Link to home
Start Free TrialLog in
Avatar of hathehariken
hatheharikenFlag for India

asked on

linux distro with a very small footprint with GUI and WINE

hello all,

my computer is running Vista Ultimate x64 - but will be running 7 Ultimate x64 in a few weeks.
i am using Sun VirtualBox to manage my virtual machines.

what i am looking for is a Linux with very small foorprint.
basically, i need to run a single internet app (for the sake of the discussion, lets assume it is utorrent - as my app is very similar to it.)
so i should be able to chuck out all frivolous things.

i need:
a small clean GUI
good memory management
modules and libraries for IP/LAN/internet (if a browser can operate, so can my program)
ability to install to a single virtual disk
WINE

i had a look at Damn Small Linux (DSL) but i i can find no comparable distributions...

can you help me make a choice and shed some of your wisdom on this matter?


thanx,
hathehariken
Avatar of hathehariken
hathehariken
Flag of India image

ASKER

no one??
Avatar of Michael Worsham
Define 'small footprint'. Damn Small Linux (DSL) is about as small as they get.

How much space and memory are you willing to allocate to the Linux environment?
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
Avatar of noci
noci

Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
--->Define 'small footprint'
a max of 150 mb installed size with a memory requirement of no more than 40 mb for the OS at peak load.

noci, thank you for the links. i will have a look, and get back on this.
Avatar of noci
noci

Also, you could take for example DSL or other distro and strip it of everything you don't need...
I have got Slackware down to below that, but it doesn't have wine. You have to install wine from source (probably the best thing to do anyway)
SOLUTION
Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
sorry for the delay.

>>>Also, you could take for example DSL or other distro and strip it of everything you don't need...
DSL looks very good in my opinion.

i am an absolute novice in linux. so can you list what modules/add-ons i dont need?
or is there a module manager, where i can do add/remove operations??

thanx!
Whittling down even a Slackware http://www.slackware.com install is quite a lengthy process. You say in your Q "(if a browser can operate, so can my program)" so presumably you need X, which my systems didn't.
The Slackware installer does have a "novice" mode whereby it prompts you to install each and every package, showing disk space used and giving a short description. If you have the time and the patience, it can be a very worthwhile exercise - set aside half a day for it though.
There will be whole categories of software you don't want: no compilers or editors, glibc_solibs only (glibc would give you a development environment), no debuggers, HOWTOs, X applications and as I mentioned before only FVWM as desktop.
After installation, there is a whole second round of trimming to do on your running system. This includes deleting the man pages, /usr/doc, much from /usr/share (keep the timezone file for your zone and the terminfo files for xterm and linux).
The Slackware package manager is your friend. If you find you've installed packages you don't need, remove them with removepkg. If you find you missed installing a package you need, install it with installpkg. An finally, if you find you deleted a file that is essential to a wanted package, reinstall that package using upgradepkg --reinstall. (that will often re-creat /usr/man and /usr/doc, so you might want to leave removing these until you're done trimming - files in these directories are never required).
Post any further questions you may have.
SOLUTION
Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
duncan, slackware is 6 cds or a single DVD (as mentioned in http://www.slackware.com/getslack/) i dont think i am knowledgeable enough to enter its innards and do editing to the installation base.



i am downloading DSL at the moment.
once i get it installed and running at its default config, i will post back.

question (on DSL):
cant i remove misc programs and the HTTP FTP, etc servers post-installation??


thanx for your continued support!
Yes you can remove programs, but take care to stop init from trying to run them at boot time. Best to make sure they are not being started before you remove them.
3 of the Slackware CDs are source, so only 3 install CDs ;)
SOLUTION
Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
i am sorry for the delay - other work prevented me from working on this.

i installed DSL, didnt work so nice.
planning to look into LFS.

i should close this question now, its been running for a long time.
thanx for all your help!

hathehariken.