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
>
>
>
>
> -------------------------------------------------------
> This sf.net email is sponsored by: OSDN - Tired of that same old
> cell phone?  Get a new here for FREE!
> https://www.inphonic.com/r.asp?r=sourceforge1&refcode1=vs3390
> _______________________________________________
> Linuxdc-dev mailing list
> Lin...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/linuxdc-dev