Baslinux mailing list

[Tim Rue <bl-3seas AT threeseas.net>]

I came into possession of an old Dell Latuitude xp 450c laptop (amazing what
some toss out at apartment complexes)....

After getting past the password to boot it, I found bare bones MS windows98 
...
uh err... MSDOS 7.01 on it ( just a few files enough to boot it.)

I thought I'd put AROS ( www.aros.org ) on it, but for some reason the native
version current snapshot and nightly build doesn't seem to like the system.

Sooo, I figured I'd maybe get linux on it... but with only 8 megs of ram...

Google search lead me to Basic Linux.... and I have it on the system using a
hardfile.

OK, after some checking it seemed to include all that is needed of linux in
order to0 run teh linux hosted version of AROS (which is more mature in
development anyway)... and the plus side is that by basiclinux running via
hardfile means that  it can run on a Windows box with very little changes to
the windows system (what amounts to using a boot menu).

So this is great, especially if I can get AROS to run on basiclinux ...

Problem... Basic Linux only has a 15meg hardfile... not leaving enough room 
for
AROS...

Trying to store AROS on the 810meg HD outside of basiclinux hardfile and
running
it from basiclinux has two problems. The first is filenames... AROS (Amiga
Clone) likes more flexability in filenames than MSDOS...

The second problem is that Basiclinux doesn't seem to regonize anything 
outside
of itself as runable (correct me if I'm wrong here).

I guess what this is leading up to is ... well a request to allow the user to
set basiclinux hardfile size above the base 15meg... or perhaps a way to 
create
additional hardfiles of 15meg sizes..

I understand I can install basiclinux to a linux partition, though how to do 
it
is something I do not know or see information on in teh basiclinux 3.21 web
page. But I'd like to be able to use hardfiles instead... as this makes it
possible for people with a windows PC to run not only basiclinux but AROS (if
it will run) without having to be concerned about repartitioning a harddrive 
or
spreading files (basiclinux and AROS) thruout their windows box.

Any feedback will be appriciated.

Thanks,

Tim Rue

PS. I have a bounty of $200 up (on teamaros) for some work to allow hosted 
AROS
to communicate with Linux via IPC (dbus oriented)... though there is not yet a
taker of the bounty..... the point being is that I think basiclinux is perhaps
a good match for the linux hosted version fo AROS (if it will work)...