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• Mukund (admin)

[Mukund]

The mini-wheezy is a very slim Raspbian wheezy distribution for Raspberry PI.
The beauty of the distribution lies in its size and capability to use Raspbian Wheezy repository,
It is suitable for embedded system, where speed and size is very important.
The mini-wheezy is not very easy to confugure, and you need to spend time with keyboard

The mini-wheezy distribution has following -

1. The current compressed size of mini-wheezy is just 8 Mb.
2. Based on famous Debian's Raspbian Wheezy distribution.
3. Uses standard GCC libraries, modules, binaries from Wheezy distribution.
4. Support maximum linux command through statically linked busybox.
5. Any of the binary from wheezy can be ported to mini-wheezy.
6. You can install, test packages on wheezy and then port it to mini-wheezy with libraries.
7. You can develop C code, compile and then port to mini-wheezy.

Now let us see, what mini-wheezy support-

1. Linux Kernel is 3.6.11
2. Boots up with telnet support, and serial terminal.
3. Configures Ethernet with dhcp.
4. Supports all the net commands like nslookup, wget, etc
5. Sets the system clock with ntpd.
6. Configures WiFi in hot spot mode with dhcp server.
7. The ftp and httpd server included from busybox.
8. Nano editor is included for editing configuration files.

And what it does not have, and even don't ask for it.

1. Package manager apt
2. Graphical desk top.
3. GCC tool chains.

[Mukund]

How this distribution was created-

I have made a small (8 Mb download) image from wheezy.

What it has -

• Uses GCC
• Uses static busybox
• Can port any software from wheezy
• Nano editor is ported as proof of concept.
• Connect to Ethernet ( dhcp)
• You can telnet or use serial TTY
• root password is root. And another user pi has password as raspberry.

The whole story is here -

Recently brought couple of Raspberry pi for one of my project.
I tried all the images available like wheezy, buildroot even tried rolling out with debootstrap and spindle. But all them were either large or not suitable for embedded application.

Basically I wanted an image which is,

1. Based on latest distribution like wheezy
2. Tiny in size so that it can be flashed easily
3. Should be able to compile small C code.

I know it's like asking too much, but then found the way. This how I did it,

Installed latest wheezy image on one SD card ( call it wheezy card)
Inserted the card in Raspberry
Downloaded Busybox source
Compiled with static library option
So busybox (around 2 MB) with GCC library was ready.
Copied it to PC

Now on my PC
Made one build-root uclibc image for Raspberry PI ( There plenty ready images on the net )
Installed this image on another card (call it miniwheezy card)
Inserted the card in Raspberry, Got boot prompt. OK
Removed the card
Copied busybox from PC,which we copied earlier from wheezy card, to miniwheezy card.
Inserted miniwheezy card in Raspberry. Got boot prompt. OK

Removed /lib and /usr/lib (yes!) from miniwheezy card.
Copied nano (editor) and required library ( check it with ldd /bin/nano ) from wheezy card to miniwheezy card.
Copied required modules from wheezy card to miniwheezy card.
Copied libnss library ( nslookup does not work with static library - learned it hard way) from wheezy card to miniwheezy card.
Inserted miniwheezy card in Raspberry. Got boot prompt.

So finally you have a small distribution for raspberry
Running latest kernel 3.6
You can port any software from wheezy card to miniwheezy.card ( Taking care of required library)
You can compile C code on wheezy card and copy it to miniwheezy card.

[Mukund]

mini-wheezy-2013-001
First release
Now let us see, what mini-wheezy support-

1. Linux Kernel is 3.6.11
2. Boots up with telnet support, and serial terminal.
3. Configures Ethernet with dhcp.
4. Supports all the net commands like nslookup, wget, etc
5. Sets the system clock with ntpd.
6. Configures WiFi in hot spot mode with dhcp server.
7. The ftp and httpd server included from busybox.
8. Nano editor is included for editing configuration files.

Changes in mini-wheezy-2013-002

• dropbear an ssh server added
• syslogd and klogd added
• init.d scripts added
• sudo command added
• modified command prompt
• arp-scan added (useful tool for Ethernet debugging