Topic: Damn Small Linux Port (Read 1018 times)

devguy · « **Reply #15 on:** February 12, 2005, 11:19:00 PM »

It would help the speed if all the files weren't compressed into a rootfs img file.

Can someone tell me why Xebian doesn't just have actual files and folders instead of that stupid Rootfs?

Also, can someone add in some lovin' for non-hdtvs with component video inputs? Valentines is right around the corner and my xbox needs something to get off to!

greenfellow · « **Reply #16 on:** February 13, 2005, 05:22:00 AM »

Why hasn't ed or shallax made a lighter version of their distros? I know gentoox comes in a "professional" version that basically gives you a terminal and lets you configure everything on your own but god knows our tv screens aren't readable enough for all that typing. These distros are all designed to have all the bells and whistles of a desktop system but damnit it's not worth the slow down. Please guys if you read this we need a stable speedy distro!

On a side note dillo is a thousand times faster than firefox! It's actually usable! Try it guys

daveh · « **Reply #17 on:** February 13, 2005, 02:03:00 PM »

dilo is no good. try going to a site that uses stylesheets/css. or a site that is password protected. dilo does not undestand how to resolve password protection and has no support for anything other than bog standard html. Its got a long way to go yet. linksboks is further advanced than dilo and it dont need linux to run.

greenfellow · « **Reply #18 on:** February 13, 2005, 04:17:00 PM »

true enough

daveh · « **Reply #19 on:** February 14, 2005, 06:18:00 PM »

OK, I dont want to see this thread die. Many people have looked at this thread and I hope not dismissed it as a pie in the sky idea. DSL is without doubt a viable alternative to the other Linux distro's out there. I urge all of you who have not tried it yet to do so. For those of you who still dont know anything about DSL Its a very fast debian based distro with a small footprint 50MB that contains loads of useful apps all optimized to run on computers with limited resources.

I run DSL on an old 486 with 32MB ram and believe me its very snappy and responsive. I believe it would positively fly on the Xbox and provide a much needed breath of fresh air to the community.

So what do we need to get this project off the ground?

Well I think I am right in saying that the guys at Xbox Linux have already the tools and knowledge to make this a reality. They have debian dist-1.1.1-xbox.tar.gz which I believe contains the same kernel as DSL with the required Xbox modifications. They have the modified XFree86 and the boot loader.

So anyone please tell me if I am wrong but as xebian and dsl are both debian with the same kernel and xfree. Would it not be just the case of recompiling the dsl kernel with the Xbox patches and installing the modified Xfree86.

So anyone that knows about this stuff can they show some support for it. Also I would like to find out just how much support there is for a dsl port to the Xbox. So anyone in favor can you please post a message in this thread to show your interest.

luther349 · « **Reply #20 on:** February 14, 2005, 11:01:00 PM »

true on gentoox. gentoox pro is ment for what your talking abought. you use pro to build your own distro. all pro comes with is the kernel and thats pretty mutch it you compile anything you whant using emerge and you got a custom gentox install.

cloudhead · « **Reply #21 on:** February 16, 2005, 10:16:00 AM »

I'd love to see a more efficient linux with GUI for the xbox but the applications themselves would have to work well with 64MB. I tried Xebian and did find the interface to be a bit sluggish. What I really wanted was to get Freevo working but it was barely usable (maybe the 1.1.1 xebian has improved on this from the last version?) compared to what I was used to from Xbox Media Centre. I also tried Dynebolic (nested and docked) which initially I thought was amazing due to all the cool packages it includes but unfortunately not many actually worked on the Xbox.

My biggest hang up with the whole xbox/linux thing is the lack of information. The xbox-linux site does not really help the linux beginner even though it states on its site that a lot of people who install linux on the xbox have never used linux before. I'd like to see tutorials on how to get common tasks (such as Freevo) working.

