From: adam@netcom.com (Adam J. Richter) Subject: Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Alpha release Linux/GNU/X unix clone on CDROM for PC's Date: Wed, 25 Nov 1992 16:23:39 GMT
In article <1992Nov25.140455.6725@wam.umd.edu> joel@wam.umd.edu (Joel M. Hoffman) writes:
>In article <3814@news.cerf.net> richter@nic.cerf.net (Adam J. Richter) writes:
>>
>> I am now taking orders for the alpha release of my company's
>>Linux/GNU/X distribution on CDROM. Linux is an AT&T-free unix clone
>>for 386/486-class PC compatibles. The CDROM is an ISO-9660 filesystem,
>>so you can look at it from DOS, other unix boxes, and even Macintoshes.
>>The distribution includes:
>>
>> o Linux 0.98.1 kernel,
>> o X windows (v11r5) for VGA displays with support
>> for higher resolutions such as 1024x768 256 colors using
>> the ET4000, ET3000, Paradise, or Genoa chip sets,
>> and the standard Xlib/Xt development environment,
>> o GNU utilities, including GNU C and C++, the GNU
>> debugger, bison, flex, GNU make,
>> o TeX and groff typesetting packages,
>> o Ghostscript: a postscript interpreter that can drive
>> a variety of printers and also display in an X
>> window,
>> o elvis and GNU emacs text editors,
>> o kermit 5A telecommunications program, and
>> o an installation script that uses the extended
>> filesystem, which supports long filenames and
>> symbolic links just like the BSD file system,
>> o iso9660 filesystem with support for the Rock Ridge
>> extensions for reading CDROM's (used by this
>> CDROM distribution),
>> o lots of other useful programs too numerous to mention.
>
>Does this include both source and binaries for the above? E.g., do
>you include the complete TeX package, w/ source, and also the
>binaries?
The 100MB of /usr/src on the CDROM contains a lot of this
stuff, but the alpha version also is missing a lot of sources which
will be in the beta or production release.
Here is a list of which of the packages have source included
on the alpha CDROM:
Package Source included on alpha release?
Kernel YES
X windows NO (XFree86 diffs and R5 fixes are
included, though)
GNU C/G++/gdb YES
GNU utilities YES
TeX NO (although texinfo, dvi2xx, dvips
and tranfig are.)
groff YES
elvis NO
emacs YES
kermit YES
instal script (YES, it's a shell script.)
iso9660 fs YES (in fact there is a snapshot of
tsx-11.mit.edu:/pub/Linux/ALPHA)
The main limitation that I had to deal with in the alpha
release was that a tar file of the initial CDROM filesystem had to
fit on my 200MB disk. I won't have this limitation when I cut the
beta release, so /usr/src will be much more complete. It is my
intention to eventually be able to build the CDROM by saying
"cd /usr/src ; make install".
-- Adam J. Richter 409 Evelyn Avenue, Apt. 312 Yggdrasil Computing, Incorporated Albany, CA 94706 richter@cerf.net (510)528-3209 Another member of the League for Programming Freedom (league@uunet.uu.net).