> Sorry to be (way) off topic here, but I was wondering if anyone on this list > has any experience to share on the subject of minimal linux versions, for > something other than routing/firewall purposes?
Not that far off topic. The "F" (or "Firewall") part of LEAF (Linux Embedded Appliance Firewall) was never cast in stone, and there's actually been discussion on the developer list about changing it to "Foundation" or "Framework" or similar. This hasn't happened mainly because of the political issues with changing a SF Project's stated purpose once it's created. > I'm currently engaged in a project to control an external piece of equipment > via the parallel port. For this purpose I'm going to set up an old 486 (or > whatever), stripped of everything but: > > A floppy drive > One NIC Sounds like a pretty basic system. I hope there's a CPU and some memory! :-) > -at this point I have the external equipment built (basically a stepper > motor, and two switches). I have the (electronic) interface to the parport > ready. As well as the c-routines to access the stuff. > > Now, before I press on and start programming, I'd like to get the controlling > host set up. And this is where I'd like some input: > > Most of the minimal Linuces I'm aware of, are of the 'router/firewall' > or 'rescue system' variety. So is anyone aware of a version that is already > oriented towards the role of 'device-controller'? I think you're barking up the wrong tree to some extent. Your software turns a linux platform into a "device controller" for your device, so rather than a linux optimized for controlling devices, you need a linux version that suits both your software, and the hardware environment available...more on this in a bit... > Alternatively, does someone have any bright ideas, towards adapting something > like f.x. Dachstein for my purpose? > > Traits I'm looking for: > - Must fit on a single (possibly superformatted) floppy. > - Should provide some sort of shell (until I get around to turning the > programs into C or something, everything will be scripts) > - (preferrably) some kind of webserver (for the purpose of making certain > variables accessible/changeable, from machines on the LAN) The first two traits describe the linux platform you need. Pretty much *ANY* of the firewall/rescue type floppy disk linux's should work well for you with a bit of customization. The only thing that makes Dachstein a "firewall" release, is the fact that there are some network scripts run at init that configure a bunch of networking stuff, and build a firewall ruleset. You can easily completely disable *ALL* firewall rule generation in network.conf, or remove the firewall setup scripts entirely, replacing the whole thing with a simple script to configure your one interface (or just launch a dhcp client, if you've got a dhcp server on your LAN). Anyway, when looking at the various single-disk linux options, there are a few things you might want to check for that could make your job easier: init: Some of the single-disk linux disto's come with a customized or minimal version of init. Dachstein (and all other LEAF disto's, AFAIK) comes with standard SysV init, and supports the /etc/rc?.d runlevel directories, making it easy to get your custom program(s) running automatically. cron: Since you're talking about an alarm type function, you may find cron handy if you don't want to keep track of time in your application. Again, cron is included on Dachstein and other LEAF disto's. Runtime Environment: You only mention the requirement for a shell, but there are probably other things you need as well. Look for a disto that contains any particular applications (sed, grep, cut, whatever) you require, and any particular libraries your code needs access to. You can add these yourself if something is missing, but ideally you want as much as possible included "out of the box". I think Dachstein, Bering, Oxygen, and most any of the myriad other single-disk disto's would likely work fine for your application. I'd probably pick one based on either your current experience (ie stick with what you know), or what you would like to learn (ie I've been itching to try out that Bering release). > In short, what I want is to create a mechanism that will emulate the sunrise, > by slowly opening the blind, and thus (hopefully) more gently awake at > 'dawn'... > > Any thoughts/ideas/advice welcome You might also want to consider using some X-10 controllers, and slowly turning on a light (or lights). You can get all the bits & pieces at radio-shack, and you can still controll it with linux... Charles Steinkuehler http://lrp.steinkuehler.net http://c0wz.steinkuehler.net (lrp.c0wz.com mirror) _______________________________________________________________ Have big pipes? SourceForge.net is looking for download mirrors. We supply the hardware. You get the recognition. Email Us: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ leaf-user mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/leaf-user SR FAQ: http://leaf-project.org/pub/doc/docmanager/docid_1891.html