In short, I think DSL would be a great idea but do all the packages included with it work under 64MB? I also think a new linux on xbox site focussed on new linux users would be great.

noselessmonk · « **Reply #22 on:** February 16, 2005, 01:22:00 PM »

Well, my dad who is a linux freak once had a dist of Debian running as a firewall for his other computer on a 386 33Mhz computer with I think 16MB of ram and a 200Mb Hdd. A very basic system but if we compiled it right we could get a nice and small dist working for xbox(the main reason I am trying to install linux on my xbox is because I want to run Mugen and some other games that don't work under the dos emulators).

bone135 · « **Reply #23 on:** February 16, 2005, 02:22:00 PM »

I am all in for the DSL version for the xbox. I have spent the last 2 nights trying to do the nfs XFedora install per the post in the not404 forum. That has been very difficult to figure out, still not working.

I have tried Geetoox Home and Pro. Home was doggy as hell and pro I had no idea what was going on. If we could get this going that would be great.

Main main reason for linux is so I can run a mythtv frontend on my xbox. Which many say they have done but the documentation isn't their for a linux novice like myself to follow. I think it should be easy enough to build a distro for the Xbox because everyone should have almost the same hardware.

We just need to get some linux gurus to help us out. Any takers?

Stine · « **Reply #24 on:** February 16, 2005, 08:48:00 PM »

I would also like to see DSL on xbox...or an update of linksbox

DCarnage · « **Reply #25 on:** February 19, 2005, 09:24:00 AM »

Instead of just talking about having someone do it, how about if everyone that's interested do a little research on what it will take and post links.

I would be willing to put it all together, but I really do not have the time to do all of the searching. Lets start with the links to the DSL source and what patches were necessary for the other ports of linux to work on XBox.

devguy · « **Reply #26 on:** February 19, 2005, 10:40:00 AM »

From the DSL website:

QUOTE

What is Damn Small Linux?
Damn Small Linux is a business card size (50MB) bootable Live CD Linux distribution. Despite its minuscule size it strives to have a functional and easy to use desktop.

See, it is a live bootable cd. I don't know what kind of problems that will give us. Granted, Xebian is a live CD and we can use that to install Xebian on our boxes, but how much different will this be? Or could we even install it on the Xbox at all?

If not, then what the guy was talking about a non-img rootfs causing us to have to format our drive, what if we just formatted the CD to basically have all the files and folders as actual files and folders and not as a large rootfs file. That would increase our seek times. Then again, running off a CD means that you can't edit any changes that you make, and some people with crappy DVD rom drives in their Xbox wouldn't be able to use this at all...

Keo-Keo · « **Reply #27 on:** February 21, 2005, 02:14:00 AM »

DSL linux wouldn't be hard at all to port.. You use xcromwell to boot it.. But you'd have to remaster the knoppix file.. (i actually was remaking DSL linux for xboxhdm as seen here) this requires a linux PC (or a mixture of a 2gb swap+ram) with the cloop module installed.. You'd have to decompress cloop then incert the newest xbox-linux kernal patch.. From there it would work fine.. (in theory) I had abandon the idea since gamesave's is pretty much the standard and if xboxHDM is needed there really isn't much to add to it other than pacakges which i made a simple menu system to do that..

Also i'd be willing to donate my server which has the cloop module installed to those willing for this project. Though you won't have root access i'm sure i can help you with what you need.

xboxSlayer · « **Reply #28 on:** February 23, 2005, 01:45:00 PM »

You have my support for DSL. I really like linux on the xbox but I agree it runs too slow and is full of things that most people don't need. I'm not interested in a full-blown desktop and operating environment, I just want basic programs like a web browser. I spent a few days last year looking for help in porting another small version of linux but everthing I read was way over my head. It as small, like 30 megs or something, all it had was Netscape nothing else. I have no idea what it was called now. Anyway good luck, keep this project going.

Samurai Waffle · « **Reply #29 on:** February 26, 2005, 09:03:00 PM »

Didn't want this thread to die, keep up the work on this

Author Topic: Damn Small Linux Port (Read 1018 times)