Hello,
Here's my application:

Car/jukebox MP3 player.

The main thing I want is a command line interfaced linux.


1) I need to know how to take a good distro and force it to only boot to the command line

2)then automatically search the hard drive for any changes--like added MP3s for example.

3)then create a NEW PLAYLIST based on all the mp3s.

4)then automatically load up the MP3 player and begin playing.

5)I'd like to use LIRC to add a remote control.


The platform is a Celeron 333, 128MB RAM, 60GB harddrive, old CDROM.

Because it's "older" hardware, I would ONLY like to use ICEwm if I can help it. Gnome and KDE crawl.... Redhat crawls----mandrake 9.0 runs ok with ICEwm though.

HOW DO I CUSTOMIZE MANDRAKE? or Redhat? or any distro?

I am VERY FAMILIAR with DOS, but have no idea what files are necessary for basic linux to run, and where they should be.


While I'd like to have my WUSB11 ver 2.6 to work, I don't know of a single distro that works with this device out of the box.

Please help, or point me to the right direction--every tutorial I've read so far is too complicated for me--

Also, IDEALLY this distro will be run on a USB FLASH DISK or COMPACT FLASH DISK--then run everything out of a RAM DISK.

Anyone know how in the hell I can do that?


I've had 4 harddrives die on me, I would much rather have my OS run on a solid-state device and use RAM--that way it will run pretty much forever.

How do I do this?

Thanks alot.

Er... you say you want it CLI only, but you want IceWM?

The best way to get any distro to boot CLI only is to not install X

Not too sure about the other stuff though. You could probably do some of that stuff (searching for new files, creating playlists) using scripts and whatnot. I'm sure there are command-line mp3 players too, if you look around.

my point about ICEwm was that it would be nice to have, to futz around with, but what' im looking for is this:

a DOS + win95 clone --without the crap.

I want the fast bootup times of linux, the latest hardware support of linux (wusb11 2.6 when its available.)

I want to ALWAYS BOOT to a cli (it will boot much faster that way) from a flash card. i'd LIKE to have the option of loading a light window manager if I wanted to, but by default go to CLI.

How about, installing the latest distro, changing the default init value in /etc/inittab from 5 to 3. That should now boot to command line automatically. Another issue I think you might have is automatically logging in - don't know how to do that automatically.

Google for mpg123, it's a really good command line mp3 player.

As for automatically adding mp3 files, you could always make a really small script (after reading the docs on how to make a playlist for mpg123) in which you basically do an updatedb, then a locate *.mp3 and put the output into a text file in the format of the playlist for mpg123. Perhaps the bash scripting guide at the Linux Documentation Project to find out how to make a shell script.

Then start mpg123 with the playlist file you created.

Something like that anyway. Never done anything like what you want before, but that's what I'd start with if I wanted to.

Check out MasterC's webpage. He created a mp3 box for his truck, and it should get you started.
The page is: http://masterc.no-ip.org/old/Project...bilePuter.html
HTH
-NSKL

don't know how you would auto login but, if you put the script in /etc/rc.local provided you distro uses it, it will auto run before you login. then if you need to do anything you can login. otherwise just let it play.

if you want cli boot, just make your "init" 3, instead of 4. Problem solved. X will only start up when you type "startx"

Ermm.... this is a mammoth project. You'll have to create custom scripts and specialize your OS (no matter what distro you choose). Given the difficulty of the project, I would expect the howtos to be rather difficult and technical, even for an expert. I would suggest becoming very intimate with a few good linux books or befriend a linux wizzard.

I prefer debian linux in most situations, however if you intend to use flash drives and other newer technology, I would suggest Red Hat or a Red Hat derivative. I'm sure somebody will correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't RH support USB and flash drives out of the box?

You might also need to think about temperature. Down in texas it gets freakin hot, so storing a computer in the trunk of my car is absolutely out of the question.

Good luck and post some pics

you know there are already beskpoe distros specifically for cars? i think one's called dashpc or something, evengoes into the details about embedding lcd screens in the cars facia