Running Linux in Windows

Qemu is open source software that allows the running of Linux within Windows using platform emulation. The Windows installation is experimental and found on a seperate site from the Qemu software. I used both a general and specific article to do a Damn Small Linux embedded install. By running a batch file the QEMU emulator is started and DSL is launched. It was very easy to do; my only complaint is that it runs pretty slowly.

Tor and Privoxy on Live CDs

After experimenting with these security applications (Tor & Privoxy) I am impressed with the anonymity that they offer. Two Live CDs running Linux distros are suggested on the Tor site: ELE and Phantomix. These CDs are set up to run Tor and Privoxy from start up. ELE is of particular interest to me because it is built on Damn Small Linux. Pretty much everything that can connect passes through Tor on this distro (VNC Viewer does not). This is a nice small option though some of their choices such as not installing Firefox might be a bit too extreme. Phantomix is much larger (700mb as compared to 61mb) but it uses the space to run the Knoppix KDE environment. The basic setup is that Firefox and Gaim are protected and Konquerer is set up for unprotected surfing. To explore more Linux Live CDs a good list has been posted to FrozenTech.

Networking Success!



Armed with some free time and networking cards supported by Linux, I connected 3 machines to the internet last night.  I used a frugal install of Damn Small Linux 2.0 with a good sized swap partition so the machines are running smoothly despite their anemic hardware.  I'm excited about the improvement because now I will be able to look for information on how to set up and fix these machines without getting up and walking over to my Windows computer.  It's a small success but a big improvement. 

(This is part of my Linux for Libraries Project and it is my first experience using Linux, so any advice or comments on how to optimize DSL 2.0 installs on old equipment is very welcome.)

How to Frugal Install


I wrote about this distro recently but I came across an article on the ASE Labs site that has good detailed instructions for an installation.  At boot, type dsl 2 (assuming you are using the new live CD created from the downloadable .iso) and use run level 2 in order to run cfdisk.  The commands for creating the partition table are conveniently listed in the preparation section.
mke2fs /dev/hda1
mke2fs /dev/hda3
mkswap /dev/hda2
swapon /dev/hda2
Using the ext2 filing system is probably better for slower machines and after trying ext3 because of the journaling I agree with his assessment of the performance disadvantage justifying the ext2 install.  Start the frugal install from the usr/sbin directory and make sure to put the boot image on hda 1 and home=hda3 etc=hda3 opt=hda3.  This set up will allow an easier upgrade and safer data storage.  The formatting and installation that follow are easy to follow and DSL will soon be up and running.  A less abridged version of these instructions is available by reading the article by Aron Schatz on the ASE Labs site. 

For more instructions in addition to this article the DSL forum is also a good source. 
The DSL Wiki as well as ibiblio's Howto is also worth a look.