minimal internet only boot ?

[delfick]

hello

I was wondering....

how possible would it be for a distro who's sole purpose is to boot as fast as possible into an internet browser...

as in when it boots, the only thing you can do is browse the internet.

would be great if all you want to do is use the internet for a minute and the computer is turned off...

(happens to me quite often when I want to check gmail, gmail calendar, google docs (google addict I know), though sometimes all I want to do is check an 'real' website as well :D.....

cause if all this distro did was surf the net, then I assume it'd take less than a minute to be operational.....

any thoughts, ideas, put downs, people wanting to do this ??

:D

and it might actually make a use for webOs' after the novelty wears off :D
(and to avoid too much backlash, this wouldn't at all aim to replace the current functional desktops at all)

[popch]

I'm not quite sure, but I seem to remember reading an article about a motherboard manufacturer who put Linux with a Browser into the BIOS. Possibly Asus, possibly two or threee weeks ago.

[delfick]

I read that article

edit : still have it bookmarked http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=869&num=1

(infact I think it could be inspiration for my idea.... :D)

though my idea might even be more basic than that.......

where the aim is to be usable as quickly as possible and have the single purpose of browsing the internet...

[Dragonbite]

Should be possible.

You could probably do a minimal install (server install?) from an alternative CD, add X windows and Firefox (w/Flash and Java?) and see about setting Firefox to auto-start.

I've thought about this project too, even if the website it opens up to is a local intranet site (which is what I'd have to do because I'm dial-up).

If you want it like a kiosk into the local intranet ONLY I think there are ways to limit Firefox and even make it so you cannot save to the hard drive (like no /home/ directory to call your own, or no write permissions?)

Hmm... if I get a more powerful laptop for myself I can take this old/weak laptop and set it up as a web appliance and put it in the kitchen.... argh! Now I'm going to be thinking of this instead of the dozen or so projects at home I already have!!

EDIT: Thinking about it, I don't know if Firefox would be the better or Opera/Mozilla (SeaMonkey?) that includes eMail client. This way you still only open 1 application to browse but it also runs your email and since GMail now includes IMAP connection you don't have to actually download anything. Food for thought.

[n3tfury]

would be great if all you want to do is use the internet for a minute and the computer is turned off...



your hardware will hate you in due time.

[Dragonbite]

your hardware will hate you in due time.
My computers already hate me, so I've nothing to lose ;)

[bernied]

I don't think you need X, links2 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Links_%28web_browser%29) will run in the framebuffer.

But something tells me you'll spend more time setting this thing up than you'll ever save with your fast switching on.

[Dragonbite]

I don't think you need X, links2 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Links_%28web_browser%29) will run in the framebuffer.

But something tells me you'll spend more time setting this thing up than you'll ever save with your fast switching on.

Can it handle FLASH?
I think it would be best to stick with the more mainstream only because they are more supported for things such as FLASH and AJAX which Google uses intensively.

[Depressed Man]

I'm not quite sure, but I seem to remember reading an article about a motherboard manufacturer who put Linux with a Browser into the BIOS. Possibly Asus, possibly two or threee weeks ago.

Probably the EEE PC? My friend got one, I tried it out. Sort of neat (but I could never use it since it's so small plus it's so limited power wise).

[popch]

Probably the EEE PC?

Not the EEE PC but a motherboard. Someone already has found it:


I read that article

edit : still have it bookmarked http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=869&num=1
.

[init1]

hello

I was wondering....

how possible would it be for a distro who's sole purpose is to boot as fast as possible into an internet browser...

as in when it boots, the only thing you can do is browse the internet.

would be great if all you want to do is use the internet for a minute and the computer is turned off...

(happens to me quite often when I want to check gmail, gmail calendar, google docs (google addict I know), though sometimes all I want to do is check an 'real' website as well :D.....

cause if all this distro did was surf the net, then I assume it'd take less than a minute to be operational.....

any thoughts, ideas, put downs, people wanting to do this ??

:D

and it might actually make a use for webOs' after the novelty wears off :D
(and to avoid too much backlash, this wouldn't at all aim to replace the current functional desktops at all)
TTY basically does that. It's only 5MB and has retawq.
http://www.minimalinux.org/ttylinux/showpage.php?pid=1

[delfick]

yay, some decent conversation :D


TTY basically does that. It's only 5MB and has retawq.
http://www.minimalinux.org/ttylinux/showpage.php?pid=1


command line interface, no graphical user interface (GUI)

maybe not :D


I will try with the server install when I get my new harddrive
sounds promising......

[delfick]

I don't think you need X, links2 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Links_%28web_browser%29) will run in the framebuffer.

But something tells me you'll spend more time setting this thing up than you'll ever save with your fast switching on.

I don't think it'd be worth it having it that basic

of course I don't know how it all works, so I assume it's silly to think it'd be possible just to have it boot up with a single firefox window and the lack of ability to do anything else ?

[K.Mandla]

Mach Boot does that, sort of. It's a live CD that goes straight to a desktop with minimal software but with Internet access.

http://www.machboot.com

Debian-based too, which is what surprised me. I got to the desktop in 100 seconds on a K6-2 450Mhz. :shock: (No joke, either.)

