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[Schonka]

Urist McLinux is a minimalistic Linux Operating System which you can start from an USB-Stick. Dwarf Fortress is installed and ready to run.


Hi there together,

I am Schonka, and this is my first Post in this Forum.

Running Dwarf Fortress from an USB-Stick is one thing, but running it entirely independent from the locally installed OS, is another thing. So I did some research, and tested some Linux Distributions to run Dwarf Fortress on, and it worked fine. Nontheless, I planned to create my own Distribution, but building from nothing is a thing I do not have the skills for. So I found this service "SuseStudio" which lets you build a Distribution, based on Suse. You can configure it very precisely, you can choose which software is installed, which Startscripts are running, and so on. So I built this package which has nothing, but the for Dwarf Fortress needed packages and configuration. There is no network configuration, there are no manpages, the only thing you can do is start DF and edit the configuration files with Vi, if you want.


Downloads:
http://susestudio.com/a/1VAyNL/urist-mclinux (Media -> Download) (also dont forget to extract it till you have the .raw file)
https://github.com/downloads/openSUSE/kiwi/ImageWriter.exe (Program that lets you install the .raw on your USB-Stick)


How to:

Start ImageWriter and choose the extracted .raw file. Choose your USB-Stick (Make Sure its not smaller then 1GB) and press Copy. ALL YOUR FILES ON THIS THING WILL BE DELETED!

Go in your Bios Settings and take care of the possibility to boot from your USB-Stick.

Now Wait a little, enjoy the background image, till you have to login.
*Edit: It may take a few minutes (only) on your first boot

Login with "df" and leave the password empty.
*You are already logged in as df now

Just type "dwarffortress" and hit enter.


If you want to edit the init files or whatever, type "cd /home/df/df_linux/data/init" then "nano init" or "vi init". Beginners would prefer nano as a texteditor.

Login as root: "su root", password: "linux"

Shutdown your Computer: "shutdown"
*Edit: One thing I forgot to mention: At the moment you have to switch to root to shutdown (see above), and type "shutdown -r 0".
*fixed


I hope you guys enjoy my little project, and I ask you guys for tips and things you want me to change, maybe I'll do that!

[Nalbir]

Seems like a nice idea.

What environment is running? Such as LXDE etc and thus could it come with essentials like Dwarf Therapist?

[Schonka]

At the moment its working just with a shell, no Desktop Environment.

[Nalbir]

Ah okay. Would it be possible to do a version with a lightweight DE? not sure what graphics library's DT requires and if it would still be feasible on a Usb stick.

[Lasander]

Sounds like a neat idea... Dwarf Fortress... the OS.

My only suggestion for now is to streamline things a bit.  Like not having to switch to root to shutdown.  This is an easy fix as all you should need to do is add the user 'df' to the wheel group or whatever the admin group in suse is called.  Perhaps you could create an alias for the shutdown command so the user doesn't have to remember any flags and such just to turn off the computer. Somehow making the user 'df' auto log on would be nice as well.

I know lots of people use vi but if the user has to google the instructions then maybe a more user friendly editor should be used.  Nano is a good choice as the important commands are listed on the bottom of the screen.

[sjm9876]

Hehehe. Already commissioned a mate to do this in the past. have a bare bones debian based OS purely for DF. Runs perfectly, even with massive fluid based megaprojects. Unfortunately i don't have access to any way to upload the files, and the only internet access is ethernet, but yeah. the entire OS consists of DF, a terminal, a browser, a file manager and geany for raw editing. No users, nothing. shutdown from command. no taskbar. Nothing at all that could in any way slow it down.

we call it Dwarven Lightning.
*mutual idea idea five*

[Schonka]

@Lasander
Fixed! Now you are logged in as df and you can shutdown with every user! Also Nano will be installed now, though Ill still be using vi!

[Naraceaus]

Would it be possible to add Openssh (or another ssh server program)? To allow people to plug it into a server to run on portable devices through a network.

[Schonka]

I could easily add openssh, but I have no knowledge about setting it up, and so on. Neither I know what packages and network configuration is necessary for it to work properly. I could add a build with openssh, if you want me to, just let me know!

[Lasander]

Would it be possible to add Openssh (or another ssh server program)? To allow people to plug it into a server to run on portable devices through a network.

So like, you want multiple people each playing a seperate instance of df or you just want to remote in so you can play df when you are way from home?

@Lasander
Fixed! Now you are logged in as df and you can shutdown with every user! Also Nano will be installed now, though Ill still be using vi!

Not hating on vi... much   Text editors are very small which is great because you can have multiple ones installed without much problem.

If you do end up building a network aware build it would be nice to keep it separate.  I like the idea of the current build being non-networked. The best security is to just not plug the darn thing into the Internet in the first place; no firewalls, no remote vulnerabilities, no need for constant patching, no drive by downloads, no headaches, no worries. Just plug in and play.
I need to find me a spare USB stick to try this on.  I am very curious how well df performs on this vs the os currently installed on the machine.

[Schonka]

If you do end up building a network aware build it would be nice to keep it separate.

Yeah, I agree with that, thats what my original goal is.

I generated a large world from my Windows 7 and stopped the time. I did the same thing with my OS: It was slightly faster! Though I dont know if there could be big differences in the speed of the world generation, related to the seeds. What slows down the game are the loading times. But once you started to play there is really no big difference!

[Naraceaus]

Would it be possible to add Openssh (or another ssh server program)? To allow people to plug it into a server to run on portable devices through a network.

So like, you want multiple people each playing a seperate instance of df or you just want to remote in so you can play df when you are way from home?

The latter is the use I was thinking of though technically they're both the same functionality (assuming one person per df instance). However if it is possible to install things myself after putting it on a stick then don't worry about it, the great thing about linux is customization.