Baslinux mailing list

[qwms-avib AT dea.spamcon.org]

keesan2 AT cyberspace.org wrote:
> 
> > ----------------------
> > pkgtool -> View -> bin
> > ----------------------
> 
> bin is not there

Then you have not installed bin.tgz.

> I checked the list of packages needed to install to 
> hard drive (type install and then 1 for read in the 
> RAMdisk version) and bin.tgz and fileutils.tgz are 
> in there 

Then why is bin.tgz missing from your installation?

> but not binutils.tgz.

That is correct.  binutils.tgz is a different package.

> If I had installed binutils.tgz I would not need to use 
> zless to find ar in MANIFEST.tgz because ar is also in 
> binutils.tgz.

zless is not in binutils.tgz

> This explains why I do not have zless.  

No it doesn't.  zless is in bin.tgz.  You should have
bin.tgz.

> Do you want to include binutils in the files needed 
> to install to hard drive?   

Definitely not.

> I made a link:
> ln -s /dev/ttyS0 /dev/photopc
> 
> it is no longer complaining about no /dev/photopc.

It is no longer complaining because that dev now
exists.  Whether that dev is correct is a different
question.

> Do I need to leave a mouse plugged into Com1 in order
> to start X?

I don't think so.  However, as long as X thinks the
mouse is on com1, nothing else should go on that port.

> I think I read that the Slackware .tgz format is just 
> an ordinary archive,

No, it isn't.

> Since I did not rename data.tar.gz to photopc.gz before 
> running installpkg I now have in /var/log/packages, along 
> with seejpeg and screen39, the file data.tar.gz 

Are those the only files in /var/log/packages?
If so, something is seriously wrong with your installation.

> Is there some equally easy way to unpackage rpm files 

The bin.tgz package (which should be there) contains rpm2tgz.
I don't know how it works -- I have never used it.

> So how do we determine how much RAM individual programs 
> are using in BL2?

If that aspect of top is important to you, you should
install the full top from Slackware 7.1.

> So far the busybox mount 

BasicLinux does not currently use the busybox mount.

> and top are inferior 

The busybox binaries are smaller.  Less-used capabilities
have been removed.  They are only inferior if you want
to use one of those less-used capabilities.

> are there any other busybox programs we ought to replace 

Several busybox binaries were replaced automatically when 
you installed BasicLinux to HD.  Whether you replace any 
others depends on whether you need a less-used capability.

> The books all insist that you need lots of swap space.  

Because bad things happen when you run out of memory.

> logged in and typed free:
> Total 30920  (why not 32M?)

The kernel is occupying the rest.

> Used 21748
> Free 9172
> Shared 14840
> Buffers 344
> Swap 0 used
> 
> Do I subtract shared from used to get actual memory 
> usage (7M)?  

No.  

> I notice that the longer I run the computer the higher 
> the Used amount goes, even without any programs running.  

If unused RAM is available, Linux does not completely 
remove old processes from memory.  That way, if you
re-start a process, it will be available faster.

> Are there encrypted pdf files that we need to be
> able to extract from?

The manual for my motherboard (which I download from
the ASUS site) was an encryped pdf.

Cheers,
Steven