImager from here.
  2. Enter the appropriate path to the iso you downloaded earlier.
  3. Select the appropriate drive from the drop down menu and press "Write".
On Linux
  1. Open the terminal.
  2. Run the following command "dd if=/path/to/lglive.iso of=/dev/your-flash-drive bs=32M".

Startup

From CD/DVD or USB

  1. Insert the device on which you have installed linuX-gamers.net live.
  2. Boot the computer making sure to boot from the selected device.
  3. Select "Boot live.linux-gamers from" the boot menu.
  4. Select the appropriate language from the menu.

Over Local Area Network (LAN)

  1. Boot the host computer from a CD/DVD/USB.
  2. On the host computer right click on the desktop.
  3. Select "Host lglive in LAN". Only one computer may host on a network at a time.
  4. Boot all the other computers with "network boot". Some BIOS may require you to activate this from the BIOS menu.
  5. Select the appropriate language from the menu.

Basic Operation

Launch a Game or Program

Launching a game or program in lglive is extremely easy. Any program may be launched by clicking the appropriate item in the main desktop panels, or by right clicking on the desktop and selecting the program from the list provided.

Create a Persistent Home

Creating a persistent home allows settings to be saved on a computer between boots of lglive. Creating a persistent home requires the creation of a new partition to hold the settings information and thus should only be attempted by advanced users. To create a persistent home follow these steps:

  1. Open xterm.
  2. Enter the command "sudo cfdisk /dev/sda".
  3. Select a section of free space from the menu. If there is no free space you will need to resize one of your partitions.
  4. Once you have selected some free space, select "[New]", then "[Primary]", and then enter the amount of space you would like to use for the partition.
  5. Remember the name (sda#) of the partition you created and then select "[Write]".
  6. In xterm enter the command "mkfs.ext4 -L LGLIVE_HOME /dev/sda#" where sda# is the name of the partition you created.
  7. Now when booting select "Use persistent home" when prompted.

Create a Persistent Home

Creating a persistent home allows settings to be saved on a computer between boots of lglive. Creating a persistent home requires the creation of a new partition to hold the settings information and thus should only be attempted by advanced users. To create a persistent home follow these steps:

  1. Open xterm.
  2. Enter the command "sudo cfdisk /dev/sda".
  3. Select a section of free space from the menu. If there is no free space you will need to resize one of your partitions.
  4. Once you have selected some free space, select "[New]", then "[Primary]", and then enter the amount of space you would like to use for the partition.
  5. Remember the name (sda#) of the partition you created and then select "[Write]".
  6. In xterm enter the command "mkfs.ext4 -L LGLIVE_HOME /dev/sda#" where sda# is the name of the partition you created.
  7. Now when booting select "Use persistent home" when prompted.

Usage Evaluation

To what extent does your chosen distribution meet its design goals? What is your overall impression of it? Be candid and specific in your critique or praise.

References

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