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Mainstream Press for Trinux
An anonymous reader wrote in to sent us a few links
to mainstream articles regarding Trinux,
a small security-oriented toolkit type Linux distribution
that runs in RAM and boots from floppies. One article
can be found in InfoWorld, and
the other is in
c't
(most of us will need to babble fish that bugger).
It's small and pathetic, yes?!
Err, hate to nitpick but it's a BabelFish.
So there are times when I've wanted to connect my laptop to a Win95 machine, and instead of using something braindead like WinGate, I've wanted a floppy-based linux masquerading system that would allow me to be able to dial to the Net using the destkop, and then connect through it from my laptop. Will Trinux allow me to do this?
I thought the point of GPL was to ensure that the right to modify the source was ensured. Probably not a familiar concept to Infoworld.
They don't list their correct email address either.
Does it have Windows? No. Does it have Word?
No. All I ever seem to read about here is how Microsoft is evil and linux or Trinux or whatever is good and how everyone should buy AMD chips. Microsoft is responsible for you being able to use a computer today. It's like those idiot Mac lovers, they're so annoying
> Does it have Windows? No. Does it have Word? No.
And this would be relevant to Trinux because???
Windows cannot even come close to booting from just a couple of floppy disks and doing the things that Trinux claims to do. I have used a similar system in the past (Cramdisk - look it up) to fix a Windows machine that would no longer boot. So before you try mixing apples and oranges, perhaps you might want to do a little research on just what the objective of Trinux is all about.
P.S. If you dislike reading the posts up here, then I respectfully suggest you go somewhere else and whine. I do not go into Windows related sites and complain about the lack of Linux kudos, so why should we listen to your obvious FUD up here?
If you just want to NAT with a floppy-OS to get your laptop online, why not use gnatbox lite?
http://www.gnatbox.com/
You are so right my man, if it wasn't for Bill Gates and Microsoft, most of us dumb folk would never be able to use a personal PC. I don't want to hear about how Unix has existed far longer than anything Microsoft ever developed other than maybe a Basic interpreter. I also don't want to hear that junk about how Windows costs too much, or how Microsoft Office costs too much. I mean, if you guys can't afford to keep up with the status quo, then what good are you?? And so what if you have to pay $600 for a decent Office package from Microsoft...that you also need to spend $100's of dollars to upgrade every few years!?!?!
Microsoft Windows is the status quo people!! And because of that it must be the best right?? I mean so what if they put off fixing bugs for god knows how long? Who cares that you have to purchase the upgrades? Who cares that there are Linux servers that have been up 400+ days without reboot!? I bet I could get my WindowsNT computer to do that (if I beat it to a pulp)!
some other points:
- If Linux/FreeBSD is so great, then why doesn't it crash all the time?? We all know a good OS is a crashy OS!
- There's nothing equivalent to Microsoft's spreadsheats/databases/word processors for Linux/FreeBSD! And don't aregue StarOffice 5.0, Siag Office, KOffice, or WordPerfect 8 because we all *know* they are better than Microsoft's...not equivalent (and they are free too??? that just adds insult to injury).
- Linux/FreeBSD doesn't have a gooey (only freaks of nature like Linux users refer to it as a GUI)!! (http://windowmaker.org , http://www.kde.org , http://www.enlightenment.org , http://themes.org - come on people!! That's not for Linux/FreeBSD!! That's MS Windows right!?!?!)
- People who want to contribute to society for free are schmucks. How dumb can you be to share your source code? I mean just think about it, how can you make money? The only way I can think of is if you only charge businesses. But then you don't have the pleasure in screwing the general public! And we, as the general public, like to be ripped a new one every time a piece of software gets updated, right!?!?!
- Linux/FreeBSD can't run software for other platforms. I was talking to this "Linux Expert" the other day, and he told me ya could with wine. What? Am I supposed to keep slugging alcohol down until my brain starts messing with me...yeah, I can see myself being able to believe that Windows stuff could run on Linux then...but come on!! What about DOS? DOSemu? Oh please, I don't want to run DOS in an box! I love my C:\> prompt!! It'd be ruined if I had to run it in an xterm.
