Click to See Complete Forum and Search --> : Possible to create a working linux system working from CD?
Black_Xmas
10-14-2001, 05:54 AM
I'm curious, is it possible to have a working distro from a CD? I'm at college and there are no linux boxes at all. As nice as it would be to have one there, it's not possible to install on them.
I don't need it for much, I am still new to linux and would like to be able to still play and learn.
Does anyone know how to do this? I'm guessing it would have to be something fairly generic. All I really would like is a base system with an X server and WM/AF.
I looked at zipslack, it seems to be in the right area, but it looks to be missing X. Are there any howto's out there I could read? Or information?
Sorry if it seems like a stupid question, but it seemed like the best idea. Any help appriciated.
Super Bakemono
10-14-2001, 06:04 AM
Anything is possible, except for this. J/K :p
I could figure it out if you gave me a couple months and alot of Ballz. But I can't figure it out for you now, must sleep.
bdg1983
10-14-2001, 06:22 AM
DemoLinux (http://www.demolinux.org) is one that I know of. You can also get it from linuxiso (http://www.linuxiso.org/demolinux.html)
Black_Xmas
10-14-2001, 06:22 AM
I don't imagine it to be easy, none of the computers I can use it on have CD writers, so everything is going to be read only.
Actually, when I think about it, that wasn't just a stupid question. It's completely laughable, I dunno what I was thinkin'.
Nah man it's possible. All you would need to do is make a boot/root disk (http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/Bootdisk-HOWTO/index.html), burn it to a bootable cd (http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/Bootdisk-HOWTO/cd-roms.html) then get it to make a ramdisk so you have some re-writable space. Another HOWTO. (http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/Diskless-root-NFS-HOWTO-5.html)
I wanted to do the exact same thing, but I can't test my CDs, because I can't boot from them :(.
You would have to set up X for the graphics card/monitor for your schools computer in advance though. If you find out how to get it to auto-detect the monitor and card, like on a redhat/mandrake install, let me know.
Molecule Man
10-14-2001, 01:41 PM
As MDWatts suggested, go check out Demolinux. It works with 90% of the graphics cards out there. I even used it on a Laptop with a PCMCIA cdrom drive once. It works, but is going to be slow.
Malakin
10-14-2001, 09:56 PM
virtual linux is another one if you prefer mandrake. http://sourceforge.net/projects/virtual-linux/
eperch
10-14-2001, 11:36 PM
Check out Linux Journal, March 2001, page 46
Maragda: Running Linux from CD