[trains are bad]

I need a lightweight linux distribution for a picture frame. Its sole purpose in life will be to boot, and run the program feh to show a slideshow of the pictures on the flash drive or possibly from the internet.

Requirement: the program feh.

I would just use Ubuntu because that's what I'm familiar with, but I would have to buy a 4GB compact flash card even for Xubuntu because it requires 2.8GB. I would like to be able to install on a 1GB card, to save money.

I looked at DSL but by default it doesn't have apt-get, so I couldn't install feh. I'm a total linux noob, so I didn't know how else to install it.

 

[Mike W.]

Arch Linux is very lightweight but the only problem is it isn't very noob friendly.

 

[URZS]

didn't read your post fully and my suggestion was not useful.

slax can be much smaller then ubuntu though so i'll just through that out there.

 

[c8h8r8i8s8]

I have seen recommendations for Bonzai before. I use Ubuntu, and consider myself fairly versed in Linux, but I don't have any experience with Bonzai at all. I would consider it, but look for some more information before dedicating your hardware based solely on my words.

BerliOS Developer: Project Info - Bonzai Linux

 

[krmathis]

Couple of suggestions:
Slax: your pocket operating system
DSL information

 

[URZS]

Quote:

Originally Posted by krmathis /img/forum/go_quote.gif Couple of suggestions: Slax: your pocket operating system DSL information

dsl didnt work so much for him =/ i wrote some spiel about there project which allows you to go over 50mb's and then deleted it

its a fun distro to play around with inside of windows

 

[elliot42]

You can make an Ubuntu install smaller than the default if that's what you're comfortable with. Not as small as tiny distros like dsl, but def smaller. Start with a server install (using the alternate install cd) and add X. That should be about all you need, you can run feh from .xinitrc, and if you need a window manager for feh, use something light like ratpoison.

After install you can go ahead and remove any extra services, there should be guides re stripping down an Ubuntu install at ubuntuforums.org, or on the Ubuntu wiki. Also search for auto login using the inittab; you don't need a login manager like xdm or gdm then, you can set the comp to login automatically on one of the tty terminals and setup .bashrc to start x automatically. And with feh and anything else that needs to be run in .xinitrc all you need to do is press the power button and wait for the images to play.

 

[trains are bad]

I might end up doing that.

I have DSL installed and it's running pretty good, I just need feh. So then I ran into my next problem...the machine doesn't have an internet port. None. I think it had a docking station and the ethernet port was on that. So I can't even connect to the internet to try to download packages or enable apt. And DSL has the 2.4 kernal so I can't compile feh on this machine and copy it over either.

I think I'll grab my USB-to-CF adaptor from work tomorrow and try to boot into the CF card from a connected computer so I can download feh or enable apt. But really, this is turning out to me way more complicated that in should be.

 

[trains are bad]

Quote:

Start with a server install (using the alternate install cd) and add X. That should be about all you need, you can run feh from .xinitrc

That's what I did, and it totally works! I used a connected computer and a CF adaptor. I didn't do any stripping down after installing a command line system, then I basically just apt-get'd xorg and feh. Feh runs fine without a window manager.

The problems I have now are that I need it to auto-log me in, because I won't have a keyboard. I did a bit of searching but didn't find much. And then, I need a permanent path for my 'start feh' script, but I also need it to be on a flashdrive. So I think I might have to like add a 'mount flashdrive' script in there or put it in the fstab or something. I'm not sure if I'll be able to remove and reinstall the flashdrive (with updated pictures) with the system up and running, but I would like to.