linuxdc-dev

RE: [linuxdc-dev] New to this list, many questions

[Starman <st...@ma...>]

Thanks for the reply.

About the development environment, is there a favorite flavor/distro of
Linux people are using to do development work? I could hook up a spare
PC from work here to try things out. I'd just like to be on the same
page as others. I like Linux (of course) but I have no personal
preference over which distro to use, so whatever distro everyone else is
using I'll go with.

What is a userland? :). Is it a DC thing or a Linux kernel thing because
I've been using Linux for many years and never heard that term. Then
again, I've NEVER done any Linux kernel work before.

About my comment on the VMU - it was wrong of me to use the word
"settings".
Linux's file system is very robust. However, there's no hard drive on a
DC unless you use bitmaster's. That said, what if I want to add a user
and set their password? Or, what if I wanted to change the IP address on
the fly? If the DC loses power or if I have to reboot it, how are things
like this saved? Is it something that should be added to the iso image
before burning it? I was thinking about somehow using the VMU as a
writable file system, and when the iso is burned, symlink certain files
to the VMU instead of the CD so that they can be writable. This way, on
a crash/reboot/power failure, nothing's lost. The DC can reboot and
point to /dev/vmu (as an example) getting what it needs. I see you said
that a VMU filesystem doesn't work yet, but it's a nice idea.

This brings me to my next question - does anyone even add users with
this or does everyone run as root?

Does DC Linux depend on a VM file system, or can it link to a file
system on another Linux box using the BBA? Meaning...if I want to run
Apache on this (which I do..as a goof. Imagine telling your friends your
web server runs on a DC!), how do I update files if the iso is burned?
If I want to change a file, do I have to burn a whole new image?

Maybe I'm getting the wrong idea of how DC Linux boots. I did a lot of
reading, but I'm sure I have a lot more. Does booting Linux on a DC
DEPEND on a complete iso image, or does it depend on having a connection
to another Linux machine via the BBA?

I don't have a BBA yet (hopefully tomorrow) so that's why I'm stuck on
this idea of an iso - I have no way to connect to anything outside the
box at the moment.

Mike

RE: [linuxdc-dev] New to this list, many questions

[Starman <sta...@co...>]

I just won an auction for a BBA on eBay, and as a backup, I'm getting
another from someone in my area.

Hopefully I can get it together this weekend.

Mike

> > I don't have a BBA yet (hopefully tomorrow) so that's why I'm stuck
on
> > this idea of an iso - I have no way to connect to anything outside
the
> > box at the moment.
> >

Starman: There's always serial.  My first kernels were sent over a 56700
bps link, go checkout dcload-serial and the sh-ipl+g package on
ftp.m17n.org.  There are a few places (lik-sang) that carry a DC
serial->PC
adapter, it's about $25 USD.

M. R.

Re: [linuxdc-dev] New to this list, many questions

[Adrian M. <ad...@mc...>]

On Friday 06 Sep 2002 2:04 pm, Starman wrote:
> Thanks for the reply.
>
> About the development environment, is there a favorite flavor/distro of
> Linux people are using to do development work? I could hook up a spare
> PC from work here to try things out. I'd just like to be on the same
> page as others. I like Linux (of course) but I have no personal
> preference over which distro to use, so whatever distro everyone else is
> using I'll go with.

People are using different ones. Perhaps more debian than anything else. But 
I'm an RH user.

>
> What is a userland? :). Is it a DC thing or a Linux kernel thing because
> I've been using Linux for many years and never heard that term. Then
> again, I've NEVER done any Linux kernel work before.
>
Userland simply means the GNU bit of GNU/Linux - ie everything else!

> About my comment on the VMU - it was wrong of me to use the word
> "settings".
> Linux's file system is very robust. However, there's no hard drive on a
> DC unless you use bitmaster's. That said, what if I want to add a user
> and set their password? Or, what if I wanted to change the IP address on
> the fly? If the DC loses power or if I have to reboot it, how are things
> like this saved? Is it something that should be added to the iso image
> before burning it? I was thinking about somehow using the VMU as a
> writable file system, and when the iso is burned, symlink certain files
> to the VMU instead of the CD so that they can be writable. This way, on
> a crash/reboot/power failure, nothing's lost. The DC can reboot and
> point to /dev/vmu (as an example) getting what it needs. I see you said
> that a VMU filesystem doesn't work yet, but it's a nice idea.
>

The VMU is not a substitute for a hard drive. Too slow for a start. If you 
compile in the driver (and the kernel's simple mtd char driver) you get a 
/dev/mtd/0 device and you can read and write to it, but each read takes about 
1/60 second and each write 1/15 second. Though, I suppose your approach could 
work in theory, but probably better to use NFS to slove that problem.

