Unix/Linux Distributions

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Page jumps: dsl shutdown puppy burncdcc tomsrbt knoppix isorecorder downloaded end

2007.09.12 - Minor page update.
2005.12.24 - One can be overwhelmed by the shear number of unix/linux distributions - they are EVERYWHERE ;=)) which is a good thing! ... below is the list of distribution I have downloaded so far, in less than a week, and some of my experiences along the way ...

Success at last, with 'damn small linux' (dsl)!

damnsmall.jpg image

The last first, since it is the easiest to SETUP. This should have you 'playing' with linux in just a few shakes. Sure, it is a very minimal distribution, and is still being formed, developed, but the real taste is there ... As a friend pointed out to me - first read - but as of 2007.09.12 the link fails ;=((
http://crmaykish.cr.funpic.org/articles/running-linux-inside-windows.php
Reading this should lead you to -
http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/download.html

As usual with downloads, make sure you know WHAT you want to download ... there are usually MANY files given on the (mirror) download sites, whether via ftp, or http ... sometimes you have to change the window view to correctly see their FULL names ... as you can see from the list below, I downloaded dsl-2.0-embedded.zip ... as of 2007.09.12 this has moved up to dsl-3.4.2-embedded.zip ... just +/- 50 MB ...

Of course, these days, being quite safety conscious, I also downloaded the dsl-2.0-embedded.zip.md5.txt, now dsl-3.4.2-embedded.zip.md5.txt, containing the MD5 digest for the zip file, and use my own copy of md5.exe (see md5-01.zip) to generate, and compare the two digests. See using md5sums for more information. If nothing else, this assures you that the FTP download process functioned perfectly, as it should ...

Once you have unzipped the files into say a C:\LINUX folder, and created a shortcut to the dsl-embedded.bat (now dsl-base.bat) found in there, it is as simple as (double) clicking on your desktop ICON ... the batch file will do the rest ...

In my case I found the new dsl window arrived at the bottom of my screen, and thus the lower centimetre of it was behind the windows status bar ... it took me some time to understand how the get my mouse back outside the DSL windows - hint: try a ctrl+alt key-in - ... Also, to shutdown DSL took me some time to find ... you can right click the mouse, and choose shutdown ... and be a little patient ... then 'windows' is back ...

It all worked fine ... I was able to open the 'terminal' window, and try out a few unix commands ... > ls -all, for example ... since I already have an ADSL connection up and running, the unix browser work flawlessly ... what a pleasant experience, all round ... a unix/linux distribution, dsl, FAST and SWEET ...

Of course, now I am looking for extensions ... I could not find the gcc compiler, for example ... I was able to download some things, but still unsure how to get them installed inside DSL ... time will tell ...

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Other trial and tribulations!

puppy4s.gif image

I downloaded puppy, from - http://www.goosee.com/puppy/download/downpage.htm - first the multi-session version, then the normal version, and burned them onto a CD-ROM, BUT both FAILED to BOOT ... I needed to learn MORE about burning an ISO image onto a CD ;=(( It is NOT as simple as 'burning' that file onto the CD ...

Then I downloaded BurnCDCC, from - http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/utilities.html - and burned up another CD-ROM, but it also FAILED TO BOOT ... 3 DEAD CD-ROMS! ... but a friend reported that he had no trouble using this program, and the puppy ISO file ... so some of the failure may have been in the older CD-ROM  hardware, and the fact that the BIOS of the PC used for the trial was well before the year 2000 ... 

Then I downloaded tomsrtbt - http://www.toms.net/rb/download.html - and tried to prepare a FLOPPY, but could not get the floppy written ... YUK! Not much success that day ;=()

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Moving onto Knoppix ...

knoppix-logo.gif image

Then I get to downloading an interesting distribution, from - http://www.knoppix.com/knoppix-cd.gif image - and I learn more about burning an ISO distribution onto a CD ...

It seems - Alex Feinman - has written a shell application ... and suggests it should have been included in the XP SP2 distribution, as part of the 'burning CD' technology which exists, but was not .. see -. http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/isorecorder.htm - points to the way ... in my case I first downloaded the version 1 of this 'power toy', and installed it, but it failed to find the blank CD in my CD-writer drive, and then I installed the v.2 MSI application ... see the download list below ... and it worked PERFECTLY ...

First, with this ISORecorder (v2) installed, when you view an ISO file in windows explorer you see, something like -
iso-01.pgg image

Wth ISORecorder (v2) installed, when you right click on this ISO file you should see -
iso-02.gif image

This offers you the possibility of 'copying' the ISO image to a CD (CD/r or CD/rw) ... selecting this 'Copy image to CD' allows you to BURN a 'knoppix CD' ... or any other ISO image file ... although 'burning a CD' was included in the 'standard' distribution of Windows XP, why was this ISO file burning NOT included? ... an unknowable question ...

Sometimes, when I tried to boot from this CD I got an error ... but if I persisted ... and it seems after I had booted the machine, the system, using a windows 98SE boot disk, I was able to 'boot knoppix' ... thus the transfer of the ISO image to the CD was a complete SUCCESS!

Running Knoppix linux from this CD boot is another question ... try it and see! ... of course, there is the massive SLOWNESS of everything must be loaded from the CD ... this is real SLOW ... but, from what I saw, this is truly linux, run from a CD ... everything in the distribution was there ... but you had to have immense patience, loading from a CD ...

More TIME is needed to explore this distribution ... but there was lots to try ... if you waited for the CD read/load ... I was too impatient, and shut it down prematurely ... but from what I saw, it LOOKED like linux, from a CD ... but, the burning question is, how to 'install' this CD distribution into the hard disk system existing?

As you may have read above, I already have a 'dsl' distribution running 'under' windows XP SP2, in my latest machine ... do I need to do more? In my mind, the answer is YES! ... I want to install  at least one of these unix/linux distributions into a machine where 'windows' has failed ... it had  windows 98 SE first, in C:\WINDOWS, then windows XP, in D:\WINDOWS, but both those systems now fail totally ... neither will now boot ... Can I install a linux distribution in this machine, and give it a second lease of life? I HOPE SO! Every thing I read read shouts YES ...

But, still some to learn ... ;=))

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List of DOWNLOADS

20/12/2005 02:11 PM  58,390,528 puppy-multisession-1.0.6-mozilla.iso
20/12/2005 02:57 PM  58,372,096 puppy-1.0.6-mozilla.iso
20/12/2005 03:15 PM      60,455 burncdcc.zip
20/12/2005 03:55 PM   1,829,836 tomsrtbt-2.0.103.tar.gz
20/12/2005 03:59 PM   2,242,580 tomsrtbt-2.0.103.dos.zip
23/12/2005 04:26 AM 727,289,856 KNOPPIX_V3.8.2-2005-05-05-EN.iso
24/12/2005 01:46 AM   1,336,832 ISORecorderSetup.msi
24/12/2005 02:06 AM     325,632 ISORecorderV2RC1.msi
24/12/2005 03:30 PM  50,503,638 dsl-2.0-embedded.zip - and LATER -
12/09/2007 11:27     52,097,553 dsl-3.4.2-embedded.zip

Here is a site listing over 300 CD/DVD bootable distributions - http://www.frozentech.com/content/livecd.php - of course, one wonders what is the difference between them ;=)) the site provides a link to the 'home' of each of these distributions ... 

*** TO BE CONTINUED, as, and when I get the time ;=)).

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