

        MINI LINUX
        ----------

        By Mario Valente, 1995
        Esoterica

        mvalente@esoterica.com




Introduction
------------

MINILINUX is yet another distribution of Linux.

It has two objectives:

- create a suficiently powerful distribution ( 4 diskettes ) but
a powerful one ( TCP/IP and SLIP, X Windows, etc ) in an easy 
to install way, particularly by MSDOS users.
  Usually a Linux distribution makes you backup, repartition and
reformat your hard disk; or they make you buy a CDROM or download
lots of diskettes.
  MINILINUX by using the UMSDOS filesystem and the LOADLIN command
( for DOS ) allows you to install LINUX on an MSDOS partition and
coexist: from the DOS side you'll see a C:\LINUX directory and you'll
have a "linux" command that boots up Linux. From Linux's side you'll
have a /DOS directory containing all your DOS files and you'll be
able to go back to DOS by rebooting ( with CTRL-ALT-DEL ).

- to offer, in a one stop shop, a Unix system with access to Internet.
Esoterica offers Internet access in Portugal, and MINILINUX includes
scripts to setup an SLIP link with our server; Mosaic for X Windows
is included in MINILINUX and Lynx ( a character mode WWW browser )
is also there.


Installing
----------

You'll need about 20Mb in drive C: during installation. The whole
MINI Linux distribution occupies about 15Mb.

MINI Linux is distributed as 4 ZIP and 1 EXE file.

The 4 ZIP files  MINILIN1.ZIP to MINILIN4.ZIP contain 4 files
( linux.cut and linux.001 to linux.003 ).
The MINILINX.EXE file contains a text file ( probably in Portuguese :-)
and a couple of utilities to create and install the distribution.

You should create a directory called LINUX in the root of your C: drive
( md linux ) where you should put the ZIP files and the EXE file. Execute
MINILINX.EXE to get the utility to unpack the ZIP files and the one
to join all ( cd linux and then minilinx; after this pkunzip -d * ).

You can now delete the ZIP files ( del *.zip )

The fcut utility allows you to join the .cut and the .00? files.
Use the command:

   fcut -j linux

You'll get a new file called linux.zip and you can now delete 
the parts ( "del *.00*" e "del *.cut" )

To complete installing you just have to decompress the linux.zip
file with the command "pkunzip -d linux.zip".
After this is done you can delete the linux.zip file "del linux.zip"


With all this you should have a C:\LINUX directory on your drive
which contains the whole Linux operating system.


Using it
----------

When you boot your machine it goes to DOS as usual.
To get to Linux you should give the command

   c:\linux\linux.bat

You can of course copy this batch file to a directory on
your path ( "copy c:\linux\linux.bat c:\dos" for example )
and you'll be able to start Linux by just giving the command
"linux".


The system has support for

- Soundblaster card and CDROM
- mouse on COM1: ( /dev/mouse ) ( Mouse Systems )
- modem on COM2: ( /dev/modem )
- various Ethernet cards ( inc. NE2000 and 3Com )
- SCSI cards and devices
- X Windows in SVGA mode ( Trident, Tseng, Cirrus, etc )
- TCP/IP and SLIP/PPP support


After the startup of the system is finished you're presented
with the login prompt. The only user available is root, without
password. You can change the password with the passwd command
and you can add other users ( recommended ) with the adduser command.

You can boot your system in MSDOS mode by pressing CTRL-ALT-DEL which
starts the shutdown procedure automatically.



Notes
-----

We dont intend to give here a course on Unix. You should read one
of the many books on Unix/Linux, attend a Unix course or gather
info and docs on the Net. We can give some hints though :-)

- Linux has support for virtual terminals. You can access them
  by pressing ALT + Fx, where Fx is a function key from F1 to F8

- some commands in Linux are similar to their DOS counterparts
  if not equal ( dir=dir, cp=copy, rm=del, cat=type )

- the equivalent of AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS are the files
  /etc/inittab and the files under directory /etc/rc.d
  ( notice that in Unix the / is a / and not a \ :-)

- joe is included ( joe is a Wordstar compatible word processor )

- tetris and sasteroids ( games :-) are included

- a file manager is included ( command xtree or utree )

- a comms program, minicom, is included

- if you have Ethernet you must start up support. Check out
  the /etc/start.ether file to see how its done

- a start.dip script is included for connection to Esoterica.
   To connect to other providers you must edit this script and
   also the esoterica.dip script

- to start up X Windows you must give the startx command. You can 
   change resolution with the CTRL-ALT-+ and CTRL-ALT-- combinations.

- in an X Windows terminal window you can give any normal Unix command.
  You can also use X applications like "xfilemanager &", "xbombs &"
  ( a Minesweeper clone ) or "xlander &"

  If you press the mouse button over the desktop you get the X Windows
  control menu.

- X Mosaic is available ( command "xmosaic &" )

  Note: you'll need an Internet connection and to supply an URL
  to see anything :-)

- X Windows is heavy on memory usage. If you have less than 8 Megabytes
 of RAM you should create virtual memory with the following commands

   # dd if=/dev/zero of=/swapfile bs=1024 count=8192
   # mkswap /swapfile 8192
   # sync
   # swapon /swapfile

  You can test that you have more memory with the "free" command



DISCLAIMER
----------

- Esoterica doesnt support MINI Linux
- we dont guarantee that MINI Linux does anything
- we dont guarantee the availability of access in the future
- we dont do Unix support or any kind of support except for
  our clients


We also wont be liable if MINI Linux destroys your hard disk,
causes any damage or loss of information, destroys the human
race or makes your girlfriend leave you.

--
Et in Arcadia Ego



