Thread: Smallest Distro Avaliable

  1. #1
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Posts
    277

    Smallest Distro Avaliable

    Folks I was looking fora platform for my master thesys and I would be interestd in the smallest distro avaliable. I know there are embedded systems designed for small space but for publishing work linux is better. So I was thinking about which is the most chopped linux around? Just gcc,g++ and the smallest kernel possible?

  2. #2
    Unregistered User Yarin's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Posts
    2,158
    Smaller isn't always better. Usually the extra MiB is well worth the extra usability!
    A couple that come to mind are Damn Small Linux and Puppy Linux.
    I advise checking Google out on the matter.

  3. #3
    and the hat of copycat stevesmithx's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Posts
    587
    LFS Project Homepage could be of some help.
    I haven't done lfs myself, but it is one my future goals.
    Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted
    - Albert Einstein.


    No programming language is perfect. There is not even a single best language; there are only languages well suited or perhaps poorly suited for particular purposes.
    - Herbert Mayer

  4. #4
    spurious conceit MK27's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    segmentation fault
    Posts
    8,300
    I've done LFS and I would highly recommend at least reading the guide (even if you don't attempt the process) to gain an understanding of what constitutes a normative linux system and how it fundamentally works.

    The point being: if you want to "chop" it, you are being silly and wasting your time by looking around at small distros. You can take "just the essentials" from any distro and make them work on any scale: I've built systems that ran off a pair of floppy disks (that is, less than 3 mb, which isn't even a standard issue kernel ), complete with (console based) file browser, editor, networking, and web browser. They were source built, but the starting framework was fedora (which ain't considered lite or small). Adding gcc and development libs is more space, of course, but if you move up to a CD you can have whatever you want.

    Anyway, two important things:
    1) get comfortable rolling your own kernel.
    2) learn some bash scripting and get a grip on how the /etc/rc (or /etc/init) scripts work. They're called runlevel scripts -- for that floppy deal, I had to write them all myself.

    Again, just to emphasize, LFS is a totally excellent guide to all this. The idea behind LFS is NO DISTRO -- ALL SOURCE.
    C programming resources:
    GNU C Function and Macro Index -- glibc reference manual
    The C Book -- nice online learner guide
    Current ISO draft standard
    CCAN -- new CPAN like open source library repository
    3 (different) GNU debugger tutorials: #1 -- #2 -- #3
    cpwiki -- our wiki on sourceforge

  5. #5
    In my head happyclown's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    In my head
    Posts
    391
    Tiny Core Linux. 10 Mb.

    Here's the smallest linux computer in the world: picotux - smallest Linux computer in the World

    OS: Linux Mint 13(Maya) LTS 64 bit.

  6. #6
    Officially An Architect brewbuck's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Portland, OR
    Posts
    7,396
    I suppose you could ssh into your wireless access point, chances are it's running Linux.
    Code:
    //try
    //{
    	if (a) do { f( b); } while(1);
    	else   do { f(!b); } while(1);
    //}

  7. #7
    Woof, woof! zacs7's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Australia
    Posts
    3,459
    Having gcc and g++ is going to inflate the size a fair bit, especially if you suck other headers and libraries with them.

Popular pages Recent additions subscribe to a feed

Similar Threads

  1. Replies: 22
    Last Post: 05-29-2009, 05:44 PM
  2. largest and smallest number
    By wise_ron in forum C Programming
    Replies: 11
    Last Post: 10-05-2006, 03:25 PM
  3. Largest / Smallest (5 integers)
    By Ripley in forum C Programming
    Replies: 4
    Last Post: 10-09-2005, 08:58 PM
  4. Finding the smallest value......HARD!!!
    By AssistMe in forum C Programming
    Replies: 21
    Last Post: 03-10-2005, 06:23 AM
  5. Replies: 16
    Last Post: 09-21-2004, 11:08 PM