[nylug-talk] Lite debian distro for Internet Appliance

[Foxx D'Gamma]

I have a Gateway Connected Touchpad. Built by Gateway sponcered by AOL. Its
a nifty little machine, but Im having trouble with the OS. Im a debian fan,
its what I know.

--- pasted from http://forums.bsodtv.org/Need-Linux-Help-GCTP-t114.html --

Im a linux guy, but im a console commando. I dont really fiddle with the
creamy center of the OS. Im gonna need a custom install for this tablet.
Right now she runs Damn Small Linux pretty well. Im a debian fan, Knoppix is
my favorite Live distro so far, but both of them are WAY too heavy for this
machine.

System Info

400Mhz Transmeta Crusoe CPU - Eqivalant of a 233Mhz Cyrix
64MB, upgraded to 384? MB Ram @ 100Mhz (i forget the exact amount)
Shared Trident Video (16MB)
800 x 600 24 bit native DSTN Display
Serial Touchscreen hooked to COM1
USB 1.1
Onboard Conpact Flash as Primary Master (HDA)
IDE header for Master/Slave drives (had to add this myself)
IR keyboard that sucks
Intel Pro 2200 Wifi card on the mPCI bus, no antenna yet.
Linksys USB 2.0 LAN (if needed, gotta pull it off the tivo).

It originally runs a custom distro of Midori linux which is based off of
uCLinux. The original distro fits on a 32MB CF card with room to spare. I
have a 512MB card in now, and thats as big as it can get. Either my 1GB card
doesnt get allong with the tablet (LBA/CHS conflictions) or the GCTP just
cant do anything above 512MB, which is most likely the case.

Right now she works as well as I would expect. DSL runs pretty smooth, if it
wasnt for the DSTN display she wouldnt be AS bad. I think thats her main
flaw. Her CPU is lacking power.. BADLY. Just having someone logged into a
VNC session jacks the CPU load up to 75%, and if they move the mouse it
maxes out. XMMS takes about about 12% CPU, SSH with 4 logins takes about 4%.
Again, im not gonna complain about it, she still does something my laptop
cant do, and thats run linux with little to no issues.

Got the antenna cables. Installed Damn Small Linux to 512MB CF. Boots,
works... but the 2.4 kernel doesnt support the Intel 2200. Used DSL-n, which
is a beefed up Damn Small with no 50MB limit. Works nicely, but the
2.6kernel doesnt support my USB LAN or Wifi. Also, the distro isnt
finished. No
Apt, or any kind of net based package manager. This sucks cause there is no
CD-Rom on this thing, and the SD card reader on the 2.6 kernel is flaky for
some reason.

Also, DSL and DSL-n are easy to break. I mean EASY! All you need is a failed
boot or improper shurdown.

Figured out why the 1GB CF doesnt boot. I need to set up the CF as a
"SuperDisk" Meaning the bootloader is at the beginning of the drive with no
MBR. No idea how to set that up manually.

Im going to need some Linux help. I might look like a "uber-leet" know it
all on the show, but im not. I only cover stuffI know about. You wont see me
scripting and coding, cause i SUCK at it. Im not a linux noob, but im by far
an expert. Some of the things I need to get done are:


MINIMAL INSTALL!!
Legacy Support, I want everything except Touchpad working. Wifi is a MUST!
FluxBox or BlackBox as the GUI with icons, and system stats on screen.

I pretty much want something like Damn Small but more custom to what i wanna
do... I dont like how it boots, and saves its settings. Its just not
"comfortable" for me. I want something like DSL, but as a standard install.

Can anyone help?