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- SLS (SOFTLANDING LINUX SYSTEM)
-
- INTRODUCTION
-
- Welcome to release 1.05 of SLS (SoftLanding Linux System) containing
- kernel 1.0, libc 4.5.23, gcc 2.5.8 and XFree86 2.0 (2.1 on CD).
- Linux is a free 386 unix like operating system similar to System V, and
- developed by Linus Torvalds, plus a few hundred big hearted programmers on
- the Internet. SLS is produced and GPL copyrighted by Softlanding Software.
- You may redistribute SLS, as long as you do include both this file,
- and the file COPYING prominently in the distribution. You may not
- take credit for the work of others.
-
- SLS is NOT just an image dump of some ones Unix system.
- Instead it is a distribution whose primary purposes are:
-
- 0) provide an initial installation program (for the queasy).
- 1) utilities compiled to use minimal disk space.
- 2) provide a reasonably complete/integrated U*ix system.
- 3) provide a means to install and uninstall packages.
- 4) permit partial installations for small disk configs.
- 5) add a menu driven, extensible system administration.
- 6) take the hassle out of collecting and setting up a system.
- 7) give non internet users access to Linux.
- 8) provide a distribution that can be easily updated.
-
- SLS contains ~600 utilities designed to provide a relatively
- complete computer operating system for the sophisticated user. It
- includes programs for compression, text processing, communications,
- Xwindowing system, program development (Assembler, C, C++, Fortran,
- Pascal, Tcl and Perl), mail, spreadsheets, and word-processing. Also
- supported are DOS files, a DOS emulator, SCSI, CDROMs, and TCP/IP. A
- 387 coprocessor is emulated by the kernel if you don't have one. Full
- source code for the kernel is also provided with SLS.
-
- The development environment includes libraries for unix and Xwindows, a
- debugger that does full screen (via emacs) with support for core dumps.
- Shared libraries make the most miserly use of RAM and disk space. FAQ and
- Manual pages document most of the Linux utilities. SLS requires at least
- 12 Meg of disk for the minimal install. 90 Meg or more is required for the
- full system (not including TeX or Interviews). You will need at least 2
- Meg of RAM, 4 meg if you want to compile programs, and 8 Meg to run
- Xwindows. Note that sometimes you can get by with less, but usually with
- noticeable performance limitations.
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- INSTALLATION
-
- Before you can install Linux on your hard drive, you must partition your
- drive, and put a file system on it. Roughly, this entails:
-
- - Write protect all disks (do or die).
- - Boot Linux from disk a1
- - For special install (eg: a mitsumi drive) hit ALT at LILO prompt
- - Log in as "install" for a menu driven install
-
- or if you like, you can do a manual install by logging in as root and
-
- - Create a Linux/Minix partition with "fdisk" on your hard drive and reboot.
- - Make a file system on the partition with "mke2fs".
- - Use "doinstall /dev/PART": PART is your partition (eg "doinstall /dev/hda2"
- or "doinstall /dev/hda2 /dev/hda3 /usr /dev/hdb1 /usr/spool" if you wish to
- have multiple partitions, with say /usr on a different partition.
-
- Also "doinstall" will execute the script "doinst.sh" if it is found on PART.
- The final step will ask you to put a formatted floppy in the drive so the
- BOOT DISK can be prepared for you. Have one ready ahead of time. When the
- installation is complete, and you reboot from this floppy, you will be using
- Linux from your hard drive. Later, you may wish to play with /usr/src/lilo
- to boot from your harddrive. Note that if you have less than 4 Meg of RAM,
- you will likely not have enought memory to do the installation. But you can
- try to make and activate a 4 Meg swap partition, prior to installation.
- For example, using /dev/hda3 for swap: "mkswap /dev/hda3 4096; swapon /dev/hda3"
- Before you begin, however, you may wish to type "menu" and browse the
- Instructions sub menu. But make sure you exit "menu" before you start the
- install process. You can also print files from there using "P", or you can
- use "cat README > /dev/lp1" or "cat README > /dev/lp2".
-
- Your first task after the base install is done, should be to make backup
- copies of all of your disks (Look in the "User Commands" menu). In fact,
- you should make sure all disks (except a1) are write protected before you start
- the installation. After the install, you can log on as "root". Note the new
- Extended FS type 2, it is now the recommended file system to use, although
- the old minix fs can be used and is still the default.
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- EXAMPLE PARTITIONING PROCEDURE
-
- ... Put disk a1 in drive A: and reboot computer,
-
- /# fdisk
-
- Command (m for help): n
- Command action
- e extended
- p primary partition (1-4)
- p
- Partition number (1-4): 2
- First cylinder (500-977): 500
- Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (500-977): 977
-
- Command (m for help): t
- Partition number (1-4): 1
- Hex code (type L to list codes): 81
-
- Command (m for help): v
- Command (m for help): p
-
- Disk /dev/hda: 5 heads, 17 sectors, 977 cylinders
- Units = cylinders of 85 * 512 bytes
-
- Device Boot Begin Start End Blocks Id System
- /dev/hda1 1 1 499 20000 4 DOS
- /dev/hda2 1 1 7 30000 81 Linux/MINIX
-
- Command (m for help): w
- reboot now before doing anything else
- /#
- ...<after the reboot>
- /# mke2fs /dev/hda2 30000
- /# doinstall /dev/hda2
- ... Follow prompts, and insert disks as requested, then login as root.
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- ADDITIONAL SLS INFORMATION
-
- SLS is a binary mostly distribution (except for the kernel), and is broken
- into multiple parts, or series, each of which is denoted by a letter followed
- by the disk number as follows:
-
- a1-aN: The minimal base system
- b1-bN: Base system extras, like man pages, emacs etc.
