Feather seems killer. I'd like to do a customization that includes the pcmcia CD-ROM support -- how difficult would this be?

I.e., I'd like to be able to install on a machine with no floppy or USB drive, but just a pcmcia CD-ROM. I'd also modify the distro so it does a hard disk install as soon as it runs

I'm reasonably Linux and distro-making savvy. Any pointers?

ERic.

Feather distro, Rob is here to suggest what can be done?

Feather philosophy is to limit the OS to 64 mb to fit on a business card cd. It also limits to USB jump drive of 64 mg size.

Once you install on the hdd, all limits are off. You can use a full blown Knoppix v3.4 then. Pcmcia cdrom maybe supported(scsi) and Knoppix-install is the cheat code to move live OS to hdd..

I often wonder why Feather philosophy can not include 2 cd(s)?

It is a challenge to keep it small. Often, you have to delete somrthing to install something else. Same thing happened to Knoppix 3.4, Many programs(latex for one) may have been deleted from v3.3 to fit 3.4 on one cd.

Yes, but surely I can fit the pcmcia drivers on a single 2.88 floppy image on the CD? That's what I'm wondering about. My favorite laptops have PCMCIA CD-ROMs, and thus it's tough to install.

BTW, the current version (0.5.6) I'm installing doesn't ask for me to insert the pcmcia drivers floppy when I boot with "knoppix expert". Dunno what's happening there, but I'm having a rough time getting it to run on this Sony laptop....

Eric.

Knoppix is considered a modern linux, not using command line programs.

So, you want to boot from a cdrom setup in the bios. Expert as a cheat code, does not do anything except fine tuning the parameters. If you can not find drivers included, you still have to add drivers later.

Kudzu in the Knoppix then will automatically install all your components. Those that no drivers are provided will be skipped over. Or if you later install the OS on the hdd, you can add drivers for it.

You might want to use an external SVGA monitor(75hz) to see the verbose during unstall, if Knoppix did not have the Sony LCD monitor drivers.

Goos luck.

Hi,
you may have to edit the bootdisk if the current PCMCIA options aren't working for you. You'd have to get minirt24.gz off the bootdisk, gunzip it, mount it to a loop device, and then add the modules you need in /modules. You should probably use the PCMCIA modules from Knoppix 3.4, and once you've included them, you need to edit /linuxrc and add some PCMCIA module-loading code (e.g. insmod xxx.o).

That all sounds right. But, I think there's a limitation of blowing the 1.44MB floppy size limit, no? ALthough I think that can actually be 2.88MB floppy limit and most computers will still boot from the CD-ROM?

Eric.

True - what you could do is remove some SCSI modules, as you won't need them. With all the SCSI modules (or just some) removed, PCMCIA space should be aplenty.