Linux Distro Recommendations Please
 

Ok, here's a thread that's gonna cause some disagreement :D

What I need is a Linux distribution that meets the following criteria:

1. Should be lightweight, using minimal system resources;
2. Should have a simple installation mechanism;
3. Should only install the bare minimum of software/applications (networking, GUI, etc), or should allow applications that are to be installed to be chosen at the time of installation;
4. Should be easy to add applications to, to configure, and to customise, following installation;
5. Should be fairly easy to use generally (nothing too exotic, I know things like Slax can be a pain) - preferably something with the 'user friendliness' of Ubuntu.

Essentially I want something that I can install as a base build, with next to nothing installed/running, and then add my own applications/tools to as I go along. Ideally the package manager would be capable of resolving any dependencies for me in the same way that Synaptic does in Ubuntu.

I've looked at using Ubuntu as a base, but it seems to install too much stuff (games, office applications, media applications, etc) that just isn't needed - frankly I have enough to do with installing the tools that I want without having to uninstall a heap of stuff before I can get started :)

Thanks guys :)

Re: Linux Distro Recommendations Please
 

HHHmmm - have you looked at dsl
http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/

---------- Post added at 14:48 ---------- Previous post was at 14:47 ----------

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damn_Small_Linux

Re: Linux Distro Recommendations Please
 

Looks good, but it still seems to install a whole load of stuff that I just don't need :erm:

I think what I really need is Ubuntu without any of the applications :D

Re: Linux Distro Recommendations Please
 

sounds like you should just install ubuntu but in a minimal fashion.

Re: Linux Distro Recommendations Please
 

Is there an option to do that within Ubuntu? I haven't installed it for a while, but can't recall seeing an option to install just the very basics (unless I missed it :) ).

Re: Linux Distro Recommendations Please
 

Any use? http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=9670

As for GUI, I did used to run XFCE on my (cue coughing from other mod :D) linux server. Runs quite quickly on limited resources. Xubuntu is pre-built with it.

Re: Linux Distro Recommendations Please
 

Try finding the alternative installation CD images for xubuntu. This gives you more control on what's happening at the expense of a graphical installer (text based menus).

Re: Linux Distro Recommendations Please
 

Cheers guys, will have to look at this from home tonight - our Internet connection sucks here at work and it's going to take ages to download the ISOs :(

Re: Linux Distro Recommendations Please
 

slax can be a pain, how so?, if you cant learn to install and boot a simple Slax and simply copy/delete to add/remove any apps you might want to it, then linux (or windows or anything other than your basic put in the cd and power up games console) isnt for you to be quite blunt.

essentually its:
1)Format your usb drive with HP-USB Format tool
2)Copy the 2 directories to your usb drive
3) lunch a bat or sh command depending on what OS your in at the time,simple.


from inside windows XP for instance.

take one USB stick, format it with the real old HP-USB Format tool to make it a real primary boot device.
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport...X-UNITY-I23839

get eather the
http://www.slax.org/get_slax.php?download=tar
or the LiveCD
http://www.slax.org/get_slax.php?download=iso

or even the new test 6.8 rc6 with Pxe server to Pxe boot any other lan connected pc to that slax image if you like ,NO other generic user linux liveCD does this Pxe booting out of the box currently.

its a real cool option to use for fixing,servicing and playing your remote LAN files and video with the addition of the VLC module for instance.

ftp://ftp.slax.org/testing/slax-test/slax608-rc6.iso

copy the /boot and the /slax dirs to the top of the USB stick.

cd in to the new /boot dir and run the bootinst.bat script from a dos shell

grab any of the self contained modules you might like to use here
http://www.slax.org/modules.php
and copy them to the /slax/modules dir of your stick.

if you forget any modules or just want to try them on the fly,you dont even need to install them to your boot device, you can simply search on the module you want in the above website and click it to install it directly, it stays there in memory until next reboot.

ok so you dont want to use simple,cheap and quick USB sticks but rather a real clean HD, so do a search for your prefered way,there are many threads instructing you how, heres just one such simple option.

http://www.slax.org/forum.php?action=view&parentID=7602

BTW slax lzm files are just plain linux compressed so can be used on any other linux once you understand how to install it....

the easy way to find what you might want to use if its not already in the slax modules site is to see whats in the full blown slacks sites apps , and run the slax provided tools over them to then use in slax.

read the slax forum site to learn how to make your own modules for your use, and how you can convert your USB stick to a liveCD and back again etc.

of all the linux, slax is as simple as it gets for most windows people to use and get a handle on the apps without really needing to mess to much in the shell.

you could be up and running in 10 minutes and adding your own self contained modules from then on.

making it as light or as heavy as you like, and with the added bonus you can take your slax with you and continue were you left off by simply booting it on some other PC somewere else,and zero pain involved.

find a more versitile,flexible,small and simple linux distro than that and your doing well.

Re: Linux Distro Recommendations Please
 

Dont know if you went the mentioned Slax route yet but barebones *buntu is simple enough and only requires an initial 10MB download rather than the 700MB
http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/minimal

Re: Linux Distro Recommendations Please
 

popper,

Can I assume that there's a way to create modules for slax that don't currently exist?

Is that mechanism fail-proof and simple?

For example, if I discover an automated web application scanning tool that I want to use can I simply create a new module for it? Do do I have to have the source files for it in order to create the module? Can I get modules/create modules for everything that I need to use? How easy is it to update the modules as new features are added or applications are updated?

