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Archiv für February, 2013

Test build with kernel 3.8.0 available (unstable)

Tuesday, February 26th, 2013

I just uploaded the first build containing linux kernel 3.8.0. Besides the new kernel, glibc got updated to 2.17. The most significant change is that now a (cross compiled) kernel for x86_64 is included. If necessary it will be accompagnied by a 64 bit busybox in one of the next builds. So currently three kernels are used: the 64 bit kernel, a kernel for 32 bit systems with PAE and a kernel for 32 bit systems  without PAE. This number will be reduced to two as soon as the 64 bit kernel proves stable. Choosing the right kernel is (hopefully) done by syslinux’ ifcpu64.c32 module. To see which kernel was booted, run “uname -a” from a terminal.

Please note that just the kernel is 64 bit, so chrooting to 64 bit linux environments should be possible now. Since I also plan to add EFI support with gummiboot we need a 64 bit kernel to be booted directly by the EFI loader (32 bit kernels will not boot on 64 bit EFI without intermediate loaders like GRUB).

Fresh stable build available

Thursday, February 21st, 2013

I just uploaded a fresh build that includes some significant changes on driver loading – especially WiFi now works much better. Of course most packages were also replaced by fresh versions: Linux kernel 3.7.9 is included, Firefox got updated to 19.0 (the first release with the pdf.js PDF renderer included). Other changes are relevant for the use in companies where LessLinux is bootet via the network – either for repairing, inspecting, enrolling Windows on client machines or the usage as thin client:

  • a root password hash can now be set via boot command line
  • the thin client chooser now got much more configurable regarding mapping of Xfreerdps parameters and thus “real world usable” (in fact we use LessLinux as thinclient OS already in a small office netwerk with around ten clients)
  • the possibility to pass through to USB printers has been added

This build still uses kernel series 3.7 and Glibc 2.16. Due to some major changes I suspect this to remain for a few stable builds while unstable builds will soon move to 3.8 and Glibc 2.17. Download this build here:

I would also like to point to the handbook I started writing. For now it just contains ~10 pages on stuff that is interesting for administrators – like netbooting, using LessLinux as a thin client or remote access to running LessLinux hosts. The hand book is work in progress and will be frequently be updated. The latest version can be downloaded from here:

Since the handbook is regularily updated as work on LessLinux continues it might contain documentation on features that are not yet avaialable in the build you just downloaded. In this case refer to the version of the handbook that is contained in the buildscripts tarball of a certain release. Future releases also will add the handbook as part of the CD.