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Re: [school-discuss] Knoppix vs. Freeduc vs. ??? (fwd)



Responses from a tech friend in India. FN

On Thu, 29 May 2003, Animesh N Nerurkar wrote:


> Hi rico,
> 
> On Thursday 29 May 2003 11:51, Frederick Noronha (FN) wrote:
> 
> > Banduji, you're the expert... FN
> 
> that's a lie -i've been framed -just like roger rabbit !
> 
> >    I need to load an OS on these machines for very basic use in
> > computer literacy at the orphanage's school. There have been
> > discussions on the list about both Knoppix and Freeduc, but I have no
> > experience with either.
> 
> no problem
> 
> > ... it would be nice if
> > they could go on the hard drives for faster response.
> 
> see procedure below for steps to follow.
> 
> > Which is less demanding of resources? That is, what's the minimum size hard 
> > drive and minimum amount of memory to get reasonable performance?
> 
> both require roughly the same amount of disk space to install -1800 MB, but 
> install will not commence unless 2200 MB disk space is available.
> 
> FreEduc requires less RAM as RAM hungry s/w like KDE and Gnome have been 
> removed from the distro.
> 
> minimum RAM for reasonable performance: 128 MB
> 
> > Also, does either or both offer the option for Spanish?
> 
> sorry, i didn't test this but, theoretically it is supported ...see below.
> 
> install FreEduc to hard disk:
> 
> Assumed: you know how to partition a disk with cfdisk -the standard 
> partitioning tool with FreEduc and knoppix.
> 
> when the CD boots upto the boot prompt, hit  the  <F3>  key to see the 
> available language options.
> 
> common procedure to install knoppix / FreEduc on hard disk:
> 
> Steps:
> 1) boot from the CD till you get the boot prompt.
> 2) FreEduc:
>    hit  <F3> to get the list of knoppix options.
> 
>    knoppix:
>    hit  <F2> to get the list of knoppix options.
> 
> ...it looks like this:
> knoppix lang=us (or de es fr it pl ru)         Use specified language/keyboard
> knoppix desktop=gnome (or twm larswm wmaker) Use specified WM instead of KDE
> knoppix screen=1280x1024                 Use specified Screen resolution for X
> knoppix xserver=XFree86                      Use specified X-Server
> knoppix xmodule=vesa                         Use specified XFree4-Module
> knoppix xvrefresh=60                         Use 60 Hz vertical refresh for X
> knoppix 2                                    Runlevel 2, Textmode only
> knoppix floppyconfig                         Run "knoppix.sh" from a floppy
> knoppix no{scsi,pcmcia,usb,agp,dma,swap}     Skip SCSI/PCMCIA/USB/AGP/swap 
> det.
> knoppix noeject                              Do NOT eject CD after halt
> knoppix-txt                                  No framebuffer at startup
> knoppix blind brltty=driver                  Start Braille-Terminal (no X)
> expert                                       Interactive setup
> 
> 3) type the options at the boot prompt so that it looks something like this;
> 
> <english>
> knoppix lang=us screen=1024x768 xserver=vesa <enter>
> 
> <spanish>
> knoppix lang=es screen=1024x768 xserver=vesa <enter>
> 
> ...now wait till FreEduc boots up to the GUI desktop (XFCE)
> 
> Note:
> 1)  if the GUI does not appear, reboot the machine, repeat steps 1 to 3 -and 
> experiment with the screen,  xserver and xmodule options of knoppix listed 
> under  <F3> -do not proceed to step 4 till you are satisified with the 
> results of these steps.
> 
> 2) if "vesa" doesn't work, use "fbdev" as a second option.
> 
> Tip: try getting the system to boot without manually specifying too many 
> details, let it detect them automatically.
> 
> 4) open a term window and run the command:
> 
> $ sudo  /usr/local/bin/knx-hdinstall <enter>
> 
> Note: the rest of the install procedure is menu driven and in german !
> 
> reboot from hard disk and enjoy :)
> 
> Advanced Tip: FreEduc and knoppix, both make and use ext2fs by default. you 
> can change this if you are adventurous :) -steps are as follows:
> 
> we can't hack the original install script as it's on the CD, but we can copy 
> the file to the ramdisk and then hack the copy.
> 
> 1) make a copy of all files in /usr/local/bin/  as follows:
> 
> $ cp  /usr/local/bin/*  /  <enter>
> 
> this copies 2 files too the root (ramdisk)
> 1) init
> 2) knx-hdinstall
> 
> we will hack the second file...
> 
> open /knx-hdinstall with your favourite text editor (i used vim)
> 
> $ sudo  vi  /knx-hdinstall  <enter>
> 
> look for a line that says something like "mke2fs" and change it to  "mkfsext3"
> 
> 3) now, run this install file with the command;
> 
> $ sudo /knx-hdinstall <enter>
> 
> this should do the trick.
> 
> all the best ...and i'm just an email away if you need any more help.
> 
> ciao
> banduji
> 
> 

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