LinuxQuestions.org - PocketWriterLinux PWL, a Frugal Persistent Linux for CD, USB, and HDD!

OK
heres the "alpha" build
Download link at Bottom of page
I just call it that, as its not finished
I have to write docs & clean it up
all the progarms and what not work good
it has stuff to help you hook up your printer, etc too
hplip-gui & more

heres the complete Apps list
http://multidistro.com/pwl/apps.txt

something like 1340 apps altogether!

VERY IMPORTANT:

1) its made to run from CD, USB or Hard drive in Frugal persistent/non-persistent mode
grml2hd Can install it to hd like a debian hd install
there are bugs in grml2hd, nothing serious
but its really made to run frugal

2) In the download are the 680mb ISO image, the md5sum.txt, and a pre-made 500mb
"pwl-rw" persistent file
the persistent file is empty, so it compressed down to like 500kb
after extracting (its a tar.gz), it will decompress to 500MB

3) You can use Unetbootin to install to usb, and it works good
you will have to make a 2nd partition on usb for persistence
either Label the 2nd partition "pwl-rw" or just place the incuded
pwl-rw in that partition

4) you can install to any linux hd partition by simply copying the iso to hd
and setiing up grub, and you can also just place the pwl folder in your Ubuntu, Slack, Debian, etc partition, add the boot/pwlk folder to your boot folder
and edit your menu.lst

5) example usb setup
sdb1 fat32, installed iso via Unetbootin or manually, must be at least 700MB
sdb2 ext2, either labeled "pwl-rw", or you place a persistent file here named pwl-rw, size variable, but should be at least 500+MB

6) to label a usb partition or hd partition pwl-rw
use Gparted or thru terminal, with USB unmounted, or hd partition unmounted
do

Code:

mkfs.ext2 -L pwl-rw /dev/sdxx

the command above will format the partition ext2 and label it pwl-rw
note that any data there will be destroyed as its getting formatted
sdxx = whatever your usb or hd is designated

7) to make your own persistent pwl-rw
you must cd into a mounted usb or hd partition and create and format the pwl-rw
example assuming usb is sdb1 and sdb2,
assuming I'm making a persistent file on usb, instead of labeleing usb partition

first cd into sdb2

Code:

cd /mnt/sdb2

creating a 500MB persistent file

Code:

dd if=/dev/null of=pwl-rw bs=500M seek=1

formatting the pwl-rw

Code:

mkfs.ext2 -F pwl-rw

now its ready to use, just boot with the persistent option in menu
this works for cd, usb, and hd too
you can make the persistent file/partition any size I guess.

so, please try it out
there is a menu option for playing in qemu too

also, when you boot, it will go to a script-driven console gui
named Pocketwriter-quickconfig
eth0, eth1 should come up auto
no need for grml-network

just hit x and then s to start fluxbox desktop
the toolbar is on auto-hide as fbpanel at the top runs most stuff

HERE IS THE DOWNLOAD LINK
http://multidistro.com/pwl/PWL-FULL.tar.gz

Note, in Live mode (default) it requires at least 128mb ram
in "toram" mode at least 300mb RAM

EDIT: user/password info

user: root
password: 77

user: grml
password: 66

note that many apps can be opened as root without password via the fluxbox root-menu

there are also abotu 15 gkrellm2 themes, about 20 fluxbox styles, 10-15 wallpapers, and many gnome icon themes via fbpanel menu settings/appearence

any questions?
Please check it out!