[delfick]

that looks even more promising :D

I'm trying that after work today

it says on the site that's it's a livecd...

do you think it'd be possible to install it on hardrive as well, for convenience ?? :D

thnx

[K.Mandla]

I tinkered with that a little bit, and I think it could work. You'd have to point grub at the ISO and see if it can get things going properly. I never fully set it up that way, although it is very tempting. :-k

[init1]

I can't believe I forgot this! Slitaz sounds like what you're looking for. It's only about 25MB.
http://www.slitaz.org/index.en.html

[n3tfury]

Mach Boot does that, sort of. It's a live CD that goes straight to a desktop with minimal software but with Internet access.

http://www.machboot.com

Debian-based too, which is what surprised me. I got to the desktop in 40 seconds on a K6-2 450Mhz. :shock: (No joke, either.)

lol, check the vid:

http://www.geocities.jp/digitalinfra1960/293857293857/20060226.1.mpg

[delfick]

I can't believe I forgot this! Slitaz sounds like what you're looking for. It's only about 25MB.
http://www.slitaz.org/index.en.html

that also looks promising, thnx :D

will have a look at these options now, will get back later with results.. :D

[delfick]

hmm, I seem to have no writable cds and I can't find a tutorial that explains how to boot a livecd from the harddrive rather than from the cd...

anyone want to assist there ?? :D thnx

maybe K.Mandla could expand a little on your last post ?? :D

[aimran]

lol, check the vid:

http://www.geocities.jp/digitalinfra1960/293857293857/20060226.1.mpg

Getting an error with that

[aimran]

It's ok I provide links:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=bjLXCwK0jQA

[n3tfury]

Getting an error with that

don't blame me that their site is down

http://www.machboot.com/

kthx.

[delfick]

well slitaz was quite a dissapointment for me :(

What I did was spend half an hour waiting for gparted to make a few gig extra space for me on my harddrive (which is very near full)

then I copied the data from the iso to that partition

finally figured out what harddrive it was (in grub terms, in this case (hd0,2) and what grub lines to use to make it boot

finally get it booting, only to be stopped half way for same ata1 error about sata drives or something (not sure why or what) which took forever to get past

finally got past that to the login part and had no idea what to log in as, so had to restart (again) and find the login name is "hacker". So I booted back up again, finally got there, put in the username to log in, typed in "startx" and realised that it doesn't seem to be able to recognise my wireless mouse or keyboard and hence can't do anything in it (these are the only mouse and keyboard I own)

so that was a failure (for me)...

hopefully machboot is so much better :D
but that's for tomorrow, it is one in the morning over here and I'm tired

....

[delfick]

hmm, the negative side of asking for a heap of hours at work, they ring you early in the morning.............................

anywho, just tried machboot before I get ready for work....

copied it from iso to the harddrive and don't have a clue, so I posted this http://bbs1.machboot.com:8000/mini/BBS/index.html#1

that bbs thing is cool :D


...

[RAV TUX]

Upon reading this thread I new that this had been done some time ago, I found it:

It's called Browser Appliance a minimal Gnome appliance with Firefox.



Browser Appliance

# x86 VMware (R) Virtual Appliance: VMware Player Image (http://www.rpath.org/rbuilder/downloadImage?fileId=5779)
# x86 Parallels, QEMU (Raw Hard Disk): Raw Hard Disk Image (http://www.rpath.org/rbuilder/downloadImage?fileId=5780)
# x86 Demo CD (Live CD): Demo CD (Live CD) (http://www.rpath.org/rbuilder/downloadImage?fileId=5783)

Project Home Page
http://wiki.rpath.com/wiki/Appliance:Browser Appliance (http://wiki.rpath.com/wiki/Appliance:Browser)

Description
The Browser Appliance allows users to securely browse the Internet using Mozilla Firefox. Included is just enough rPath Linux and GNOME desktop to run Firefox. You can run the Browser appliance instead of your normal web browser to protect against adware and spyware infections or to safeguard personal information. The Browser appliance can be configured to automatically reset itself after each use, so personal information is never stored permanently.

Getting Started
Download one of the virtual appliance images and boot it. No login or password is required, the virtual appliance will boot directly into GNOME and start Firefox automatically.

Support
The Browser appliance is a community supported project. Questions about Browser appliance should be raised on the Browser appliance discussion list: http://www.rpath.org/rbuilder/project/browser/mailingListshttp://www.rpath.org/rbuilder/project/browser/

I haven't tried this so I wouldn't know how well it works, the project has been active since 2006, and the current version is 1.0. ;)

[RAV TUX]

Upon reading this thread I new that this had been done some time ago, I found it:

It's called Browser Appliance a minimal Gnome appliance with Firefox.


http://www.rpath.org/rbuilder/project/browser/

I haven't tried this so I wouldn't know how well it works, the project has been active since 2006, and the current version is 1.0. ;)
Demo CD (Live CD)


267 MB

[delfick]

cool :D

I've copied the iso contents to a spare partition as I was doing with the other two, and I've added


title internet
root (hd0,2)
kernel /vmlinuz root=/dev/null
initrd /initrd.img

to grub

but it gives me kernel panic, something about not finding init or something...

so what is the correct thing to put into grub?

thnx :D

[koenn]

how possible would it be for a distro who's sole purpose is to boot as fast as possible into an internet browser...

as in when it boots, the only thing you can do is browse the internet.

I did something similar to create 'kiosks' to browse through a webapplication (the catalog of a public library). I used some old pc's + a base console only install of ubuntu + X + fluxbox + firefox, with some autostart features here and there.

notes :http://users.telenet.be/mydotcom/howto/linuxkiosk/fluxbox.htm

[delfick]

cool

that's a lot of information you have over there :)

will get to that eventually :D

thnx

[Tundro Walker]

Now just team the web-app distro with i-RAM (http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=2480), and you'll have an insanely fast booting (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PiYgBhAkAM&feature=related) web-appliance.

[popch]

as in when it boots, the only thing you can do is browse the internet.

Ah, you are thinking of MS Vista in 'restricted functionality mode'?

[delfick]

restricted functionality mode can even do that ??

lol :D