Best Linux for a single application & fast boot? (also How-to?) [closed]
I'm looking for a way to run Celtx,a screenwriting software on a Linux Distro and nothing else, no bluetooth, internet/WiFi, media, games, nothing, not even a desktop. Just boot up the OS and Bam! Celtx. Also, a fast boot would be great.
P.S. I'd need to automount a NTFS partition.
Any ideas?
Thanks
As mentioned by DaveParillo, any distibution can be stripped down to next to nothing. However, building a system from the ground up is probably preferable in your case. This is what Arch Linux was designed for. If you are comfortable with this idea, continue...
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- Follow the official or beginner's installation guide to install the base system.
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To mount your NTFS partition automatically, open up your /etc/fstab and add the following line (/dev/sdb1 being the NTFS partition and /mnt/device being the mount point):
/dev/sdb1 /mnt/device ntfs defaults 1 0
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If you want to be able to log in automatically you will need to take a few extra steps. First, install mingetty from the Arch User Respository (AUR). Here is a small guide to help you do that if you are unfamiliar with Arch Linux.
Next, open up /etc/inittab and change the line that looks like:
c1:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty -8 38400 tty1 linux
to the following:
c1:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty --autologin username tty1 linux
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Install X by executing the following commands as root:
pacman -Syu pacman -S libgl xorg xf86-input-evdev mesa vesa
Configure X with:
Xorg -configure cp /root/xorg.conf.new /etc/X11/xorg.conf
If xorg is giving you problems you can refer to the wiki. (If sound is also needed you can follow the steps that are given here)
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Edit your ~/.bash_profile so that when you log into TTY1 X will start automatically:
if [[ -z "$DISPLAY" ]] && [[ $(tty) = /dev/tty1 ]]; then exec startx logout fi
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Edit ~/.xinitrc and include the following (replacing celtx with whatever command starts the program you want to run):
exec celtx shutdown -h now
Once you quit celtx Arch Linux will shut down.
You can strip any linux distro down to the bare bones - the simplest thing to do is take a distro you already are familiar with and boot into run level 1 - the standard 'single user mode'. You won't have networking or any daemons, but you may have a desktop, depending on what you're using. You could define a custom run level to do whatever. Run level 4 is usually used for this. It's undefined, so you can make it whatever you want.
Alternatively, take a look at the linux distros tuned for smallness
EDIT Linux is not exactly famous for speedy boot times, but the less you run at startup, the faster it will be.