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Author: KatolaZ
Date:  
To: Boruch Baum
CC: dng
Subject: Re: [DNG] devuan-minimal brief review notes
On Tue, May 17, 2016 at 11:53:57PM -0400, Boruch Baum wrote:
> @KatolaZ (and everyone else): I just took the 2016-05-17 iteration of
> devuan-minimal for a short spin, and here are my notes. In summary, it
> seems to be a nicely prepared iso, with features that I've found
> overlooked in much larger distros that make attempts to be minimal.
> Nice work!


Hi,

thanks for the comments. Please find some notes below.

>
> devuan-minimal.org-emacs  -*- mode: org; mode:visual-line; -*-
> #+TITLE: devuan-minimal.org-emacs
> * devuan-minimal.org-emacs
> ** 2016-05-17
> *** qemu on E15
> + default boot option failed
>   + frame buffer related. Message is:
>     #+BEGIN_SRC
>     fb: switching to bochsdrmfb from simple
>     #+END_SRC
>     + Question: so how is it so many others claim success?
>   + when invoking qemu with an additional option '-vga vmware', the
>     frame buffer boot option succeeds, and the frame buffer feature
>     works, as described below.
> + successful boot with nofb option


I don't get what you mean by "qemu on E15" and "usb on E14". The
problem you got might be simply due to the fact that the kernel tries
to use 1024x768 in fb, which might not be available in your case. We
probably need to revert back to smaller resolutions (e.g. 800x600x16)
for the standard boot line, and provide a "hires" option with full
1024x768 support and a "lowres" option with "640x480x8".

> *** usb on E14
> + default boots to login
>   + boot process does not auto-recognize screen
>     + prompts for resolution selection, with a timeout.
>     + selected option 'y'
>     + possible solution: in file /etc/default/grub, comment out
>       parameter 'GRUB_GFX_MODE'. That should make grub default to
>       'auto'. However, I'm not really certain if that's necessary,
>       because I don't see a /boot/grub/grub.cfg, so it seems that the
>       iso is booting using isolinux. (true?/false?)


The image is booting through isolinux. There is no grub, and probably
there will not be one, since isolinux is much more than enough for the
task of booting a live image.

> + libcap2-bin not installed
>   + required to query or set capabilities.
>   + fbterm requires the following to be performed ONCE.
>     #+BEGIN_SRC
>     sudo setcap 'cap_sys_tty_config+ep' /usr/bin/fbterm
>     sudo chmod u+s /usr/bin/fbterm
>     #+END_SRC
>     + for a livecd environment, neither command is easily possible,
>       because the root filesystem is not writable. (not tested)
>       + solution #1: perform the commands before burning the iso
>       + solution #2: mount an aufs partition over the root partition
>         and apply the changes on the overlay. (not tested)


Noted!

> + frame buffer works!


[cut]

Good to hear that!

> + thanks for the following features, which I have found that other
> 'minimal' distros skimp on:
> + man pages
> + locate, with updatedb pre-run
> + grub
> + why is there no /boot/grub/grub.cfg?


We are not using grub, and I will probably remove all the grub stuff
if possible, since it is just a waste of space. Maybe we will have
problems with UEFI boot though, but we can't save the world in two
hours :D

> + missing
>   + everyone will have something to chime in here about, I would
>     prefer to be able to list things to remove.
>   + ncdu - ncurses answer to 'baobab', with more features and without
>     gnome-bloat.
>   + htop - not *really* necessary, since 'top' is installed.

>


Noted. They are not the most necessary tools, but I plan to have a
little more space in the next snapshot, due to some cleansing.

You might also consider reporting those issues in the gitlab page, so
that we can have

Thanks!

HND

KatolaZ

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[ Enzo Nicosia aka KatolaZ --- GLUG Catania -- Freaknet Medialab ]
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