A little Linux

[eevee]

I am posting in the hope that someone knows about small Linux distributions and can suggest likely candidates for consideration.

I have an old program, part written in ASM and part in QB. It runs under DOS. The last outing it had was about five years ago on DOS 6.2

There is good reason why I should update it. DOS drivers are getting impossible to find for new hardware, total Soundblaster compatability is fast disappearing, and Windows is getting more tightly integrated making it impossible to run a pure DOS environment. In any case the program uses BMP/WAV and it would be nice to take advantage of more recent formats like JPEG/PNG and OGG.

With this in mind I have been converting it to PureBasic for Windows and this is nearly complete. The next stage is to convert it for Linux. I will probably get a full-blown version of Linux onto my normal machine to facilitate this.

Why convert it to Linux (of which I know nothing)? Because it seems to offer an easier way of ending up with a sort of 'DOS look-alike' rather than having to start with something such as Win98, and trying to remove the bloat to the stripped down version that would be ideal. In any case there are issues with running up Windows (see next paragraph) which I doubt whether one can eliminate satisfactorily.

Appreciate that the required system is essentially a 'black-box'. It normally operates with a small five-key keyboard with no operator intervention. Most of the time the machine will be run up/shut down by the application or removal of the mains (yes I am aware it will be an ATX box and I am aware that live HDDs do not like this sort of treatment). By the way it is not a game - it just displays pictures with or without sound.

So I started to look at Linux. However when I search for Minimalist distributions at www.linux.org it comes up with a list of over 100 items! Granted many are obviously specialised such as firewalls and servers. It still leaves a lot to plough through especially when one knows nothing about the subject!

This list then are my requirements. I appreciate that some items may to totally irrelevant - for example I understand Ramdisc is part of the normal installation process with Linux.

HARDWARE
No mouse
No modem
No cd audio
No printer.
No CD support (other than for loading the OS)
Loads audio drivers (OGG codec)
Loads video drivers (PureBasic uses Vesa 3 compliance?)
Ramdisc is required
A mechanism for occassional (but very rare) data transfers. Perhaps USB. Perhaps via a network card. Whatever system is used, other hardware would only be connected to the machine during transfers.


SOFTWARE
Minimalist.
No GUI
No screen/power savers
No Internet
No challenges (such as asking for a password or 'mouse missing' indicator)
No previous state memory ('dirty' close-downs ignored on next run-up)
Security is not an issue
HDD spin down control? (although probably easier to set this through Bios?)
The PureBasic version uses screen mode so SDL(?) support required
'Autoexec' type application program launch

[GedB]

eevee,

As an ASM programmer who likes everything stripped bare, have you considered Menuetos.

http://www.menuetos.org/

Written in FASM, fits on a single floppy and has a Dosbox port available.

Failing that, a minimum Debian build is probably your best bet:

http://howtos.linux.com/howtos/Debian-B ... ndex.shtml

[eevee]

Many thanks for the Menuetos suggestion.

I am now in tears

I haven't programmed for PC in ASM for over ten years although I frequently use ASM on micro-processors.

Having spent a month looking at various languages, followed by a week with the Demo version of PureBasic and then another three weeks with the 'real thing' doing the conversion, I do not relish yet another re-write in another tongue!!

I shall certainly bear Menuetos in mind for other 'black-box' system level projects but for now I shall explore the Linux path further as the lesser work to implementation.

I have noted your Debian suggestion. Someone else has suggested puppy Linux off- board.

Once again, thanks for your interest.

[The_Pharao]

http://damnsmalllinux.org

[eevee]

Many thanks for the suggestion.

Last week I managed to put together a spare machine in order to start testing the various Linux versions that have been suggested to me here and elsewhere.

I started with some 'live CD' installs of which the main ones seem to be puppy Linux, Damn Small Linux and Austrumi. These were very impressive since they all came up running immediately, requiring not more than three questions being answered during loading.

I thought perhaps that for my minimalist requirements, I ought to look at Core Linux and BasicLinux. I may need to.

However I am so impressed with the general presentation of the the Live CD products mentioned above, that I am hoping to concentrate my efforts over the next few days on trying to understand how to install these to the hard disc.

After that it's a question of getting to know where the install scripts are and how to modify them in order to remove all the applications that I do not want.

Appreciate that this is all new to me - even the language of Linux is very strange!

Hopefully I will succeed. When I do, I will have to decide whether to stick with this reduced version of the Live products or whether I should move down one level to the very basic distributions such as Core and Basic Linux.

It's all very new, it's all a bit overwhelming and above all, it takes TIME!

Once sorted to Hdd, I will be in a position to download PureBasic for Linux and try to come to grips with that.

Many thanks to all, whether responding on-thread or by mail

If you have any further comments, I would welcome them.

[Kale]

Seen this one?:
http://www.dynebolic.org/

[eevee]

No I hadn't - thanks

[mskuma]

It's been a long time.. but eevee I'd be interested to hear how you went -- it would be interesting to hear what your final choice of Linux was, what influenced that, how the application development/testing process went for you, etc. Any summary of your experience gained would be valuable (I may be facing a similar thing myself soon)..

Puppy Linux certainly has a very active user group. I'm not sure about Damn Small Linux and Austrumi, but the former seems famous.

Anyway eevee, please tell us what happened.

Regards

[dracflamloc]

another vote here for damnsmall

[Intrigued]

Damn Small Linux, gets my vote.

*thumbs up*

[Dare2]

You guys using PureBasic with DSL?

[freak]

I have been using PB with DSL quite a while back. (dsl 0.9 i think)
I had to install quite a number of packages of course to make it work, but
the overall size was still very small.

More recently i have not been able to do it though. The problem is that DSL is not purely debian based,
and so some stuff is messed up when you try to get certain things with apt.
Well, and it seems they changed something, and now whenever i try to install
one of the required packages i get a "broken package" error.

Its a shame really, as imho DSL is the best linux to use in pc emulators, as it
uses very few resources and is very fast.

A good alternative for this is ubuntu lite: http://ubuntulite.org/ (about 200mb iso)
It took quite a while to install inside VirtualPC (on my ibook), but it was no problem
to install the packages required by PB, and is quite usable inside the emulator.

[Dare2]

Hi Freak,

Thanks for that info and the lite link.

So to this end the Operating system needs to be:

* Easily used by people with minimal computer skills
* Useable on a resurected system (see system specifications below)
* and is able to satisfy a typical users requirement of Applications and functionality.

That first point makes it sound really attractive to me.

I'll check it out.