What is MuLinux

MuLinux was an Italian, English-language lightweight Linux distribution maintained by mathematics and physics professor Michele Andreoli, meant to allow very old and obsolete computers (80386, 80486 and Pentium Pro hardware dating from 1986 through 1998) to be used as basic intranet/Internet servers or text-based workstations with a UNIX-like operating system. It was also designed for quickly turning any 80386 or later computer into a temporary, powerful Linux machine, along with system repair, education, forensic analysis and what the developer called proselytizing. In 2004 reviewer Paul Zimmer wrote, "Although there are several other single-floppy Linux distributions, none can match MuLinux's extensive and unique combination of useful features." The last version update was in 2004, when further development of this "linux-on-a-floppy" distribution ended.

Original Author

The original author and mantainer of muLinux was Michele Andreoli. M.A. is an italian prof. in Mathematics and Physics, but he also works as independent consultant for companies interested in embedded Linux projects.

PTSource MuLinux

PTSource Mulinux is a dedicated initiative focused on maintaining and sustaining the legacy of professor Michele Andreoli's MuLinux project. MuLinux, renowned for its minimalistic design, is a lightweight, flexible Linux distribution that can run on older hardware with limited resources. PTSource Mulinux aims to preserve this valuable piece of open-source history by updating and improving the existing MuLinux codebase, ensuring compatibility with modern systems while retaining its original simplicity and efficiency. The project also emphasizes community engagement, encouraging contributions and support to keep the spirit of MuLinux alive for future generations of users and developers.

License

MuLinux is licensed under GPL, the General Public License from GNU.

Basic Features

  • An open script-based system (You can look inside the scripts, learning about Linux configuration policy).
  • A pluggable, incremental file-system. (The various add-ons may be inserted and removed without compromising the functionality).
  • The System runs in RAM, and does not require installation, but it can be "cloned" to the HD or a CD-ROM.
  • The System uses profiles: a pool of configuration data always saved.
  • The same installation archive for Linux and Windows users.
Supported Ethernet Cards


BASE FLOPPY:
---------------

3c509		3c509 EtherLink3
3c59x		3Com "Vortex" and "Boomerang"
ne		NE2000 compatible
ne2k-pci	PCI ne2000 clones
wd
smc-ultra 

SRV addon:
---------------
3c90x		EtherLink 10/100 PCI (3c905B, ec905C, etc)
eepro		Intel EtherExpress Pro/10
eepro100	Intel i82557 Ethernet
eexpress	Intel EtherExpress 16
rtl8139		RealTek RTL8129/8139 Fast Ethernet driver
pcnet32		AMD PCnet32 ethernet driver	

