- Mini Linux
Mini Linux (or "Mini Linux Distribution") is any
Linux distribution that fits onmemory card or a small number offloppy disk s, usually one or two. Such distributions may be tailored to system rescue (recovering from a crash), setting up afirewall orrouter , or other specialized tasks.Origin
The term appears to be derived from the first distribution to work in this way. The MINI LINUX distribution arrived in
1995 , and ran off several floppy disks. [http://groups.google.com/group/comp.os.linux.announce/msg/11b2fcb628774a0f]Linux floppydistro
A Linux floppydistro is a mini-
Linux distribution that only uses 1 or 2 floppy diskettes to contain a Linux kernel and useful utilities. To save space, standard GNU utilities are often replaced with those inBusybox orasmutils .There is a distinction between a bootfloppy and a floppydistro. A bootfloppy usually doesn't contain any useful utilities, and is used mostly when installing a Linux distro. A floppy distro contains both the Linux kernel and important utilities. An example of simple bootfloppy is
syslinux and an example of a Linux floppydistro isBasicLinux .List of MiniLinux distributions
Desktop or CD-distributions with installation option
*
Puppy Linux is a small distribution with a size of 60 MB and requires 128 MB RAM
*Damn Small Linux (DSL): a very versatile 50 MB mini desktop oriented Linux distribution
*Feather Linux is a Knoppix-based Linux distribution which currently fits in under 128 MB
*DeLi Linux : "Desktop Light" Linux
*Slax Popcorn Edition: A small slackware based distro that fits on an 128mb flash drive.
*EmbeddedDebian
*BasicLinux is two floppy (requires 12 MB RAM) orloopfs FAT hard disk (requires 3 MB RAM and 20 MB disk space) based distribution, with busybox, editor, presentation program and X GUI withjwm designed for old computers.
*Slitaz Linux is a new (1.0 released 2008.03.22) 25MB distribution with sound support and a nice GUI.Terminal-only distros
*
Finnix is a Debian based system for system administrators, with no gui.
*Slax Frodo Edition: a command line only version of slax that weighs in at about 50 MB.
* Ttylinux is busybox-based ISO that boots into ~8MB-size ramdisk. ISO is ~11MB size. No gui. Has ssh client and ssh server.Floppy disk distributions
*
Coyote Linux : a one-floppy distro for use as a firewall/router.
*LEAF Project : (Linux Embedded Appliance Firewall) is a fork from the now obsolete Linux Router Project (LRP) with router and firewall functionality. CD-rom and other media is also supported.
*fli4l : one floppy linux-based router software for ISDN, DSL and ethernet
*tomsrtbt : a one floppy distro for rescue and other purposes
*FREESCO : is a floppy disk based router.
*MuLinux : uses 1-12 floppies as modules, for different purposes:server ,TeX ,GUI ,GCC .
*ARLinux : Two floppy disk based on 2.4 and 2.6 kernels for rescue and firewall/routing purposesDistributions for special applications
*
DSLinux : Linux distribution for theNintendo DS .
*iPodLinux : Linux distribution for Apple's iPod
*Stresslinux is a live-CD-project designed to test a computer's hardware
*Recovery Is Possible (RIP): a small, specialized Linux distribution that includes a large number of system maintenance and recovery applications.See also
*
Comparison of Linux distributions
*List of LiveDistros
*USB flash drive References
External links
* [http://www.linuxlinks.com/Distributions/Mini_Distributions/ A short list of MiniLinux distributions]
* [http://en.linux.wikia.com/wiki/Category:MiniLinux Linux Wikia MiniLinux Category]
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