[Inx] Hardware drivers, installation, etc. (was Re: Usb persist install)

Peter Garrett inx-one at optusnet.com.au
Thu Aug 20 08:00:15 PDT 2009


On Thu, 20 Aug 2009 09:07:51 -0400
David Ring <n1ea at arrl.net> wrote:

> Peter,
> 
> I'm not a programmer, but I am a persistent person and often succeed
> after many failures.
> 
> If anyone on the list can improve buildinx so that it can successfully
> install INX to a USB drive or to a new partition, it would be
> wonderful.

David:

Wrong tool :) Buildinx *builds an INX ISO*

There are now two possibilities (well, three if you include the
'persistent' USB making tool inxusb)

1) Inxtaller - on the disc, but not in the menus, except on
'unstable-1.15', because encouraging people who don't quite know what
"single blank hard drive" and "no partitioner" mean is not really
suitable for the INX target audience.

2) The two-stage "netinxtaller" method, which I posted about recently
on this list. See my post about "unstable-1.15" ...

3) For a USB "stick" you can use "inxusb" - this also has been posted,
and somewhat discussed. It is also included in 1.15.
 
> I also saw the "sources" file.
> 
> What I'm doing is installing Koala, removing all the "extra" programs,
> then running apt-get with the sources file.
> 

Well, I have no idea if this even has a remote chance of working as a
basis for INX, to be frank.

> The unsuccessful attempt yesterday filled my 1 GB usb drive and I got
> "broken blocks" messages - must be time for the kids to use their
> blocks more carefully at pre-school, I guess.

If you tried to install all of "koala" to a 1 gig USB, I'm not very
surprised :)

> The ONLY disappointment with INX 1.1 is that I don't have the Broadcom
> STA drivers and this means that I don't have WiFi access.  I do have
> Ethernet access, so next time I will see if INX has "hardware drivers"
> under "System", "Administration", "Hardware Drivers" so that INX can
> check for the driver.

... I'm speechless...

> 
> I tried to add "make" and "gcc" to INX so I could compile and install
> the Broadcom STA and I corrupted the USB drive :'(

If you really want to add a compiler for modules/drivers etc. to INX,
you will need to roll your own INX using "buildinx", and enter the
chroot at the menu with that option that appears after the "debootstrap"
stage. In the chroot you would use apt, and install for example as
follows:

apt-get install build-essential linux-headers-$(uname -r)

Then exit the chroot with "exit" or ctrl+d , after which you would
choose option 1 from that mid-buildinx menu, and tell buildinx to build
your iso. You would get a debconf question about "locale purge", where
you would scroll down with your arrow key to "en" for English and select
that option by pressing the space bar.

Buildinx is really not difficult to use, but adding stuff does require
that you know what to get, and how. 

By the way, my man pages are not written in Swahili or Mongolian - I
know a few that might as well be ;) I try to give examples, and I
*think* after reading them you would have a fair idea of how to use,
say, inxtaller or buildinx. That's why I put a somewhat tongue-in-cheek 
reference to "apropos" in my previous post.

That's in the INX tutorials by the way - you *have* done the tutorials,
right?

> INX is the BEST distro for those who don't want bloat.  It is really
> fast and it is beautifully colourful.

:-)

> 
> If INX was human, I'd marry her, because it does everything you'd ever want!

Heheh. If it was human, it wouldn't do everything you'd ever want ...
*grin*

> In fact if I had WiFi access with INX, I'd just run this distro it is so good.

Contrary to what some people might hope, I'm no GNU/Linux guru, just a
guy who glued a few things together in a different way. Low-level
hardware issues are kernel hacker territory I'd say. I will never be a
kernel hacker ;)

> Add emacspeak and britty so it could talk and it would be the "Dream
> Distro" for the blind.

Well, if you search the list archive you will find at least one attempt
to start something along those lines. I asked for feedback and
testing. The silence was ear-splitting...

> Best wishes and thanks from all of us for your excellent work.

Thank you :)

Peter
-- 
"INX Is Not X" Live CD based on Ubuntu 8.04 : http://inx.maincontent.net
Screenshots slideshow: http://inx.maincontent.net/album/1.png.html


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