Commands present in the BASE floppy disk

This is /bin,/sbin,/usr/bin and /usr/sbin

bin:
agetty	  crypt       finger	  ln	   printf   shutdown  umount
ash	  date	      fqn	  load	   ps	    sleep     umssetup
-ash	  dd	      free	  login    pwd	    swapoff   umssync
basename  df	      gateway	  logname  ra	    swapon    uname
bash	  dirname     getpwd	  losetup  README   sync      uniq
-bash	  dmesg       grep	  ls	   reboot   tar       unix2dos
busybox   domainname  gunzip	  lsmod    reset    tcpmon    update
bzip2	  dos2unix    gzip	  menu	   rgrep    tee       which
cat	  echo	      halt	  mkdir    rm	    tell      xwindow
chmod	  expr	      hostname	  mkswap   rmdir    timeit    zcat
chown	  fastdd      insmod	  more	   rmmod    timeout   zless
chvt	  fdflush     kill	  mount    roclone  timex
clear	  fdformat    killall	  mv	   scan     tips
clone	  fdisk       killall5	  netstat  sed	    touch
cmp	  fgrep       less	  od	   setup    tr
cp	  file	      liloconfig  pidof    sh	    type
sbin:
chkpasswd  init  setlevel
usr/bin:
addon-wizard  e3ws	       iw	      pciprobe	      sort
adduser       edit	       keymap-wizard  peek	      stty
anacron       editor-wizard    lang-wizard    ping	      suck
apps	      eject	       less	      pion	      supermount
at	      ethconfig        lilo	      playcd	      systest
atd	      ex	       loadkeys       plog	      tail
atq	      fax	       lpq	      poke	      tcpdump
atrm	      fetchmail        lpr	      ppp	      tcpmon
awk	      file	       lprm	      pppd	      tell
banner	      find	       m4	      ppp-log	      telnet
bc	      finger	       mail	      ppp-off	      telnet2
binpatch      fmt	       man	      ppp-on	      time
browser       formail	       mawk	      pr	      tinyirc
cal	      format	       mc	      printer-wizard  traceroute
call	      ftp	       md5sum	      ps	      tty
cardmgr       ftpget	       menu	      pscan	      uniq
cdp	      gagconfig        minicom	      quark	      upgrade
cd-player     gpm	       miterm	      random	      vcm
cdrom-wizard  grep	       mixer	      rc6crypt	      vi
chat	      hdparm	       mke2fs	      readchar	      video-wizard
chroot	      help	       mkfloppy       read_until      vplay
clock	      hexd	       mkfs.ext2      redir	      vrec
connected     ifconfig	       modem-wizard   report	      vsetup
counter       ile	       mon	      rlogin	      wave
dhcpcd	      inews	       mouse-wizard   rmmod	      wc
diald	      info	       muawk	      rna	      welcome
dialog	      insmod	       mucal	      route	      whois
du	      internet-wizard  muhex	      rpost	      wizard
e3	      ip_broadcast     muless	      sendmail	      xfdisk
e3em	      ipf	       nc	      setserial       xopen
e3ne	      ipfwadm	       netled	      smbmount	      xwindow
e3pi	      ip_network       news	      sms
e3vi	      irc	       nmap	      soft-shutdown
usr/sbin:
cron	in.faxd  in.identd  in.rlogind	in.telnetd	   mugetty  run-parts
identd	in.ftpd  in.pygmy   in.seriald	in.telnetd-rustic  pygmy

Download the ISO

This rar contains the iso to run.

Download the sources

This tarball contains the BASE floppy (split in BOOT, ROOT.gz, USR.bz2) and the mulinux source tree, plus docs etc.

Download the addons

Add-ons are <1.7M. They may fit in a super-formatted 1.4M floppy disk.
I suggest you to download at least SRV and WKS, in order to have the traditional UNIX functionalities (multi-user support, etc).

  • SRV Server Extension (Samba,Smail,...)
  • WKS Workstation Extension(mutt,ssh,PGP,..)
  • X11 X Window (VGA-16,fvwm95, Afterstep, wm2)
  • VNC VNC (zip, UPX,...)
  • GCC GCC reduced (make,nasm,yacc&lex,Fortran, Pascal)
  • TCL Tcl/Tk (with a lot of demos)
  • TEX TeX typesetting system
  • PERL Perl language and libc6 support
  • EMU Wine,DosEMU
  • JVM Java Virtual Machine (Kaffe compiler,sshd)
  • NS1 Netscape Part1 (SVGA XServer)
  • NS2 Netscape Part2
Misc (optional)

You can optionally download additional kernel modules for the 2.0.36 Linux kernel, or additional misc programs for mulinux.

DOS Users Only

Download the Dos installer and tools: DOSTOOLS

MD5 Signature

cfd6ab3665fdc66b7b3b56a29a862700  DOSTOOLS.zip
4d5d158b0c61b296a1d67d54c4f278e0  EMU.tar.bz2
7e2ffba2cc7ed8b08155db2967ddbdf8  GCC.tar.bz2
104b350d892534498558b64bb01517f5  JVM.tar.bz2
aef5dc50e6df099dd71ad8233348cf04  NS1.tar.bz2
4c19fb8c5b9a02d49631c55510ead1a9  NS2.tar.bz2
39d94171103eee3e3e186252b04aecf6  PERL.tar.bz2
70e2bde6af3a905716e06a258a2b2592  SRV.tar.bz2
1ef01099658b1e198c85501ef9e3efb9  TCL.tar.bz2
ab2d459fb61af7db105cf05a9888ef5f  TEX.tar.bz2
f615bb01536ce0a0f356d91c93a8cc66  VNC.tar.bz2
d15ae8d430c08179c135a99042e1fcac  WKS.tar.bz2
1730fa1b8193dcfab3ccea3cfd080f5b  X11.tar.bz2