From: Rod Pemberton on
"Rugxulo" <rugxulo(a)gmail.com> wrote in message
news:153a52fb-80eb-4c97-b17d-26b0c4ae8cd4(a)e39g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
> lite Linux distro:

I've also been looking for a GCC development Linux distro that has:

1) (prefer) bootable CD .iso
2) (prefer) Live-CD to install
3) (required) unmountable CD
(Poorly setup /etc/fstab preventing unmounting the booted device is a
_problem_ with many Live-CD's and Linux recovery distro's. I can't load
additional software or Linux filesystems on another CD... )
4) (required) full C development environment: GCC, glibc, make, autoconf,
sh. etc.
5) (prefer) binary only, no source except C headers
5) (prefer) upto date kernel
6) dd, mount, umount, fdisk, find, ls (i.e., normal utils, not Busybox...)
7) VFAT support compiled into kernel
8) has no problem with 32Mb of RAM
9) has no problem with early 486's
10) no X, no multi-user, no additional packages

I know that's a nearly impossible request list. So, if you run across
distro that is "close enough," let me know...

Thanks.


Rod Pemberton

From: Evenbit on
On Apr 8, 4:53 am, "Rod Pemberton" <do_not_h...(a)nohavenot.cmm> wrote:
> "Rugxulo" <rugx...(a)gmail.com> wrote in message
>
> news:153a52fb-80eb-4c97-b17d-26b0c4ae8cd4(a)e39g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
>
> > lite Linux distro:
>
> I've also been looking for a GCC development Linux distro that has:
>
> 1) (prefer) bootable CD .iso
> 2) (prefer) Live-CD to install
> 3) (required) unmountable CD
> (Poorly setup /etc/fstab preventing unmounting the booted device is a
> _problem_ with many Live-CD's and Linux recovery distro's. I can't load
> additional software or Linux filesystems on another CD... )

Spend two bucks on a 1GB thumbdrive to which you can copy the Live-CD
to... thus freeing your CD-drive for other duties.

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/

> 4) (required) full C development environment: GCC, glibc, make, autoconf,
> sh. etc.
> 5) (prefer) binary only, no source except C headers
> 5) (prefer) upto date kernel
> 6) dd, mount, umount, fdisk, find, ls (i.e., normal utils, not Busybox...)
> 7) VFAT support compiled into kernel
> 8) has no problem with 32Mb of RAM
> 9) has no problem with early 486's

Numbers 8 and 9 generally conflict with the "not Busybox" requirement
of number 6. However, I have a Walnut Creek CD set here containing a
March 1995 Slackware that meets such requirements -- although it uses
a 1.2 kernel which would conflict with your [second] number 5.
{ remind me not to allow you to count my chickens! }

> 10) no X, no multi-user, no additional packages

"no multi-user" is anti-thetical to L'unix philosophy.

>
> I know that's a nearly impossible request list. So, if you run across
> distro that is "close enough," let me know...
>

You don't need a distro. You need to go straight to the horse's
mouth:

http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/

Nathan.
From: Rugxulo on
Hi,

On Apr 8, 3:53 am, "Rod Pemberton" <do_not_h...(a)nohavenot.cmm> wrote:
> "Rugxulo" <rugx...(a)gmail.com> wrote in message
>
news:153a52fb-80eb-4c97-
b17d-26b0c4ae8cd4(a)e39g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
>
> > lite Linux distro:
>
> I've also been looking for a GCC development Linux distro that has:
>
> 1) (prefer) bootable CD .iso

You said you'd tried Puppy (which now needs 128 MB of RAM, sadly) and
DSL (which needs approx. 32 MB minimum, it seems). I like the latter
(although I don't use it except very very very rarely, I'm not a
Linuxer).

> 2) (prefer) Live-CD to install

Ubuntu has this, but it's RAM greedy (as most are these days ...
supposedly 2.6.x needs 128 MB by default ... you could probably
recompile for less though).