> This brings me to my next question - does anyone even add users with
> this or does everyone run as root?

Well, I am running as root. But you can go multiuser.

>
> Does DC Linux depend on a VM file system, or can it link to a file
> system on another Linux box using the BBA? Meaning...if I want to run
> Apache on this (which I do..as a goof. Imagine telling your friends your
> web server runs on a DC!), how do I update files if the iso is burned?
> If I want to change a file, do I have to burn a whole new image?
>

Run NFS.

> Maybe I'm getting the wrong idea of how DC Linux boots. I did a lot of
> reading, but I'm sure I have a lot more. Does booting Linux on a DC
> DEPEND on a complete iso image, or does it depend on having a connection
> to another Linux machine via the BBA?
>

Can be either.

> I don't have a BBA yet (hopefully tomorrow) so that's why I'm stuck on
> this idea of an iso - I have no way to connect to anything outside the
> box at the moment.
>
> Mike
>
>
>
>
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Re: [linuxdc-dev] New to this list, many questions

[M. R. B. <mr...@0x...>]

* Adrian McMenamin <ad...@mc...> on Fri, Sep 06, 2002:

>=20
> People are using different ones. Perhaps more debian than anything else. =
But=20
> I'm an RH user.
>=20

Homegrown?  There's only the debian distro that I know of, and Gentoo which
is in the works but hasn't been released yet.  Everything else is built
from scratch (not to be confused with linuxfromscratch.org).

> >
> > What is a userland? :). Is it a DC thing or a Linux kernel thing because
> > I've been using Linux for many years and never heard that term. Then
> > again, I've NEVER done any Linux kernel work before.
> >
> Userland simply means the GNU bit of GNU/Linux - ie everything else!
>=20

Hah!  My busybox+uclibc image contains *zero* GNU.  Keep your GNUs to
yourself.

>=20
> The VMU is not a substitute for a hard drive. Too slow for a start. If yo=
u=20
> compile in the driver (and the kernel's simple mtd char driver) you get a=
=20
> /dev/mtd/0 device and you can read and write to it, but each read takes a=
bout=20
> 1/60 second and each write 1/15 second. Though, I suppose your approach c=
ould=20
> work in theory, but probably better to use NFS to slove that problem.
>=20

Yeah, everyone currently uses NFS for persistent storage.

>=20
> > I don't have a BBA yet (hopefully tomorrow) so that's why I'm stuck on
> > this idea of an iso - I have no way to connect to anything outside the
> > box at the moment.
> >

Starman: There's always serial.  My first kernels were sent over a 56700
bps link, go checkout dcload-serial and the sh-ipl+g package on
ftp.m17n.org.  There are a few places (lik-sang) that carry a DC serial->PC
adapter, it's about $25 USD.

M. R.

Re: [linuxdc-dev] New to this list, many questions

[Adrian M. <ad...@mc...>]

On Friday 06 Sep 2002 9:03 pm, M. R. Brown wrote:
> * Adrian McMenamin <ad...@mc...> on Fri, Sep 06, 2002:
> > People are using different ones. Perhaps more debian than anything else.
> > But I'm an RH user.
>
> Homegrown?  There's only the debian distro that I know of, and Gentoo which
> is in the works but hasn't been released yet.  Everything else is built
> from scratch (not to be confused with linuxfromscratch.org).
>

Eh? The original question was about which development environment we were 
using not what we were all using on our DCs.

Tee hee. Got one over on Marcus. That's about the first and last time in a 
year.

Adrian

Re: [linuxdc-dev] New to this list, many questions

[M. R. B. <mr...@0x...>]

* Adrian McMenamin <ad...@mc...> on Sat, Sep 07, 2002:

>=20
> Eh? The original question was about which development environment we were=
=20
> using not what we were all using on our DCs.
>=20

Oh.  You say Linux and it all blurs together :P.

M. R.