Re: Running Deb on old PCs
To quote dickson chow <sooperdick@mediaone.net>,
# 1. How can i install debian at its bare minimum? (HD space is only
# 340mb. sorry if this is a dumb question. i'm new to linux and the
linux
# structure is totally alien to me. i'm trying very hard to learn it
# though :)
What I would do is extract base2_2.tgz (the base Debian system) to the
target Debian root partition. I'd set up LILO, make it bootable and
whatnot. There, now you're got the most minimum Debian system
available(I think, anyways :)... It's pretty small, the tarball is only
15M. Do get walked through the configuration, 'dpkg-reconfigure
base-config'. That should run pretty much everything you'd get during a
normal installation routine.
After that point, 'apt-get install' very very few packages. Only the
ones you absolutely need. I'm not sure if it's possible to 'apt-get
remove' anything that was in base2_2.tgz; I think all those packages are
marked "essential" and hence can't(or shouldn't, anyways ;) be removed.
# 2. is it possible to get mgetty to fax out a document recieved from
# another computer on a lan (ie. from a windowz computer)?
I believe there are some Win32 clients around ... or I might be thinking
of Hylafax. I'm not sure ... anyways, check http://www.freshmeat.net ,
it's a great place. You could also check http://www.appwatch.com , but I
don't think the latter has any more software listed than the former.
# 3. is it possible to get mgetty to email me the voice messages and
# faxes? or at least notify me by email that i have new voice messages
and
# faxes? i'm guessing i need to write a complex script for that?
Yes. But I'm not sure if the script would be terribly complex. 'apt-get
install mgetty-docs' on a computer that has a wee bit more hard drive
space, then poke around. I don't think it's all that difficult, from
what I've read in the docs.
# 4. maybe check faxes and voices messages using a web browser? that way
i
# can check my messages when i'm out of time or something hehe.
That'd be more complex; you'd probably have to write a web front-end ...
and you'd also have to install some sort of webserver :( At 340M, you're
already going to be limited to how many voice messages you can store
with only the base Debian config; adding big stuff like a webserver
might make matters worse.
# 5. would it be easier to compile my own kernel and get all this to
work?
Compiling your own kernel and getting the goals you've set forth
accomplished have rather little to do with one another :) Anyways, you
*are* going to have to work a fair bit to get this to work, there's no
"mgetty-voice-fax-web-frontends-with-emailing-scripts-and-magic-wand"
package :)
David Barclay Harris, Clan Barclay
Aut agere, aut mori. (Either action, or death.)
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