Folks,
I might be polluting this list, but I'm having several questions and
observations, so I thought that sending a mail to Urs wouldn't be the bes
t
choice.
I was looking for a *reliable* Linux distro that would work fast with a
8-y.o. low-end laptop (HP Omnibook XE3, Celeron-128k, 850 MHz, 256 MB RAM
PC-100, slow CD-ROM).
Believe me or not, after having tried and ditched (or just ditched) sever
al
"lightweight distros", I've found SL 5.2 "mini_livecd" with IceWM as bein
g
remarkably fast and light, and this... even as a LiveCD!
I had several reasons to choose this distro as a possible candidate:
-- RHEL clone means something (including long-time support);
-- I've used it in the past (alongside CentOS and StartCom);
-- I'm always stunned when reading a SL release notes document (I've rere
ad
SL 5.3 Relnotes), because there are so many interesting additions "out of
the box", i.e. on the install media: wireless, XFS, IceWM, etc. etc.
-- I needed something to support more than the braindead ext3, whereas Re
d
Hat refuses to consider both XFS and JFS; I personally prefer JFS, but fo
r
some unknown reason the Linux developers chose to prefer to actively supp
ort
&& improve XFS (am I wrong, or XFS is much older as a technology
than the
JFS2 that's used in Linux? then why is JFS so very much ignored?);
-- and, of course, there is a mini_livecd that can be tested for that pur
pose.
** Question #1: Can one perform an X install with IceWM by only using the
disc1? (SL.53.031909.CD.i386.disc1.iso)
Not knowing the answer to this question, I have installed from
mini_livecd_SL52_2008-08-14.iso, and I've performed a full update afterwa
rds.
** Issue #1: The install script assumes ext3, so I had to edit
/usr/bin/livecd-install and to change "mkfs.ext3" with "mkfs.xfs -f", and
then in a second place "ext3" with "xfs" (for fstab).
** Question #2: Urs, could the script be modified (e.g. for
mini_livecd_SL53) to accept a CLI parameter to specify the filesystem typ
e?
** Issue #2: Maybe I'm dumb, but the installed system was with autologin
on
sluser. As I am not used with autologins under Linux, I pathetically fail
ed
to change this behavior. What should I have done? Can't this default
behavior be changed?
** Issue #3: Performing the full 5.2->5.3 update retrieves the kernel
2.6.18-128, but xfs-2.6.18-128.1.1.el5.i686 is not pulled in, so booting
the
new kernel leads to a panic. Should I take it as a bug?
** Issue #4: I noticed that on mini_livecd, IceWM has a limited menu,
corresponding to the installed X apps. On the installed system, once I ad
ded
some more apps, only GIMP was automatically added to the IcewM menu. Is t
his
normal? I've seen on Debian a fully-populated IceWM menu! Should I force
the
reinstallation of IceWM from the repos, or should I install from the
official CD-set (with Anaconda), would IceWM behave differently?
** Question #3: Urs, as the mini_livecd is very small and light, could yo
u
make (a future version of it) more usable by adding nedit on it, especial
ly
that nedit is now provided by the TUV itself? (Nedit is only on the LiveD
VD.)
** Question #4: I understand that the number of SL-added packages has to
be
very limited for obvious reasons, however, as long as the mini_livecd is
a
small gem that deserves a larger usage (it's very usable as is, it just
lacks a few apps), could you make the compromise of accepting to add a
lightweight graphical filemanager on it? I have personally found Xfe very
light and very nice. I have merely installed the following two RPMs, and
it
worked flawlessly!
http://roland65.free.fr/xfe/data/fox-1.6.33-1.i386.rpm
http://downloads.sourceforge.net/xfe/xfe-1.19.2-1.i386.rpm
Of course, should you accept to add Xfe to the mini_livecd, it should be
rebuilt, and hopefully you'll accept it as a general addition to SL (i.e.
also in the repos). Or, should you find PCManFM a better choice... (I gue
ss
it's heavier though).
Also part of the same question: obviously, post-install everyone could ad
d
whatever they want from all kind of repos (including ATrmps, DAG/RPMforge
and possibly EPEL, although EPEL should not be mixed /enabled simultaneou
sly
with the others), but I hope someone will find motivating the idea to hav
e
an extremely functional mini_livecd. I therefore respectfully (but
strongly!) suggest to add 2 more apps from EPEL (which is a trustworthy
repo) on the next issue of the mini_livecd, and hopefully to integrate th
em
into SL as official additions:
-- gqview (because it's light and it's even in EPEL5);
-- rxvt-unicode-9.05 (aka urxvt), which is also in EPEL5.
With nedit, xfe, gqview and rxvt-unicode, the "rescue minicd" would becom
e a
fully-fledged LiveCD usable "as is" for general purpose and by anyone! (A
media player might be needed for recreation purposes; I prefer gxine-0.5.
11
from RpmForge, but for such a minicd, a console player might be a better
choice, e.g. http://mp3blaster.sourceforge.net/pics/mp3blaster.png, albei
t
mp3blaster doesn't play streams.)
I might be able to help with the testing (I guess), but I have never buil
t a
LiveCD, and it's not clear to me from www.livecd.ethz.ch if I would have
whatever necessary (scripts, the step-by-step livecd building procedure)
to
cook my own spin of something like mini_livecd_SL53.
I was not a fan of IceWM in recent times (I used to somewhat like it prio
r
to circa 1997-1999, when it was < icewm-0.9), but now that I discovered h
ow
*light* it is... whee!
(Most of this is also on my blog:
http://beranger.org/v3/wordpress/2009/03/23/dropping-lightweight-distro-a
fter-lightweight-distro/)
Sorry for the outrageous length && mess of this post.
All the best,
the said Béranger
P.S. Is SL 5.3 Live planned to happen any time ever?
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