Baslinux mailing list

[qwms-avib AT dea.spamcon.org]

James Miller wrote:
>
> While I claimed yesterday (based on vague recollections) that 
> only 2 packages are required to get pcmcia NIC's going, I now 
> see looking over the archive that there are more like 3 or 4 
> packages.  In addition, some symlinking of some basic system 
> commands (e.g., cat, ifconfig) needs to be done, since the pcmcia
> utilities that get installed expect these commands to be somewhere 
> they're not on a BL system (expects them to be in /sbin, if memory 
> serves, whereas in BL the are in the busybox directory).  

That is correct for BL2.  However, in BL1, those commands are in
the normal directories by default.  They do not need to be symlinked.
In BL2 the busybox binaries were all moved to /bin/busybox to avoid
having them overwritten by Slackware packages.  If a busybox binary
(which points to busybox) is overwritten by the full version of the
binary, it actually overwrites busybox.  This kills all the busybox
binaries and makes the system unbootable.  This is avoided by putting
the busybox links in an unusual directory and putting that directory
last in $PATH.  Then, if the user installs the full binary, it will 
go harmlessly into the usual directory.  Since that directory is 
earlier in $PATH, it will be used instead of the busybox version.

That scheme works fine, except when the binary is called from an
outside routine (eg. pcmcia start) using the full path name (instead
of relying on $PATH).  The busybox binary version will not be found.
There are two different ways to fix this: (1) install the full binary
from Slackware, or (2) edit the routine to change the path reference.

> If you don't need java, frames or ssl but want a graphical browser, 
> I'd try Dillo.  It will work really well on old hardware like yours.

Yes, dillo is faster than Netscape 3.04 (but much less capable).

> If you need something more advanced in a graphical broswer (i.e., 
> something that will handle frames, ssl and java)  it seems like 
> the thing to use is Opera 6.03.  

I would put Netscape 3.04 (running on BL1) between dillo and Opera,
both in terms of speed and capability.

> I believe Steven has made this version available at one of his BL 
> add-ons links.

http://www.basiclinux.com.ru/download/

> Whether you might be able to use something yet more advanced than 
> Opera 6.03 (it's an older version), like maybe Mozilla or Firebird, 
> will depend on your hardware.  

With a 200MHz CPU and 64mb RAM, I recommend Phoenix/Firebird.  
That's what I use on BL2 (but I needed to add two libraries from
Slackware 8.1)

So we have a nice continuum:

8mb RAM                                              64mb RAM
20MHZ 386                                      200MHZ PENTIUM
-------------------------------------------------------------
links --> dillo --> Netscape 3.04 --> Opera 6.03 --> Firebird
-------------------------------------------------------------
LIMITED CAPABILITY                            FULL CAPABILITY


> Steven has installed Mozilla on one of his BL machines, so
> he should be able to address the dependencies issue.

I downloaded the Phoenix 0.5 binary package from the Firebird 
(Mozilla) site.  It works fine.  I also tried an early version
of Firebird 0.6 but it was buggy and more bloated (feature
creep).  I'm very happy with version 0.5 and will be sticking
with it.

I needed to install two (or was it three?) additional libraries.
cxxlibs and glibc-solibs-2.2.5 from Slackware 8.1.  There might
have been a third one too, but I don't remember for sure.  I'm
guessing that getting those libraries from Slackware 9.1 would
work too, but I haven't tried it.  Just make sure cxxlibs comes 
from the same Slackware as the glibc-solibs.

Phoenix also needs the gtkglib package.  The one in Slackware 7.1 
works fine (/slakware/gtk1).
 
> How you get the browser to fire up and head to the site is 
> something that will require more input to address.  Perhaps 
> issuing startx, then navigating with the cursor to the browser 
> will suffice.

For automatic start, put startx in ~/.profile, put the browser
in ~/.xinitrc, and set the browser's homepage to the target
address.  That way, when anybody logs in as INTRANET (or any 
other name you choose) without password, they automatically
get the target homepage.

Cheers,
Steven