Sisela June 2004

sisela@earth.li

9 participants
6 discussions

Plans for the next Sisela version
by Martin Ling 29 Jun '04

29 Jun '04

Now that I'm finished with exams for this year, I'm beginning to make serious plans for the next version of Sisela. Lots have things have been asked for, including: - New boot methods - PXE netbooting, USB memory sticks, hard drives - More support for recent wireless chipsets - PPPoE - AP mode support - Captive portal - Web administration - Wireless scanning - Various additional software Plus of course I'll make all the usual upgrades to the included software. I'm not sure yet whether it will be worth going to a 2.6 kernel - despite new space-saving options it still seems to work out bigger. Now, I can do a certain amount of this and still fit on a floppy. The HTTP server for captive portal and web admin features is already present in 0.3, it just needs appropriate accompanying scripts/pages to be written. Since I want to provide console-based admin menus too, I'm looking at producing a simple configuration engine and perhaps some micro templating system to generate web pages and config screens from this. HTTPS is probably unfeasible, but you can do secure web admin by SSH tunneling :-) I've still got some ideas for saving space which could free up enough to get a couple more drivers/programs in, and there's the option of going to a 1722k floppy format as well. It's probably also time to take out support for some of the more rare ISA cards - the space is better used for new drivers, and anyone needing to support very obscure old hardware can always build it in. Ultimately though I'm never going to be able to satisfy everyone, and modifying the source package to add what you want isn't currently that easy. So in future I'll be trying to build as many options as possible into the source package, menu-selectable in the same style as the Linux kernel configuration, so people can build in exactly what they need. This is going to take a little longer than just cramming more stuff in though, so I'm postponing it until the version after next. The Sisela roadmap, then: 0.4: Simply the most networking power ever fitted on one floppy disk. Also PXE, USB and HD-installable versions. Less ancient drivers. More new ones. Configuration menus, web management, captive portal. 0.5: A flexible source distribution allowing people to build exactly what they need onto any size or type boot media. Also 'standard' version(s) with the mostdistributed as pre-compiled images. Probably a web-based custom compilation service. 0.6 and upwards: Refinements and additions to the framework of 0.5. I'll still be trying to modularise the source package whilst working on 0.4, in preparation for a fully configurable 0.5. However, making sure all possible combinations build and work properly will be a lot of work; I don't want to stall a 0.4 release waiting for that to be ready, when there's plenty of fixes and improvements to 0.3 that can be done now. You can help by: - Telling me what you want. There have been plenty of suggestions on this list already, but more are welcome. Be clear on exactly what you need and why - don't just ask for a particular program, there may be a smaller alternative way to be able to do the same thing. - Volunteering to test beta versions. I'll announce all developments on this list, but if you mail me now and let me know what hardware you are already using with Sisela and what you have available to test on, I can make sure things are better tested. - Telling me what hardware does and doesn't work with the 0.3 version. - Submitting patches which add new features or fix bugs. - Looking at the source for more ways to save space! Lots of bits of code aren't used often, or at all - which ones can be easily got rid of? Thanks for all your support, Martin -- http://the.earth.li/~martin/

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Adding Wireless Adapter MN-520
by John O'Neal 26 Jun '04

26 Jun '04

Hi, Would it be possible to add the following entries to /etc/pcmcia/config file in your next build. I have this Microsoft pcmcia adapter and it is not recognized. card "Microsoft Wireless Notebook Adapter MN-520 1.0.3" version "Microsoft", "Wireless Notebook Adapter MN-520", "", "1.0.3" bind "orinoco_cs"

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list archives?
by Amit Kucheria 24 Jun '04

24 Jun '04

Hi all, I am trying to locate the archives of the sisela mailing list. Are there any? I have troubles with mklibs.sh dependency graphs. I get the following messages. Any clues are welcome. Regards, Amit -------------------------------- rm -rf /projects/devel/embedded-linux/small-distros/sisela-0.3/build/lib/* ./mklibs.sh -v -D -L /projects/devel/embedded-linux/small-distros/sisela-0.3/local/usr/i386-linux-uclibc/lib -L wireless_tools.26 -L iptables-1.2.8 \ -d /projects/devel/embedded-linux/small-distros/sisela-0.3/build/lib `for x in \`find build/install -type f -perm +111 ! -name *.so*\`; do if [ "\`file -b $x | grep ^ELF\`" ]; then echo $x; fi; done` file: corrupted section header size. Initializing data objects... ./mklibs.sh: line 297: /tmp/amit-mklibs.25752/library-depends: cannot overwrite existing file ./mklibs.sh: line 295: /tmp/amit-mklibs.25752/add-to-queue-if-not-there: cannot overwrite existing file ./mklibs.sh: line 297: /tmp/amit-mklibs.25752/library-depends: cannot overwrite existing file -------------------------------- -- .| Amit Kucheria |. ...| Wireless Systems Engineer |... .....| Metric Systems Corp., San Diego, CA |..... ......| www.metricsystems.com |......

