Hello

I have DSL loaded onto a 64MB flash and am booting very happily, enjoying the distro very much.

However I have run into a few problems/questions and am wondering if someone will be kind enough to help me out. I have tried to google, but I am not that knowledgable on Linux so most of the sites are way over my head. And on the DSL forum I cannot make postings even though I have registered, so I assume I need to wait a day or two before I get posting privileges.

Basically as i stated in the subject line, I want to boot DSL from my flash drive with all my personal settings and then when I shut the machine down I want it to save all my settings. (Settings such as hostname, ip addresses, root password etc).

I have had a look at the minirt24 file as well as the other files thinking that it might be a plain text file to edit, but I was wrong
So the only other 2 options that come to mind would be

1)have a .bashrc or someother text file which I can create on my flash drive with all my settings and then upon boot, KNOPPIX can read the file instead of using it's default settings.

2) Have to re-invent the wheel by changing the KNOPPIX core. (Which I will not be able to do)

I am running DSL 3.4 as I do not like the 4.x versions.

Many thanx for the help
wvw

You can set up persistence (that option when you shutdown that asks if you want to save your session). That will save whatever you put in the /opt/.filetool.lst file. There are details in the DSL wiki under "Saving your settings" or "Persistence". If you set up your /home somewhere specific (USB or other location), you can also achieve that goal.

If you want to take the settings with you on your USB, you may need a larger version, depending on what you wish to maintain. If you add some MyDSL extensions, space can add up, but still easily fit on a modest stick.

Hello Bobber47

Thank you for the reply. This solution is not really what I am after. I saw it already, but the problem is I still need to add a cheatcode when I boot DSL from my flashdrive. Instead I want to boot from the flashdrive, not enter any cheatcodes and let it automatically boot into DSL with all the parameters set the way I have set it up.

Regards
willemvw

Backup doesn't work for me on the usb-stick 128mb,
I want to back up sda1, but to no avail.

One trick you could try is to create two partitions when you install DSL on your USB thumbdrive. During the frugal installation process you assign one partition for the core DSL OS, and the second partition for your MyDSL extensions and your settings.

When you're running DSL, go to "System -> Backup/Restore" (I think) and tell DSL where to backup your settings when you shut down.

When you shut down, make sure the "Backup" check box is selected. All your settings will be saved on your second partition.

When you boot up again, DSL should load your backup automatically at boot.

You don't HAVE to use two separate partitions, but I like to do it this way just to keep them separate. This way, if (or rather, when!) I screw something up royally on my settings, I don't have to reinstall DSL completely. I can just delete everything from the second partition and start over that way.

Actually, I also like to keep a third partition just for documents like word processing files or spreadsheets, so when I screw up the settings royally and have to delete everything from the second partition I don't lose my documents as well.

Caveat: I have had lots of trouble with backups when I have the GNU-Utils installed. In that instance, DSL will not backup and load my settings, and I don't know why. As such, I no longer use the GNU-Utils, which is frustrating because I like to run a VNC server with DSL sometimes.