- Linux doesn't support ANY hardware! I mean so what if companies don't make drivers for Linux!? Who's fault is that!? You betcher britches it's Linux's fault! Oh, what's this? It *does* support most hardware?? Muhaha! My winmodem isn't supported by Linux! Beat that you Linux scum!
I hate to beat the issue to a pulp, but Linux/FreeBSD users need to grow up and realize that in the real world you need to have your computer crash every now and then...it gives us something to complain about! And anything that's free can't be worth the paper it's printed on (or in this case the computer it's installed on? - oo, bad pun there. Heh...get it? Linux isn't worth the computer it's installed on? Haha...er, ya still don't get it do you? Ok, let me explain: the cost of Linux and it's tools/apps we need for every day use doesn't amount to the same amount as we paid for our computers...) except for maybe sex...free sex is the best sex!
it's called DOS...er, oh wait...that doesn't have windows or Word either...
damnit...*goes back to his secluded corner to think of a better arguement*
Try Pico BSD for a one floppy version of BSD. Three different configs: Router, Dialup and Network.
luce
It would be nice though to have it autodetect the NIC instead of having to set it up for a particular one. I like just having one disk to use for any lab that I go to.
This individual is obviously human garbage and should be treated as such...
Dispose of it appropriately.
What the hell are you talking about? I was using personal computers (CP/M on Z80) before Microsoft existed. How are they responsible for my being able to use personal computers?
-- Guges
The address for Linux Router project is:
www.linuxrouter.org
It's great, but needs more documentation.
Other preconfigured LRPs are out there,
edge.fireplug.net
for example.
i would guess that if you included the drivers for every NIC out there, it'd nowhere near fit on a floppy (which would defeat the whole purpose, no?)...
(still use Linux (Debian), incidentally)
Nevertheless, I am still pleased to see your comment noting that translation would be necessary. I have nothing against /. posting links to non-English articles--in fact, I'd like to see more of them. Geeks know no nation, and all the tongues of the world are our mother tongues.
But in an English-language publication such as this one, it's worth noting when to expect a language shift. I bitched about it when it was missing from one of Sengan's recent postings, so it's only fair to give credit where it's due.
Rob, it's nice to see an already-great site just get better, more polished and professional. Joo rok, d00d! :-)
(Side note to Sengan, if you're reading--this is not intended as a negative comment toward you. This site is a learning experience for us all. And I've almost forgiven you for the bombing comment thing. :-) So you keep up the good work, too!)
Brainstorm:
How about a trinux style recovery disk for NT?
Something that will load from a floppy and let you mount NTFS drives as samba shares?????
Would be great for salvaging files from a NUKED NT system. And think of the press angle: Linux rescues NT......
CAN NOT BELIEVE that ms does not provide this from NT. Only way to get to an trashed NT instalation on NTFS is to reinstall the os....
SIGH,
I said it would be great if someone made something like trinux, a network toolkit that can boot off a floppy, and allow you to access the NTFS of Nuked NT system drives over the network.
Previous post said samba, but even that is not needed, just the NTFS mount capability and FTP would be way-fine.
Winternals tools only allow files to be copied to a Floppy (or other connected storage) and/or over a serial cable, not really an option for a large hard drive.....
Seriously, this is a great oportunity for Linux: a Linux NT rescue disk.
yes, it's ok. everything will be alright. don't worry, the men in white coats will be here shortly to put you in a nice soft room.
I had it running a for a bit, and liked what I saw. Now, I'm just waiting for an old 486 to hook up to the dmz and just have loads of fun. Two floppies, a bunch of ram, a fdd, keyboard/monitor, and you're ready to rock. Jesus H. Christ! Ain't Linux great!
"shop smart:shop s-mart" ash
huh?
Paraphrasing: ...is distributed under the GNU GPL, so may be distributed freely but not modified...
What the fsck? Infoworld needs to check their lisencing credentials...
instead of one floppy? please ms have always written shitty software. Who the hell used / as a command line switch? Jesus. The people responsible for making us here at our computers are the nice capitalists^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hpeople at intel who gave us microprocessors. And the LSD using hippies @ apple who gave us the PC. and digital...... Billy stole MSDOS, ripped off windows and pulled Nt out of his asshole to compete with netware and sun. So shutup! Don't mind my grammer bad!
