Looking for text-only linux distribution ---> that I can start with loadlin
 

I would like to find a very small text-only (X adds excess storage requirement and other unnecessary overhead for this application) linux distribution which I can boot into using loadlin 1.6 (basically, I want to put a set of files into a sub-directory or root directory of DOS C: drive, then run loadlin.exe with the appropriate options to transfer control to the linux distribution.)

Also (important), needs to have the kernel parameter option "ide=nodma" as the target system is using a non-DMA compact flash card as it's hard drive, so I think this rules out later kernels (I am using a version of Puppy linux with 2.17-era kernel as it gets along well with the hardware, and would be fine except for the un-needed X components.)

Thank you for any recommendation,

Dave

I can help you narrow it down... at least as far as the "text-only" requirement is concerned. The distro you want is "any."

Install and set it to boot to runlevel 3, and X won't get started. This is the standard way to run linux in big business.

An older version of NetBSD.

Heck, maybe a newer version of NetBSD.

"any" is unhelpful and misses a critical point I hoped to make to narrow down the possible choices:

I have (much) less than 50MB of disc space available on a FAT32 partition (that is otherwise being used for DOS) in which to put all of the needed files including loadlin. If a distribution contains X and the related support stuff, it drives the size of the fileset too large. DSL and Puppy 4 (the two I've considered so far) are over (in the case of Puppy, well over) 50MB, and contain much stuff I will *never* need for this (maintenance-focused) application.

So, my question remains open - a text-only distribution that I can boot via loadlin using a set of files on a DOS/FAT partition, that is as small (in terms of occupancy of that partition) as possible.

Thank you,

Dave

Ok. Well, if you are looking for a SMALL linux then you'll probably want to look up "MuLinux" here: http://www.micheleandreoli.it/mulinux/ which starts at around 16Mb.

And, honestly, if you need to do something custom, you can always build your own linux from scratch with what you need - in your case, something small.

http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/

Thank you (re mulinux) -- that is in the spirit of what I'm trying to do (particularly as it can be installed into a DOS/FAT/Windows 95 type filesystem, which is exactly my use case), and I would not have located it without advice here.

I'll test it shortly and report back; should there be other candidates I should consider, I would appreciate any other suggestions.

Dave

Glad you found it helpful.

As far as that goes, MuLinux is the smallest i've found that is prepackaged. If you need it to be smaller, you can go with the Build your own from scratch -- which is perfect for embedded systems and such.

I don't know for sure if Tinycore/Microcore Linux supports exactly what you need, but it's worth a shot. The base footprint for Tinycore is around 11 MB, and Microcore (no X) is around 7 MB.

http://www.tinycorelinux.com/

Thats amazing.

OK, still working on this!

I was able to get mulinux to start, but not fully manage the hardware environment (a mid 90s era subnotebook, 166 MHz CPU, 80M RAM, etc.....) The 2.0 kernel isn't necessarily a problem, but I am going to be dependent on PCMCIA support for external mass storage and ethernet/wireless (as the machine is VERY pre-USB.)

I much appreciate the referral to "tinycorelinux" - that's my next stopping point in this adventure. The 2.6 kernel looks interesting, particularly if it's not tooooooooo recent (2.6.25 has proven problematic as some elderly hardware was shed somewhere along the line, whereas 2.6.17 has worked really well on my hardware so I've used that as a bit of a reference point.)

I'll experiment soon with tinycorelinux, and in the meantime want to express my appreciation to those contributing to this thread!

Dave