> 3) (required) unmountable CD
> (Poorly setup /etc/fstab preventing unmounting the booted device is a
> _problem_ with many Live-CD's and Linux recovery distro's. I can't load
> additional software or Linux filesystems on another CD... )

I'm pretty positive Puppy can handle that since it claims to be able
to (as well as write back to CD). However, I think DSL loads
completely in RAM, so it doesn't need a CD after booting either. (And
yes, USB pen drives are very cheap now, so that may be your best bet:
< $20 gets you a good one, and DSL only needs 50 MB of space!)

> 4) (required) full C development environment: GCC, glibc, make, autoconf,
> sh. etc.

You can get an add-on for DSL: "gcc-with-libs" (or something like
that). You might have to type "mydsl-load gcc-with-libs.ucl" first to
load it (but it all goes to RAM, probably not a good idea for a 32 MB
machine).

Why, what do you wish to build? Anything in particular? (gNewSense has
GCC by default as does the older NetBSD liveCD. But I think both of
those need lots of RAM.)

I know DeLi supposedly has an add-on for GCC, so you could try that.

> 5) (prefer) binary only, no source except C headers

None have source by default except in separate downloads (AFAICT).

> 5) (prefer) upto date kernel

At least DeLi is in the 2.4.x series, and that's modern enough. At
least, for legacy hardware (< 128 MB RAM), you're supposedly much
better off running 2.4.x than newer 2.6.x. And they still backport
stuff to 2.4.x. (The final ZipSlack 11.0, based on 2.4.x due to UMSDOS
being yanked from the kernel in later versions, can run from FAT32,
e.g. FreeDOS.)

> 6) dd, mount, umount, fdisk, find, ls (i.e., normal utils, not Busybox...)

You can get the add-on for real GNU utils for DSL.

> 7) VFAT support compiled into kernel

VFAT means the LFN "volume attrib" hack for FAT partitions (FAT12,
FAT16, FAT32), right? I think they all support that. It's NTFS that
some don't fully support (although most modern "big" distros
apparently do).

> 8) has no problem with 32Mb of RAM
> 9) has no problem with early 486's

Even Debian (or Ubuntu) is only compiled for 486 ("runs better on
VIA"). That shouldn't be a problem. (And BTW, I don't think GCC even
does anything for 486 over 386 except alignment.)

> 10) no X, no multi-user, no additional packages

Try ZipSlack or DeLi. Or any *BSD for that matter (none come with X11/
XFree86 by default). DeLi doesn't have an official liveCD (though an
unofficial one can be found by searching the forum), but it's an
installer CD instead. I don't remember exactly what options you get
when trying to install, but the "bare minimum" is terminal only (needs
8 MB of RAM). So, be sure to try that.

The problem often seems to be KDE or the window manager using too much
RAM (as well as too many processes in the background). I'll be honest,
I don't know why DSL even needs 32 MB, it should be lower (IMHO).

> I know that's a nearly impossible request list. So, if you run across
> distro that is "close enough," let me know...

Again, I'm not a Linux user, just took a glance or two over the past
few months. It might be easier if you specified what you want the OS
itself to do, what specific programs you want to run, etc. If all you
want to do is edit, compile, play games, listen to music, FreeDOS will
do all that. (I shudder to suggest Arachne because of all the hassle
involved with packet drivers. But some people love it, too!) ;-)

P.S. http://www.osnews.com
From: Rod Pemberton on
"Evenbit" <nbaker2328(a)charter.net> wrote in message
news:7a100526-ebbf-4550-b278-4942fafc37da(a)m1g2000pre.googlegroups.com...
> On Apr 8, 4:53 am, "Rod Pemberton" <do_not_h...(a)nohavenot.cmm> wrote:
> > "Rugxulo" <rugx...(a)gmail.com> wrote in message
> >
> >
news:153a52fb-80eb-4c97-b17d-26b0c4ae8cd4(a)e39g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
> >
> > > lite Linux distro:
> >
> > I've also been looking for a GCC development Linux distro that has:
> >
> > 1) (prefer) bootable CD .iso
> > 2) (prefer) Live-CD to install
> > 3) (required) unmountable CD
> > (Poorly setup /etc/fstab preventing unmounting the booted device is a
> > _problem_ with many Live-CD's and Linux recovery distro's. I can't load
> > additional software or Linux filesystems on another CD... )
>
> Spend two bucks on a 1GB thumbdrive to which you can copy the Live-CD
> to... thus freeing your CD-drive for other duties.
>
> http://www.pendrivelinux.com/
>

That would work for a newer PC... add +$30USD for USB card for old PC.

