Re:DietPi is more than just a minimal image
by theamk on Tuesday October 05, 2021 @08:10PM
(#28767452)
Every time I see a "minimal image" announcement, I hope to see something in the <100MB range initial install, read-only root, and ssh-only (no GUI) -- something like OpenWRT, but with full power of debian repo behind it.
Instead, I see yet another graphical distro with graphical interfaces which most people won't ever need.
Re:DietPi is more than just a minimal image
by MichaIng on Wednesday October 06, 2021 @11:47AM
(#28774558)
"with full power of debian repo behind it" isn't possible with a <100 MiB system, where already the kernel (with all modules) takes half of it, then + initramfs etc, and not to forget systemd (practically required for large parts of Debian packages). The compressed images are however only slightly >100 MiB usually, depending on whether a separate /boot FAT partition is used or not.
Another larger part of space is used for full WiFi support, related firmware especially. When creating or converting an own image, it is possible to skip WiFi, but for best compatibility with headless use cases, it is included in the provided downloads: https://dietpi.com/docs/hardware/#make-your-own-distribution
Re:DietPi is more than just a minimal image
by ethanpil on Wednesday October 06, 2021 @02:42AM
(#28769948)
There was a trend for a very short period of time for JEOS (Just Enough OS) releases. I loved these and always wondered why they suddenly died out. These days I use Alpine Linux which is as close as you can get...
Re:DietPi is more than just a minimal image
by SanchoPanda on Tuesday October 05, 2021 @06:55PM
(#28766787)
I adore projects like this, yunohost also comes to mind, for (among other things) the amount of wisdom captured in many of the build/install scripts. If I am trying to install somethning and banging my head against a wall, almost always I should have checked how they did it an hour and a half ago.
Instead, I see yet another graphical distro with graphical interfaces which most people won't ever need.
Another larger part of space is used for full WiFi support, related firmware especially. When creating or converting an own image, it is possible to skip WiFi, but for best compatibility with headless use cases, it is included in the provided downloads: https://dietpi.com/docs/hardware/#make-your-own-distribution
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpine_Linux
- <100MB initial install - check
- read-only root -- in some cases? the diskless mode/lbu operation is neat, but it puts everything into RAM, and some boards may only have 1GB of it.
- ssh-only -- nope, have to connect keyboard/monitor to setup
- "full power of debian repo" -- nope
Alpine is great out for small images, but unfortunately still unusable for headless embedded devices out of the box.
If there are enough other people that would be served by that setup, publishing the result could work very well for everyone with your niche needs.
350~MB. Not the smallest but better.