how to install a LINUX distribution on internal flash drive?

This board posts about running linux on your webdt366
Post Reply
spouky
Newbie
Newbie
Posts: 12
Joined: Fri Apr 03, 2009 9:57 am

how to install a LINUX distribution on internal flash drive?

Post by spouky »

There are many Linux suggestions to try on external USB drive which are interesting.

But there is no tutorial how to proceed for newbees.

Could someone give it to new guys arriving here please?

Would be so great!

I already know how to back up my Windows CE using Ghost.exe, I did it and worked perfect.

But If I have a working USB working LINUX drive, how to transfer it to internal flash drive of Dt 366?

THANKS
Fleegman
Developer
Developer
Posts: 58
Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2009 8:32 am

Re: how to install a LINUX distribution on internal flash drive?

Post by Fleegman »

Personally, I wouldn't touch the internal flash drive until we get a more sleek and solid build for the WebDT.  But if you really, really want to install it to the internal flash drive, you would need an external USB CD/DVD ROM, external Keyboard and external Mouse  --- all connected via a USB Hub.

Boot off of a Live CD and run the installation like you would normally do on any other desktop machine.  That's it, nothing special to it.  Once its installed, make all the necessary changes (ie: make sure resolution is set to 800x600) and install the Penmount 9000 drivers (http://www.penmount.com/down_2_1_9k.php).
spouky
Newbie
Newbie
Posts: 12
Joined: Fri Apr 03, 2009 9:57 am

Re: how to install a LINUX distribution on internal flash drive?

Post by spouky »

thanks

but which Penmount driver to choose for Nimblex 2007... and which one for Puppy linux?

merci beaucoup!
quotaholic
Administrator
Administrator
Posts: 569
Joined: Tue Mar 24, 2009 9:11 pm

Re: how to install a LINUX distribution on internal flash drive?

Post by quotaholic »

Good question but its just not that simple.

Puppy and NimbleX are both "compressed" filesystems. We cant install something in a compressed system unless it is already set up to do so. NimbleX has a module system that allows one to insert modules that contain programs.

That being said, once Puppy is decompressed it takes up the majority of the internal flash drive.

Ideally I would love to envision a day when we have a perfect recipe, including download links, allowing one to make one of a few distributions that can install in to a WebDT. Our current state of progress is just not that far as of yet. If I am not mistaken this site has been here for 15 days.

Fleegman may be able to help you on a mo file (module) for the touchscreen in NimbleX. I have not followed his nimblex install yet so I do not know much about the mo he made. However I do concur with him on waiting for the customized version. I installed and noticed the same. It was considerably slower than when not installed. 9 days ago I shipped DT to the NimbleX project in hopes that Bogdan can work his magic on NimbleX 2009 and make it work well on the DT. If all goes well it should be arriving this week.

Meantime we have at least one person I know of working on getting the touch screen up on Puppy. I am sure we will hear if they have good progress.

quotaholic
Fleegman
Developer
Developer
Posts: 58
Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2009 8:32 am

Re: how to install a LINUX distribution on internal flash drive?

Post by Fleegman »

For any Slackware build (NimbleX or Slax) you'll need to download the "Slackware 12.0 Driver V2.0.1" driver from the link I provided above.  I don't know which ones work under Puppy -- angyremeat said he was close to getting puppy working, so I didn't want to duplicate his efforts.

As far as making or creating compressed .MO's or .LZM's, feel free to ask whatever you want, I'm quite familiar with the compressed slackware builds and I'll be able to help.

FYI: .MO's are for the 2007 builds whilst the .LZM's are for the 2008's builds --- you can't directly interchange them, you have to decompress the .MO or .LZM in their native environment, then copy the decompressed folder to the new environment and re-compress it.

If you ever get that far into wanting to convert or make your own compressed modules and need help, i'm only a forum post away.
spouky
Newbie
Newbie
Posts: 12
Joined: Fri Apr 03, 2009 9:57 am

Re: how to install a LINUX distribution on internal flash drive?

Post by spouky »

thanks a lot for this reply... usefull and instructive.

Would it be possible to implement Firefox 3 (with add-ons, flash, quicktime,medias, pdf, etc) as a replacement module in Nimblex 2007 usb key? Firefox 2 is very deceptive.



TX
Fleegman
Developer
Developer
Posts: 58
Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2009 8:32 am

Re: how to install a LINUX distribution on internal flash drive?

Post by Fleegman »

I haven't converted any of my .LZM's to .MO's as a lot of OS swapping is involved ... eventually once we get a more "dedicated" linux build for the WebDT, that's when I'll start to concentrate more effort on software packages.

There are tons of .MO's that you can use for NimbleX via the Slax5 repository  (ftp://ftp.slax.org/SLAX-5-modules/), a good browser alternative is Opera 10.1  (ftp://ftp.slax.org/SLAX-5-modules/netwo ... _9_10-1.mo)

I've written up a tutorial here on how to convert .LZM files to .MO files here:
forum/viewtopic.php?t=1

Enjoy!
Jason.Young
Newbie
Newbie
Posts: 7
Joined: Sun Mar 29, 2009 6:44 pm

Re: how to install a LINUX distribution on internal flash drive?

Post by Jason.Young »

Puppy seems to support Debian packages, also is seem to support both a compresses image and a actual disk install. At least thats what the docs hints at.
Last edited by Jason.Young on Mon Apr 06, 2009 4:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Post Reply