World: r3wp

people who startout using Ubuntu, Fedora or Redhat find themselfs 
In an Linux world that not even default with i.e. Disk-Structures 
on Tru64 or Solaris or HPUX.. while using other Linux distributions 
from around 1995 they stick with the UNIX system (IV|V) layout..But 
when it comes to development I can emagine to make a choice between 
"package handling" and "environment handling"... Then I would stick 
with debian..just has a better package manager...where slackware 
is a little more the "do it yourself package manager.." still 'tar 
does wonderful things.. for the user...

Btw... Thats why I like BSD above all ;-)

Knoppix can be installed and is is then a debian, so the rest can 
be apt-getted. damn small linux claims the same. Kanotix is a knoppix 
specially made for that. no guaratees..

Let me back up a bit.  No Linux wars here please.  I have about 10 
different Linux distros running..

However, all the newer ones give me problems. Here is why: I used 
to be able to build Libc6 and Libc5, and that was all that was necessary. 
 However, now if I build on Ubuntu and run it on Mandrake, it crashes... 
and every other combination.

So, I studied the situation a bit, and found that Debian is really 
the meat behind a lot of these distros, and someone I trust suggested 
that Debian made a better dev platform and would provide the perfect 
build standard for us.

I have every package  for the current Debian release here. All 10GB 
of it. I do not want to download anything from the net, nor should 
that be necessary..

But, I do not have a DVD on the target machine, only CDROM. The distro 
is on DVD, so I need to create a CDROM set from the DVD.

I searched far and wide on the net, and found no info at all on how 
to do this.  I even wrote a REBOL script as a mini Linux package 
manager, because boiling down 10GB to .7GB is no small task.

But, it became clear to me that the package database does not appear 
specific enough to be able to generate a solid set of packages in 
that manner.

I also built the floppy set, and figured I would use my own local 
Debian archivel site from a different local machine.  So, mounted 
the DVD on one system and published it with HTTP, and the floppy 
boot worked, found the host, but the installer rejected the archive.

So, it was crash and burn.  I have better things to do right now 
that screw around with Linux. So, it's on hold.

what is the problem to buy a dvd drive these days? :-) It is really 
cheap even here in CZ :-)

Carl, you can buy Debian for $30 at http://www.1stdebian.com/, but 
at that price you can also buy a DVD Drive for your target mmachine 
;-)

exactly - I know Carl talks about principles ... but why to loose 
your time with fighting to get things stripped down to CD? I would 
go and bug DVD drive ....

To recap, most of the newest "user friendly" distros are based on 
Debian, so Debian is the common denominator for them. If you add 
to the list SuSE (commonly used in Europe), RedHat (and therfore 
Fedora), and Slackware, I would suggest to stick with these for distros 
and build specific version of Rebol for them...

Don't forget Mandrake --> so 5 distros

I meant Mandriva, of course ;-)

the problem is that normally a person makes a program and then multiple 
maintainers make sure it runs under certain distros

That's why we call this "Open Source", which is not the case for 
Rebol.

;-)

Yes, and look how nice open source has become these days.  It is 
a huge mess.

Pekr: on DVD, yes I thought of that too.

In fact, I've got DVD drives sitting around here.

But, the last thing I do is start taking the hardware box apart for 
a simple software install problem.

That is the last option. Because, you can also have bios problems 
with the new DVD. I'm not sure how older bios handle it.

Carl, a suggestion: why not make an agreement with trusted Rebol/Linux 
users and delegate the build on specific platform. Kind of very restricted 
and contractuel "Open Source"?

That is more the REBOL 3.0 way.

Hybrid open source I call it.

HOS.

Hum, sounds the right way for Linux...

Anyway, I will delegate this task now to someone here, and start 
taking the box apart. My last choice. Always.

HOS = Hampshire Ornithological Society ?

dixit Google ;-)

I fully agree Carl.. Long life the "spaggeti Open Source Community" 
....Windows rules ;-) on some parts...it realy does!.... (and Im 
a fanatic Unix/Linux user..)..I was struggling for 2 days with my 
DVD drives for a simple 1-on-1 copy (none data) ..and none of the 
Linux packages where able to correclty copy DVD's of  my format.. 
Jumping back to windows XP (i though ..iekss) ..seeking some obscure 
sites and found a hell of a tool that copy's everything.."dvd decrypter" 
(EOL btw but free..) And that something linux community did not build 
yet...Awfull.. Well im off taking care of some windows backups ;-) 
It still stays windows ;-)

ROS - rebol open source :-)

S.O.S  -  "Spagetti Open Source "

COS - Carl's open source :-) Rebol with a cause :-)

I do not want to download anything from the net, nor should that 
be necessary..
 I think thats the main problem, specially with debian..

 and found that Debian is really the meat behind a lot of these distros

 thats right. Which is why i suggested knoppix. Which is a debian 
 modified to run from cd without needing harddisk. Which was lthen 
 modified to dump itself to hd as debian-installation. Which is a 
 nice way to install debian IMHO.

btw - yesterday I tried to manually remove one virus but I give up 
.... the virus is more clever or it seems there is more than one 
virus involved .... :-)

but using some Sysinternals tools I managed to find out, where the 
stuff is hiding etc ... but no time now ...

I tried Bart's PE installer, which very easily let's you make your 
bootable Windows CD .... but it screwed my czech language ...

so I tried 2002 version of my friend's Knoppix and I was impressed 
(but I miss my Total Commander, huh :-)

I am willing to give new Knoppix or Ubuntu a try - what do you suggest 
please for small, 1CD intro, which is able to easily mount your NTFS 
partition and let's you to delete windows, program files, or simply 
to back-up some files and does not screw your filesystem?

intro=distro

mepis.org

Writing to NTFS is always a problem on Linux, though

yep, i don't suggest you trying to change the ntfs partition from 
linux.

i have another partition with a clean windows install, to use for 
repair opeartions on ntfs.

Well, I have tried captive ntfs and it worked well (no accessive 
testing, though). It uses your NT/XP drivers ... http://www.jankratochvil.net/project/captive/