A Lightweight Linux distro such as DeliLinux?

[coin]

How easy would it be to replace the Basic Linux and tomsrtbt Linux boots in UBCD411 with DeLi Linux ??
Its main website is http://www.delilinux.org/ and a DeLi 0.8 core ISO - console is 60 MB.
That's larger than Damn Small Linux, but just about the size of the alternate Puppy Linux, so DeLi with the UBCD could all fit into a 200MB 80mm miniCD.
DeLi forum is at http://www.delilinux.org/forum/ and DeLi would seem decent for PC's of lower hardware specs that originally had Windows 9x installed.

Victor Chew and Icecube give some suggestions for integrating Damn Small Linux into the UBCD that could similarly apply for DeLi :
'HOWTO: Integrate DSL (Damn Small Linux) with the UBCD V4', viewtopic.php?t=880

Note that the top-level structure of the latest DeLi .iso is something like

Code: Select all

/isolinux
........./sbootmgr
..bzImage
..initrd.gz
..isolinux.bin
..isolinux.boot
..isolinux.cfg
..iso.sort
..message.txt
..scsi

/pkg
Changelog
INSTALL

I'd guess that the sbootmgr subdirectory, the isolinux/isolinux.bin file, the isolinux/isolinux.boot file, the Changelog file and INSTALL could all be safely deleted similar to the suggestions in the referred post for getting DSL to boot within the UBCD.
The /pkg directory would have to be kept intact just like for the KNOPPIX subdirectory in DSL.
Not certain what exact changes are needed in DeLi's isolinux/isolinux.cfg file.

Any good suggestions here??

[Icecube]

UBCD50 beta 5 includes Parted Magic 3.0. Parted Magic isn't happy with PC's with less RAM than 300 MiB though .

Basic linux and tomstbt Linux can be run without installing, Deli Linux needs to be installed to do something useful.

Here are the instructions for incorporating Deli Linux in UBCD v4.11

Extract the UBCD iso to c:\ubcd-extract\.
Extract the DELI Linux iso to c:\deli-extract\

Make a directory named deli in c:\ubcd-extract\:
Copy the following files of c:\deli-extract\isolinux\ to c:\ubcd-extract\deli\:

bzImage
initrd.gz
isolinux.cfg
message.txt
scsi

Copy the contents of c:\deli-extract\pkg\ to c:\ubcd-extract\pkg.

Edit c:\ubcd-extract\deli\isolinux.cfg to:

default /deli/bzImage initrd=/deli/initrd.gz load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=0 ramdisk_size=6464 rw root=/dev/ram
prompt 1
timeout 1200
display /deli/message.txt
label linux
kernel /deli/bzImage
append initrd=/deli/initrd.gz load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=0 ramdisk_size=6464 rw root=/dev/ram
label scsi
kernel /deli/scsi
append initrd=/deli/initrd.gz load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=0 ramdisk_size=6464 rw root=/dev/ram

The CONFIG command loads the isolinux config file for Deli Linux, with all options as the normal Deli Linux cd, but this requires a new version of isolinux.
Download syslinux from http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/boot/syslinux/.
Extract the syslinux archive to "c:\syslinux\".

To update isolinux for the CD version
- Copy "c:\syslinux\core\isolinux.bin" to "c:\ubcd-extract\isolinux\".
- Copy "c:\syslinux\com32\menu\menu.c32" to "c:\ubcd-extract\isolinux\"
- Copy "c:\syslinux\com32\modules\chain.c32" to "c:\ubcd-extract\isolinux\"
- Copy "c:\syslinux\memdisk\memdisk" to "c:\ubcd-extract\isolinux\"

To update syslinux for the bootable USB key
- Copy "c:\syslinux\core\ldlinux.sys" to "c:\ubcd-extract\syslinux\".
- Copy "c:\syslinux\mbr\mbr.bin" and "c:\syslinux\ldloader.bss" to "c:\ubcd-extract\tools\ubcd2usb\".
- Copy "c:\syslinux\com32\menu\menu.c32" to "c:\ubcd-extract\syslinux\"
- Copy "c:\syslinux\com32\modules\chain.c32" to "c:\ubcd-extract\syslinux\"
- Copy "c:\syslinux\memdisk\memdisk" to "c:\ubcd-extract\syslinux\"

Change /custom/custom.cfg to:

MENU INCLUDE /menus/defaults.cfg
LABEL back
MENU LABEL ..
KERNEL menu.c32
APPEND /menus/main.cfg
LABEL deli
MENU LABEL Deli Linux v0.8.0
CONFIG /deli/isolinux.cfg

[coin]

@Icecube,
Thanks for your speedy response with the above details of incorporating DeLi 0.8.0 into UBCD411
I note that the bottom bolded section with the updates to isolinux and syslinux are the exact same instructions as for the other distros (e.g., DSL) requiring your CONFIG recommendations in delineated codepage boxes.

You wrote:

UBCD50 beta 5 includes Parted Magic 3.0. Parted Magic isn't happy with PC's with less RAM than 300 MiB though Sad.

Basic linux and tomstbt Linux can be run without installing, Deli Linux needs to be installed to do something useful.

Unfortunately that's a very good point; many PCs I see have less RAM than 300MB ---- installed RAM on these seem to pretty much go [upwards] in order as 48MB, 64MB, 96MB, 128MB, and then (if fortunate!) 192MB and 256MB.
tomsrtbt, Basic Linux, Trinux, Damn Small Linux, and SystemRescueCD all work on these PC's, so UBCD411 would have to be the way to go for using DeLi Linux based upon the above suggestions.

Another problem is that if DeLi does indeed need to be installed "to do something useful", then this just doesnt't cut it as a UBCD411 bootable/rescue/utilities Linux distro


OTOH, there is the possibility that there could be a useful DeLi LiveCD via MaraDNS's 'MOOF', http://maradns.blogspot.com/2007/06/moo ... eased.html
Takes less than 40MB without additional packages, so even with adding the DeLi packages to really "do something useful", this should still come out to the 60MB ballpark-range of the installable parent DeLi Linux while being a functional liveCD

Guess that
1. I'll stick to UBCD411 rather than UBCD50 beta5 for now.
2. I could remaster UBCD411 with Slax (http://www.slax.org/get_slax.php) using the forum suggestions of 'How to add Slax Live CD to UBCD?' at viewtopic.php?t=1377&highlight=slax
The UBCD411 CD with Slax would obviously have to be larger than 200MB to fit the remaining UBCD411 software!
3) Once Slax is bootable from UBCD411, I can use this to go through the Linux Live scripts at http://www.linux-live.org/ along with moof and DeLi.
4) Then, I'd re-review Icecube's CONFIG and isolinux suggestions above, make the edits, and trim the UBCD411 apps/packages to get a nice working moof bootable from inside a 200MB miniCD.