Core Linux Guides
Welcome to my pages on Core Linux. If you have found these pages useful or have spotted an error please e-mail me using the link above. Visit the Core Linux Website to read more about the distro and its development.
Get involved!
Help make Core Linux a community effort by submitting your documentation. If you have done something you're proud of with Core Linux, why not e-mail me and I'll put it up on this site. Then other people can benefit from your cleverness! You would get a full credit on the page, although I reserve the right to edit the document, seeing as its my site. :) If the program you're after isn't documented here, you can try the Beyond Linux From Scratch site which documents lots of source installations.
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Installing Core Linuxp.H.oederr has made a version of the Core website available in Russian at coredistro.fatal.ru. Old Installation Guide for "mass-2" and three boot floppy methodSoftware Installation Guides
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The starting point for each of these software installation guides is the same base platform that is set up by the end of the Installation Guide above. Each program is written about as if it is the first one to be installed on the system. This means that any software prerequisites for a program that are not already installed on Core Linux are also detailed in the same guide. (If you have installed other software on your Core Linux system first you may find these prerequisites are already met.) All the timings mentioned in the pages are based on the test system of a 700Mhz Celeron with 196Mb SD-RAM. The time taken for processes to complete in your experience will vary with the specifications of your Core Linux system.
Core Linux CD labelI knocked up this CD label for my Core Linux CD and thought I'd share it. It certainly catches my eye when I'm flipping through my CD wallet, and is nice enough to look at! It looks better printed on glossy paper than conventional printer paper though. Get it here. Credit to jd for the original Core Logo design. |
Core Linux Logon LogosI created these logon logos for my Core Linux system and thought I'd share them. There is an ANSI version and a less colourful ASCII version. Click on the thumbnails for a better look. The configuration file is for the Linux_logo program. Check out my guide to installing Linux_logo. If you have installed a recent version of Linux_logo it probably has this logo in the source tarball already. If you are using an older version of Linux_logo and still want the logo file, you can get it here. Credit due to jd for the original Core Logo design. |
 
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What is Core Linux, and did you write these pages?
I decided to start using Core Linux for the same reasons that it was created - it is a stripped down distribution with nothing but the most basic tools installed. I had two reasons for investigating such a distribution. Firstly I wanted a distribution that would run on some very old hardware - I had a couple of 486s and a lowly P60 sitting there doing nothing. So, the distribution had to be small and with low processor demands. Installing some of the more mainstream distributions would be a struggle on 486 hardware.
I found Core Linux through the Linux Distribution List at Linuxlinks.com, but this now seems to be defunct. (A better distribution list is Distrowatch or LWN's list.) Although compiling your own kernel means more work, and could put some people off, I saw it as a good thing. It enables you to tailor your kernel to suit the system. Who needs sound support on a webserver, for example? Installing software from source makes for a more satisfying system. Core Linux is also more secure than other distros, not because if offers any special security features beyond those of a more mainstream distro, but because it doesn't install any servers. Port scanning a fresh Core Linux installation reveals no open ports, without even configuring firewalling. That can't be said of many larger distributions.
The software packages I have chosen to write about on this site are ones that I wanted to get working. They are popular applications, and so I hope these pages will help a lot of people. What I haven't included here is detailed documentation on how to configure the software. There are plenty of configuration guides available on the internet or in bookshops. I didn't see any point in duplicating that information here. If the program's website or included documentation isn't sufficient for your needs, then try The Linux Documentation Project which hosts many HOWTO guides, or just get on Google.
