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Information Technology News How to customise a Linux distro into a plug and play system
Information Technology News How to customise a Linux distro into a plug and play system | How to customise a Linux distro into a plug and play system |
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| by David M Williams | |
| Thursday, 08 November 2007 | |
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Page 3 of 3 You will want to choose a specific Linux distro, to either use directly or as a basis for customisation, with the goal of producing your own specific Linux variant. In some ways the choice of distro is a matter of personal preference: every distribution runs the same core Linux-approved kernel, and each one also bundles the GPL’d GNU software suite among other utilities.If you opt for an existing Linux distro then you’ve now made the two most important decisions: hardware and software. Done. If, however, you wish to produce your own customised Linux distro there is still some effort to go. Happily, as always, the Linux community have a wealth of resources to help in this regard. One option is the ROCK distribution building kit which takes you through all the steps needed to design, build and deploy your own version of Linux. For the hard core, the Linux from Scratch project goes into awesome depth, showing comprehensively how to produce a Linux distro out of just nothing. It is a remarkable suite of documents which misses nothing. We previously described both these alternatives, walking through the steps involved in each one. It’s worth reading if you want to understand just what rolling your own distro involves, and why you might choose to do it. Nevertheless, whether you take one route or the other, you’re in fine company. Everex’s gPC runs its own gOS while Dell runs stock-standard Ubuntu. ASUS’ Eee ships with Xandros as it comes out-of-the-box. Once a selection has been made (and compiled, if need be), burn it onto a bootable CD or DVD. As most Linux installation discs are also Live CDs, you can boot your computer using this disc and get a real live system up-and-running on the hardware you’ve chosen, without actually committing anything to the hard disk. This gives an excellent opportunity to identify problems. Be sure to test the display is as expected. Check the Internet connection works. Watch carefully for any error messages that show during the boot process. After booting, inspect log files for signs of trouble. Make sure you can print and that all hard drives are recognised, and to their full capacity. Depending on the results, you may need to tweak your distribution or replace some of the hardware items with more compatible options. Repeat while necessary, but before long you will have your masterpiece, your very own reproducible plug-and-play Linux system, fusing hardware and software. It’s speculation on my part, but I’d wager this is the process that Dell, Everex and ASUS followed. You’ll not go wrong; instead maybe your design will be the next Linux desktop setting the world on fire.
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