Ex Machina "From the Machine"
xm@GeekMafia.dynip.com [http://GeekMafia.dynip.com/]
Does anyone else get the impression that most of these trolls just post this shit to get us all worked up.
-matt
Does anyone else get the impression that most of these trolls just post this shit to get us all worked up. I mean, come on, this statement is just plain stupid. If someone honestly meant it he/she is obviously dumb.
-matt
Here is a translation of the c't article (sorry about typos and bad grammar):
/* snip stuff about how to make Trinux work with your German keyboard */
Net Diagnosis Using Floppies
Trinux: A Linux Security Toolkit
A boot disk and one or two expansion floppies turn every PC into a well-equipped network administration system. Linux makes it possible.
Once again, the network connection is down: a host can't be contacted or can't connect to certain servers. Even if the installed system has little or no network tools, there is no need to complain: With Trinux, the network administrator can turn any PC in the network into a well-equipped diagnosis platform, and that without changing the installed system.
Trinux is a spezialized Linux distribution aimad at diagnosing network problems. Unlike other distributions, the Trinux Security Toolkit consists of only a boot disk and at least one data disk. After booting the Linux kernel, the system creates a RAM disk on which it installs several network utilities.
Before you get started, you only have to copy your network card's driver module onto the boot disk. When booting, Trinux asks for network parameters such as the IP address, netmask, etc., which it optionally saves on the disk. It can also receive this information from a DHCP server. After Trinux has copied the tools to the RAM disk, the system is ready to use.
The number of the tools makes it impossible to list them all. All the standard Unix tools such as ping, traceroute, and tcpdump are available. They are complemented by monitoring utilities like netwatch, iptraf, and ipgrab. Port scanners, packet sniffers, and tools to test several network services are also included in the distribution.
It is recommended to first install all the packages on a real Linux system and try everything. This will make later use easier. Even experts might discover a few previously unknown programs.
The real strength of Trinux lies in its expandability. The network administrator can create new data disks by simply copying his favorite tools to a disk as a tar archive.
Unix novices will have problems with the Linux Security Toolkit. After booting, they are greeted by a simple command prompt.
The user can't hope for a GUI: all programs work in text mode and usually only take comand line options. In the best case, they provide a small menu. The documentation on the disks is kept to a minimum.
The authors are working on additional data disks to make it possible to use Trinux as an intrusion detection system or a portable security scanner.
Unix newbies will certainly have problems with the mini-Linux's command prompt, but for experienced network administrators, Trinux is a useful portable toolkit.
Longos imitaris. You don't understand Latin so w'll translate : you pretend you are one of the big boys. Else you would understand Trinux is composed of tri and nux. Where can anybody get something from MS on 3 flops ? Nowhere ! Will that work ? Never !
Ups, I did not know c't-magazine was mainstream-press. To me it seems c't is a more specialist computer-mag read mostly by IT-Pros, nettime-posters linux-freaks and students, nothing for the mainstream. Correct me if I should be wrong.
Microsoft haven't done anything better than anyone else since they wrote Basic for the Altos back in 1975, since then, they haven't had to do anything better than anyone else. The money kept coming in and Microsoft kept shipping out software, and as long as those two factors stay in balance they never will have to. Microsoft are a business, their focus is on profits, and their reward is the size of their business. Where open source software does it better for real people is that the focus is on quality, and efficiency, because pride, and recognition is the reward.
:-)
Microsoft could possibly do it better, they have some very talented programmers working for them, but why would they bother when the cost to develop something like this is unlikely to ever be recovered. As a business, they need to justify using resources on a project. This is why Windows is still a slow, bloated, behemoth of an operating system, because there is no commercial impetus on improving efficiency. This is exactly why Microsoft's software sucks my big nana, and why you won't be booting NT off floppies in the near future.
Wordprocessor and GUI on a floppy? QNX maybe?
I agreed. Anyone ever think of funstuff.tgz in datadisk?