Re: Embedded Debian, the 5 lb bag.
Hi Karl,
I looked at your site and find myself with similar objectives and
considering a similar approach. I have to support a 16 mb ram 486
system with a D.O.C.. There are additional PC platforms that are
targeted, some with IDE CF. All have greater horsepower than the 486.
I was well along this process when I came upon your posting, and am on
the following solution path:
- Install Knoppix 3.3 as a development environment to HD. This gives
"debian testing". It is compiled for i386 so I get my 486 support out
of any precompiled binaries from that, along with testing *.deb files
from the internet.
- Stick with glibc, so I can nfs root mount to my development system,
can run custom binaries I make there using standard approaches. There's
enough space for glibc on the target flash and I will have to support
the same programs on a desktop linux as what runs on the target. (There
is a development system for my target custom binaries. This decision is
critical, since it allows me to maintain only one set of binaries.) No
offense to Erik's unbelievable work, I am just not enthused about the
hassles of using uclibc. The days of small space are going away fast,
thanks to digital camaras primarily.
- Use full BASH.
- Use busybox with the 2.6 module loading support, and the internal dpkg
manager also. Is that functional?
- Setup a package management repository for .deb's on the target.
- Try to get to 2.6 kernel ASAP. Why? I have to write about 20 device
drivers and I don't want to do it again later, which would happen if
they were made now for 2.4.
I'm open to ideas on how we could collaborate, but only if it saves us
both work.
Dick Hollenbeck
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