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Bootable Business Card Distro Needs Testing
dbarry writes "Many here have read recently about the FSF membership program. The much-coveted membership card is to be a version of the Bootable Business Card distribution. We are curently looking for testing of our pre-2.0 releases and automated builds.
The 2.0 release of the LNX-BBC (and, thus, the FSF membership card) will use the powerful GAR build system to compile nearly all software on it from source code. As such it has changed greatly since the 1.618 release from 2001." Is it ok to covet the card but not the membership? :)
It's also trivial to create a spare partition (or remount a RAM disk as root), install a Debian system exactly as you like it, mount etc and var on a RAM filesystem and copy contents in with the init, and then burn the entire filesystem as an ISO, putting the kernel in place with the installer build tools.
I have a similar setup which is capable of mounting ntfs and fat32 filesystems. This has saved me a number of times in repairing screwed up 2000 and XP machines. The NT/2K/XP console mode is a joke. Using this disc, I can get in to repair the install without having to physically yank the drive and install it in another box!
Just out of curiosity - why is the FSF card booting Linux instead of the Hurd?
Advice: on VPS providers
No, but one might help you repair a machine, while the other will just collect dust.
http://use.perl.org
I'm not terribly sure I'd trust an application given to me on a business card by someone I don't know, much less something that boots.
Not to be a stickler, but this is a geek news site: Is there another way to compile? Sure there is! Java bytecode -> JIT -> machine code. The microsoft .NET framework does the same thing, even recompiling all installed software from intermediate assemblies (assemblies are roughly the equivalent of finer-grain Java JAR files, not to be confused with assembly language) whenever the framework is updated. :)
The LNX-BBC doesn't need to be burned on a business-card-sized CD, it's just designed to fit on one.
Is it ok to covet the card but not the membership? :)
So what's wrong with the FSF? Did RMS say something that hurt your feelings? No need to put flamebait in the main post.
So, do you distribute a less than friendly version with your competitors logo on it at trade shows? That'd be just plain evil.
Personally I don't think I'd stick any software in my machine that could boot the machine from an untrusted source. I mean, this guy you just met (otherwise you wouldn't need his business card) gives you a piece of software that basically has root privilidges on your machine or better. Atleast if someone gives you a business card with software on it that does not boot you can run the software in a sandbox.
Norris/Palin 2012
Fact: We deserve leaders who can kick your ass and field dress your carcass.
"Well, having a linux distrib in your wallet is much more attracting to the ladies than, say, a condom."
One has to admire that the information stored on the card will last much longer than the information stored in the condom.
I'm about halfway done with it.
Don't mean to point out the obvious, but a floppy is pretty much crap media these days, and your efforts will only be useful as long as companies ship computers with them, which will probably stop right at about the time you're finishing up.
It would be really nice if I could carry around all of my key data on a self booting floppy . . .
If you can honestly keep your key data on the same floppy you've squeezed an OS+GUI on, why not spring for the single piece of paper that can hold that same information? There is simply nothing a floppy can do for me any more. Even USB keychain drives beat them, and that's only one of many options that make a floppy look silly.
Unless the condom doesn't do its job...
20 January 2017: the End of an Error.