- c1-cN: The compiler(s), gcc/g++/p2c/f2c
- x1-xN: The X-windows distribution (+Tcl and Tk)
- t1-tN: TeX (document processing)
- s1-sN: Source code for critical system components
- d1-dN: Documentation for various things
-
- This scheme allows new disks to be added to the distribution without
- changing the disk numbering. Also, the sysinstall program doesn't have to
- be changed when new disks are added as the last disk is marked by the
- presence of the file "install.end". And when interviews is added, say as
- a new series "t", it can be installed with:
-
- sysinstall -series t
-
- Highlights of the base are: gcc/g++, emacs, kermit, elm/mail/uucp, gdb, sc
- (spreadsheet), man pages, groff, elvis, zip/zoo/lh and menu. Highlights of
- X are: X, programmers libs, 75 dpi fonts, games (spider, tetris, xvier,
- chess, othello, xeyes, etc) and utilities like xmag, xmenu, xcolormap and
- ghostscript. Approximate usage is as follows:
-
- Tiny base system: 15 Meg (Series 'a')
- Main base system: 45 Meg (Series 'a', 'b' and 'c')
- Main base system + X11: 70 Meg (Series 'a', 'b', 'c' and 'x')
- Full system: 90 Meg (Series 'a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 's', 't' and 'x')
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- LINUX SPECIFIC INFORMATION
-
- Linux supports multiple VC's (virtual consoles). You can switch from one
- to the other using the "LEFT-ALT-FN" keys. The right ALT key will not work.
- The console in linux more or less emulates a VT100. So you can usually
- just use kermit to do your remote logins (even while doing the install :-).
- If you have a color monitor, you can even use color using the "setterm"
- utility, or just execute the "/etc/startcons" script to have all VC's set
- to default values. If your screen gets garbled, you can use "reset".
- Up arrow recalls previous commands. Use the "man" command to read the
- Linux manual pages, and the "man -k X" to list commands with the keyword
- "X" in the command description. The system editor is "vi" but you might
- find "joe" easier to learn.
-
- Never just power off your Linux system. Instead type "sync", wait a sec,
- then powerdown or reboot. If your disk gets in trouble (or every
- couple of weeks anyways) you may wish to run "fsck -av PART" where PART
- is your partition, to try to fix any problems.
-
- Dos files can be accessed in one of two ways. The first uses the mtools
- commands (mdir, mcopy, mtype, ...). The file "/etc/mtools" may need
- some tweeking, especially if you use mformat. The second method is to
- mount the dos disk/partition onto a directory. eg:
-
- mount -t msdos /dev/fd0 /user
-
- Swapping can be set up of size SIZE, to a partition or to a file using:
-
- mkswap file SIZE
- swapon file
-
- Linux can be booted without the floppy using /usr/src/lilo. Important
- directories include:
-
- "/etc" - System configuration information
- "/usr/src" - Miscellaneous packages.
- "/usr/X386/*" - Xwindows stuff
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- CONFIGURING X-WINDOWS
-
- Getting X-windows to run on your PC can sometimes be a bit of a sobering
- experience, mostly because there are so many types of video cards for the PC.
- Linux X11 supports only VGA type video cards, but there are so many types of
- VGA's that only certain ones are fully supported. SLS comes with two Xwindows
- servers. The full color one, XFree86, supports some or all ET3000, ET4000, PVGA1,
- GVGA, Trident, S3, 8514, Accelerated cards, ATI plus and others.
-
- The other server, XF86_Mono, should work with virtually any VGA card, but only
- in monochrome mode. Accordingly, it also uses less memory, and should be
- faster than the color one. But of course it doesn't look as nice.
-
- The bulk of the Xwindows configuration information is stored in the directory
- "/usr/X386/lib/X11/". In particular, the file "Xconfig" defines the timings
- for the monitor and the video card. By default, X windows is setup to use
- the color server, but you can switch to using the monochrome server x386mono,
- if the color one gives you trouble, since it should support any standard vga.
- Essentially, this just means making /usr/X386/bin/X a link to it.
-
- Just edit Xconfig to set the mouse device type and timings, and enter "startx".
- To figure out the clock timings to put in Xconfig. README.modegen explains
- how you can use the spreadsheet to figure out your clock timings based upon
- your monitor specifications. More information can be found in the directory
- /usr/X386/lib/X11. But be prepared to fiddle.
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- AVAILABILITY:
-
- SLS is available on floppies (31 5.25 floppies or 26 3.5 floppies), QIC150 or
- CDROM from the address below for a flat rate distribution fee of US $99
- ($125 Canadian) + $15 shipping and handling. Mail payment, either
- cheque or money order, in advance, to Softlanding. Visa and Mastercard
- are also accepted.
-
- The SLS CDROM contains the full source tree and a 60+ page user manual
- "Using SLS". A quarterly CD (4 CD's over 1 year) is available for US $199
- (255 Canadian) + $15 S&H. Quantity discounts are also available for resellers.
-
- When ordering floppies, ensure that you specify the bootdisk type (3 1/2 or 5 1/4).
- Softlanding also offers support subscriptions for SLS as follows:
- Individual support, (one user, one machine) is $99 per year.
- Group support, primarily for resellers and reseller/corporate, $999 per
-
-
- Softlanding Software
- PO Box 48054 - 3575 Douglas St,
- Victoria, BC, Canada
- V8Z-7HS
- Phone (604) 592-0188
- FAX (604) 595-5820
-
- See Softlanding for a gentle touch down from a DOS bailout.
-
-
-
-