I need a distro that does some very specific things..

thelostchinese · 08-03-2009, 02:08 AM

So here's my set up:
Dell Latitude CPx J750GT
750/600MHz Mobile Pentium Processor
128 MB RAM
12 GB HardDrive
10/100 Ethernet Card Installed

Here's what I need it to do:
I have it installed in a picture frame, so I was hoping to use it basically as a digital picture frame. But then I thought about it and realized that with everything in it, I could easily make it a media center. So I want to be able to run some kind of media center on it so i can pull music and pictures off my server on to it and display it on the screen or play it through some speakers. Only problem is, I need a distro that can boot up and run without a keyboard attached. Only a mouse. So an on-screen keyboard would be good for things like artist/song look up would be nice, but not necessary. i can deal with scrolling. so in short, the requirements of the linux distro is:
-GUI (No keyboard to use)
-Play media off of a server
-Able to have a slideshow-picutre-view screen saver installed to pull photos off of a server
And I would prefer it
- Has an on-screen keyboard
- is small enough to run on a 512mb thumb drive (it would be nice to get rid of the harddrive, but i have to check to see if the computer can boot from usb)

Keep in mind i can hook just about anything up to the computer to install it, but i want minimal things (just power if i can find a wireless net adapter for it) plugged into it once its hanging on the wall. Thanks for your help in advance!

TheLostChinese
Admin@thelostchinese.org
http://thelostchinese.org

GlennsPref · 08-03-2009, 03:56 AM

Hi, Welcome to LQ!

LQ has a fantastic search function that may save you time waiting for an answer to a popular question

Quote:

Only problem is, I need a distro that can boot up and run without a keyboard attached

The only limitation is the motherboard bios. Set it to not stop on keyboard errors

Most OS's I know will boot without a keyboard attached

With linux you can set it by editing the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file

Make sure you back up the file before you start

You need to be root (have admin access) to save the changes

have a look for InputDevices in the man pages on your computer

man xorg.conf

I think it is as simple as commenting out the keyboard line in the server section.

Code:

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "layout1"
    Screen         "screen1" 0 0
    #InputDevice    "Keyboard1" "CoreKeyboard" (NOPE! That don't work on my box)
    InputDevice    "Mouse1" "CorePointer"
EndSection

This way you have a keyboard access before x starts, if you plug it in.

save your work and restart the x session to see the results.

vi is a good cli editor, you can get a printable guide from

http://www.kcomputing.com/vi.html K Computing.

ctrl+alt+backspace to restart the session

regards Glenn

GlennsPref · 08-03-2009, 04:13 AM

vi is a handy editor, We need admin rights to “save these files here”...

su (enter root password)

vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Quick vi tute

Code:

vi is operated in a shell, like Konsole or term

	Quick keys...

	I = insert “edit mode”
	Esc = exit mode/s
	:w = write
	:q = quit
	:wq! = force write quit (does not always over-ride the admin permissions)

cheers Glenn

teek · 08-03-2009, 04:21 AM

I'm sorry but vi is not a handy editor (at least not for beginners), try nano or joe. In joe, ctrl-k+h tells you everything.

GlennsPref · 08-03-2009, 04:30 AM

Nope! that does not work!

Quote:

I think it is as simple as commenting out the keyboard line in the server section.....

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "layout1"
Screen "screen1" 0 0
#InputDevice "Keyboard1" "CoreKeyboard"
InputDevice "Mouse1" "CorePointer"
EndSection

sorry.

When I only have a terminal shell, I have vi. And I rarely need all the commands.

If I can find my way through the file system using locate and ls

then launch vi, it has nice colours too.

Ahhh.. Now I'm gonna try it with the keys unplugged....back soon.

GlennsPref · 08-03-2009, 05:26 AM

OK, I should have known....

With out editing xorg.conf at all

The computer boots the same with the ps2 keyboard (and ps2 mouse) unplugged

I just plugged them back in and I can type.

Regards Glenn

teek · 08-03-2009, 05:28 AM

Isn't it nice that some thing just work from time to time

A thing that happens to me more and more with Linux.