If I have a slax distro which already has a module in that I want can I simply copy the module from that distro into another?

Re: Linux Distro Recommendations Please
 

sure, as i said search on slax MB and you will find the answer or one of the guys will perhaps make it for you if you make it easy for them and point them to source or the binary package your interested in.

heres a list for you to look at and try, add any missing descriptions to the packages you know as it needs some updating if you have the time.
http://slax.scribblewiki.com/Module_List

just follow the usual linux rules, if its a binary package you want to use, its better BUT NOT ESSENTIAL to find one thats using the same kernel as your used slax.

by default theres a GCC package+ included (you can remove that devel or any others, other than 001-core.lzm OC from the stick if you like but its small so takes up no real space on todays sticks) so you can compile most source thats not already badly broken, just practice with something you already know and follow the basic rules as set out here (i did that basic search for you already to save time ;) )

http://www.slax.org/documentation_create_modules.php
"Create new modules

There are many ways how to create Slax modules. All commands described here work directly in Slax, but can also work in your own distribution. For that case, download linux-live scripts and run ./install. Get Linux-Live scripts here. The following command will convert Slackware's TGZ package to Slax module:
...
"
http://www.slax.org/documentation_cr...ules_rules.php
"How to create Slax modules the right way
Slax modules may be created any way you like, as long as you are the only one who use them.
But if you wish to share your modules with other users, you have to follow several rules described in this document. The rules are designed to benefit the end user at the first place; so if you disobey them, your module will never be accepted for the official Slax repository.
Technical overview

Slax module is a compressed squashfs filesystem with .lzm extension. The module is created by a mksquashfs utility and may be extracted (unpacked) using unsquashfs. Both these tools must be patched (modified) to support LZMA compression algorithm. These utilities are already included in Slax.
Every Slax module contains all files and directories with full path. For example, a module with bash (the binary and some man pages) would look like this:
....
"
and yes if you find an existing module in another slax based distro then you simply copy it over to the modules dir as already explained, or click it to auto unpack it and mount it to the right place.

there is a slight problem in that some of the old non official modules and a few old official slax 5 ones to, just stopped working due to changes on the newest slax 6/7 but the guys on the MB will help you fix them if you cant find the answer posted there already.

no source required if you already have a binary +dependencys that works.
if there exists working code or linux binarys then you can make a module with practice, as already pointed out, the slax is just linux thats squashed and layed out as its required for the distro to work.

updating modules is as easy as copying it over to the /modules dir and rebooting or running from somewere, a drive,another stick, a webpage if you have net access etc and having it auto insert itself into your current booted running slax.

did you try that pre-configured slax Pxe booting another lan PC yet, he's looking for any errors you might find so he can try and fix them, it works perfectly for me though so no problems to report.

Re: Linux Distro Recommendations Please
 

Thanks for all that - I'm at home tomorrow so I'll give it a good look :)

Re: Linux Distro Recommendations Please
 

ohh i didnt try it but this gui might work for some ,its dated
Submitted: May 5 2007
Updated: May 1 2008
so it might be updated to work with the current slax 6/7as apposed the old slax 5 way, let us know if you try it and it works for you.

http://www.kde-apps.org/content/show...?content=57678

Re: Linux Distro Recommendations Please
 

What about a Minimal Debian install.

Ubuntu is Deiban based anyway so if your used to the package-management on ubuntu you should find it pretty much the same on debian depending on which repository's you use.

I usually use the Net-install disc providing it can find the Nic its simple.
Just uncheck everything (Even "Standard Desktop") and you will get a very basic Debian installation which just brings up a command shell when you login.

then you can use apt to install what you want (Gui.etc)
Infact you can use synamptic in Debian since its just a gui front end to apt anyway.

Re: Linux Distro Recommendations Please
 

Re: Linux Distro Recommendations Please
 

Hmm that looks like it might work nicely on my EEE might try it.

EDIT:

Had a quick play not bad but won't fully support the EEE out of the box (not suprising really) think ill stick with eee-ubuntu for now, just installing the new version actually :)

Re: Linux Distro Recommendations Please
 

I recently tried using an alternate xubuntu install to do a minimal command line install and then just installed bits and bobs, but some of the tutorials I found didn't seem to work, and so I had to mix and match bits from various places to try to get xorg to work properly for xwindows. But it didn't seem to good.

So I installed Ubuntulite http://ubuntulite.tuxfamily.org/ on my old PII450 and it's OK.

before either of those I tried openSUSE 11.0, which run ok using jwm, but did install a lot of bloat. ( I use it on my main PC and like it)

DSL was mentioned earlier and is about as lean and mean as it gets. Puppy Linux is nice to, or there's a few variations of PCLinuxOS, or vector linux.

Those are all aimed at ppl who want an up and running lightweight desktop so may not be what you want.

As mentioned earlier the debian net install from what I've read is a good way to get what you want and may be what I try next if I get unhappy with ubunutlite.

If you want to go hardcore try Slackware or do it from scratch:http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/ :)

Re: Linux Distro Recommendations Please
 

slacks (aka slackware, that slax is build from, livecd scripts etc) is hardly hardcore though LOL,
for real hardcore theres only one real option and thats Gentoo http://www.gentoo-wiki.com/Main_Page

it seems to run ok on the ppc soc based Efika fine and play HD (old DivX aka mpeg4-part2) content http://www.gentoo-wiki.com/Efika so should be fine on any x86 kit you care to try.

must get around to trying a LFS one day when im in the mood ;) thanks for that i keep forgetting it.


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