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Re: [sisela] Bridge
by Ryan McCahan 21 Jun '04

21 Jun '04

Hmm, what do I like about sisela? The fact that it gives my (otherwise useless) old laptop the chance to connect to my wireless network. I have been using sisela and my old laptop recently to create a wireless<->ethernet bridge so that I can have a hard-wired ethernet link inside my room without the wiring. Sisela is quite likely one of the most useful floppy-based tools I have ever used simply because it provides instant access to my wireless hardware. Excellent work. Ryan McCahan ----Original Message Follows---- From: Martin Ling <martin-sisela(a)earth.li> Reply-To: sisela(a)earth.li To: sisela(a)earth.li Subject: Re: [sisela] Bridge Date: Mon, 21 Jun 2004 14:24:18 +0100 MIME-Version: 1.0 Received: from the.earth.li ([193.201.200.66]) by mc10-f21.hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC(5.0.2195.6824); Mon, 21 Jun 2004 06:30:17 -0700 Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=the.earth.li)by the.earth.li with esmtp (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian))id 1BcOnQ-0003UK-00; Mon, 21 Jun 2004 14:25:12 +0100 Received: from martin by the.earth.li with local (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian))id 1BcOmY-0003QI-00for <sisela(a)earth.li>; Mon, 21 Jun 2004 14:24:18 +0100 X-Message-Info: yilqo4+6kc6lOPKSGdQHiDP8OEnHac7G Message-ID: <20040621132418.GM28464(a)earth.li> References: <004d01c45772$5f539d20$7c01a8c0@MMIII102> In-Reply-To: <004d01c45772$5f539d20$7c01a8c0@MMIII102> User-Agent: Mutt/1.3.28i X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 2.63 (2004-01-11) on the.earth.li X-Spam-Status: No, hits=-4.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=2.63 X-Spam-Level: Errors-To: sisela-admin(a)earth.li X-BeenThere: sisela(a)earth.li X-Mailman-Version: 2.0.11 Precedence: bulk List-Help: <mailto:sisela-request@earth.li?subject=help> List-Post: <mailto:sisela@earth.li> List-Subscribe: <http://www.earth.li/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sisela>,<mailto:sisela-request@earth.li?subject=subscribe> List-Id: discussion of the Sisela networking boot disk <sisela.earth.li> List-Unsubscribe: <http://www.earth.li/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sisela>,<mailto:sisela-request@earth.li?subject=unsubscribe> List-Archive: <http://www.earth.li/pipermail/sisela/> Return-Path: sisela-admin(a)earth.li X-OriginalArrivalTime: 21 Jun 2004 13:30:18.0119 (UTC) FILETIME=[E4A73970:01C45793] On Mon, Jun 21, 2004 at 11:30:20AM +0200, Mikael ?sth wrote: > > Im new to this list(and fairly newbie at linux). Is there a way to install > sisela to the harddrive of a notebook for example. Would be nice to add some > other packages for statistic and so on. There isn't currently a way to install Sisela to a hard drive. If someone really wanted to do it I'd suggest starting from the source package, adding the necessary IDE/SCSI support to the kernel configuration, and then putting the whole FAT & SYSLINUX setup on a hard disk partition instead of a floppy. But *why*? There are literally hundreds of other Linux distributions designed to install to hard drives, including dozens designed for similar purposes as Sisela. You *can't* add any extra packages to an installed Sisela setup. Everything's built together so that unnecessary library code can be taken out to save space. The point of this project was to make the most capable networking system that could possibly fit on a floppy. Now people keep asking for it to do something else, when there are plenty of alternatives - mostly with more maintenance than one busy student. What do people like so much about Sisela? Martin -- http://the.earth.li/~martin/ _______________________________________________ Sisela mailing list Sisela(a)earth.li http://www.earth.li/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sisela _________________________________________________________________ FREE pop-up blocking with the new MSN Toolbar get it now! http://toolbar.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200415ave/direct/01/

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Bridge
by Mikael Östh 21 Jun '04

21 Jun '04

Im new to this list(and fairly newbie at linux). Is there a way to install sisela to the harddrive of a notebook for example. Would be nice to add some other packages for statistic and so on. /Mikael

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Re: [sisela] Bridge
by Justin J.Hayes 21 Jun '04

21 Jun '04

At Monday, 21 June 2004, Maling wrote: >What do people like so much about Sisela? The fact that it's available 'presetup'. You don't need to 'install' it as such to use it, you can just bung a floppy in and have it working immediately. =================================================================== EASY and FREE access to your email anywhere: http://Mailreader.com/ ===================================================================

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Sisela June 2004