DetaolB aimed to be a "much-less-than-a-floppy" x86 linux live distro. Now, it's evolving more into "a-la-slax" type of distro.
DetaolB v0.3 is being released 14th,June 2007 on sf.net => http://detaolb.sf.net
- this is mostly a release with tons of added features - this is mostly a proof of concept - this is not a bugfix release - your feedback will shape it into v1.0 someday, so please post at the DetaolB mailing list: detaolb-devel@lists.sourceforge.net
Changelog: - it's bigger now: ~17Mb, but it's still smaller than slax-frodo :) - you can still log using root with no password (this will change) - kernel 2.6.21 with following patches... * acpi, ide/atapi drivers added * /proc/miniconfig.gz: main ideas from Rob Landley, need documentation * aufs: another unionfs * squashfs * lzma vmlinux: a great thanks to Ming Ching Tiew! * complete git patches released on sf.net - still based on initramfs early userspace, now using switch_root * 1st phase is using a minimal static bbox * 2nd phase is mounting cdrom and 5 squashfs modules in aufs new root. This is a common scheme inspired by slax, yet simplified for speed. * 3rd phase is root switching and over to standard init phase * main drawback: changes to the rootfs are lost if you reboot. I've not figured out a smart way using initramfs+aufs+squashfs and access rootfs changes from RAM... * but it's still blazing fast even in qemu! - 5 default squashfs modules are present and enabled * "barebone" is busybox-1.6.0 with rootfs config files + mksquashfs * "uclibc" is uClibc-0.9.29 + zlib * "ncurses" is ncurses-5.2, needed for uclibc/bbox/kernel compilation * "toolchain" is needed for C compilation + gcc-3.4.6 + binutils-2.16.1 + bash-3.2 + bison-2.1 + flex-2.5.33 + make-3.81 + misc. coreutils mandatory for uclibc/bbox/kernel compilation * "vim" is a full vim-7.1 installation * these modules were compiled using DetaolB v0.3, and config files for uclibc and busybox are inside /root * "git" is compiled but not included yet - a 2.6.17 version of DetaolB v0.3 exist for colinux! it'll be available on demand, or will be released anyway at version 1.0
HOW TO USE IT ? - use your favorite emulator: qemu, virtualbox, even vmplayer! - you need to provide an hda image preformatted in ext2 if you want to work on a non-volatile area (busybox has no more ext2fs tools ??) - boot it, do some compilation, enjoy it - please note it has no network capabilities - this distro is not meant for real hardware yet (but it will be soon)
FEEDBACK, QUESTIONS, INSULTS, POSTCARDS: christian.michon@gmail.com
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