[PLUG] Specifying a minimalist/instuctional/??? Linux install

[Rich Shepard]

On Mon, 8 Dec 2014, Richard Owlett wrote:

> My original goal was simply purge Windows and run Linux.

Richard,

   That's certainly a laudible goal.

> Things influencing my outlook
>   I predate CPM-80

   I started with with either Honeywell or Burroughs main frames in 1962.

>   Reading about "Linux from Scratch" and Slackware

   Slackware might be just what you want, but see below.

   You've been wrestling with this for a while and I think you're in a rut;
perhaps because you're still thinking of a PC-1 with 64K RAM and a 5-1/4"
floppy drive.

> 1. bring back *PERSONAL* to personal computing.
>       Primary implication   - shall not be capable of being a
> network server.
>       Secondary implication - only one person will ever be the
> operator.

   Linux (and all unices) is inherently multi-user and multi-tasking. You
cannot get rid of that, but you don't need to have other users or run
client-server applications (other than your Web browser, of course), or even
to multitask. If you had a car capable of a top speed of 150 mph, you could
still drive through a school zone at 15-20 mph, or on a county highway at 55
mph, even without passengers in the vehicle. Just because the OS is network
and multi-user capable does not mean you _must_ run a network or ask all
your neighbors over to use your system. Install whatever distribution you
want and use it all by yourself as a stand-alone system.

>    3. minimal number of modules, secondarily minimize size of footprint

   I've not run debian or any of its offspring and don't recall Red Hat since
I left that in 1993. But, I do know that with Slackware -- and I assume all
other distributions -- you install only what you want. Yes, you can do a
complete installation (disk space is cheap nowadays) but you can select just
which applications you want and not install the others. Given this, the GNU
utility/base packages are required. But, you can select to not install
end-user applications such as games, database systems, sound generating
apps, programming languages, etc. You'll have lots of fun going through the
choices and installing only those you want. And, even if you do a complete
installation, no one will force you to use every application you installed.

>    2. understand Linux internals

   Perhaps you'll be better served by understanding the linux overview and
explore the tools available, rather than how the kernel or the utilities are
written. Maybe this is what you mean. When I was learning linux a friend
explained that linux is quite easy: each tool does only one thing, and does
it well. The catch, he told me, is that there are thousands of such tools.
:-), When you have a task you wish to accomplish, learn how to do that task,
then move on to the next one.

HTH,

Rich