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