> > 4) (required) full C development environment: GCC, glibc, make,
autoconf,
> > sh. etc.
> > 5) (prefer) binary only, no source except C headers
> > 5) (prefer) upto date kernel
> > 6) dd, mount, umount, fdisk, find, ls (i.e., normal utils, not
Busybox...)
> > 7) VFAT support compiled into kernel
> > 8) has no problem with 32Mb of RAM
> > 9) has no problem with early 486's
>
> Numbers 8 and 9 generally conflict with the "not Busybox" requirement
> of number 6.

I was hoping that Number 5 would counteract much of the space constraints as
well as the unstated remove all other useless bin, sbin files... i.e.,
Number 6 "only". No, I need "less", "sh", and ???? also...

> However, I have a Walnut Creek CD set here containing a
> March 1995 Slackware that meets such requirements -- although it uses
> a 1.2 kernel which would conflict with your [second] number 5.
> { remind me not to allow you to count my chickens! }
>

I seem to recall giving those away... Yeah, I don't think that kernel
wouldn't work on that machine back then... I'd like a new kernel, with new
GCC...

> > 10) no X, no multi-user, no additional packages
>
> "no multi-user" is anti-thetical to L'unix philosophy.

It looked like DeLi started sh directly and had no getty... Sniff, it... it
warmed my heart!

> > I know that's a nearly impossible request list. So, if you run across
> > distro that is "close enough," let me know...
> >
>
> You don't need a distro. You need to go straight to the horse's
> mouth:
>
> http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/
>

I'll take a look, but it's likely to mean I need a decent machine with a
wipeable HD to build it all, right? Still working on that...


Rod Pemberton

From: Rod Pemberton on
"Rugxulo" <rugxulo(a)gmail.com> wrote in message
news:b1045907-f70e-4040-b518-f7c27bc8d440(a)b64g2000hsa.googlegroups.com...
> You said you'd tried Puppy (which now needs 128 MB of RAM, sadly) and
> DSL (which needs approx. 32 MB minimum, it seems). I like the latter
> (although I don't use it except very very very rarely, I'm not a
> Linuxer).
>

One of the ones I tried claimed 32Mb but actually needed more... I think it
reported 40 or 48 on a different machine.

> I'm pretty positive Puppy can handle that since it claims to be able
> to (as well as write back to CD). However, I think DSL loads
> completely in RAM, so it doesn't need a CD after booting either.

What was odd was Puppy had a non-bootable development filesystem as an .iso
image, but it wouldn't let me unmount the Live-CD... I've seen a few
recovery CD's that allow unmounting the booted CD. Usually, the /etc/fstab
lines for the mounted image are removed.

> Why, what do you wish to build? Anything in particular? (gNewSense has
> GCC by default as does the older NetBSD liveCD. But I think both of
> those need lots of RAM.)

No, nothing particular. Just occasional need to compile various random GPL
stuff on Linux with upto date GCC, glibc, and sometimes kernel.

> > 7) VFAT support compiled into kernel
>
> VFAT means the LFN "volume attrib" hack

Doh! Er, wait a minute... Windows VFAT is 32-bit disk routines. Linux
VFAT is the name for it's FAT filesystem support, right?

> for FAT partitions (FAT12,
> FAT16, FAT32), right? I think they all support that. It's NTFS that
> some don't fully support (although most modern "big" distros
> apparently do).
>

I want FAT12, FAT32X, etc. compiled in. I've seen a few recovery CD's that
didn't have it.


Rod Pemberton