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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.
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 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.
MuLinux is licensed under GPL, the General Public License from GNU.
- 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.
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
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
This rar contains the iso to run.
This tarball contains the BASE floppy (split in BOOT, ROOT.gz, USR.bz2) and the mulinux source tree, plus docs etc.
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
You can optionally download additional kernel modules for the 2.0.36 Linux kernel, or additional misc programs for mulinux.
Download the Dos installer and tools: DOSTOOLS
UMSDOS (Unix-like File System for DOS) is a filesystem driver that allows Unix-like operating systems, such as Linux, to be run on top of MS-DOS or Windows 9x systems. It was developed to facilitate the use of Linux on systems where a native Linux partition was not feasible. UMSDOS achieves this by using the existing FAT (File Allocation Table) filesystem while providing Unix filesystem features such as long filenames, file permissions, and symbolic links. This enables users to install and run Linux without repartitioning their hard drives. Although UMSDOS was popular in the early days of Linux, it has largely been superseded by more modern filesystems and installation methods.
For pure DOS computers, you can use the bare zip archive
c:\> pkunzip mu13r2.zip
As usual, if your system supports loadlin.exe, you can run muLinux
from Win/DOS with:
c:\> cd c:\linux
c:\> linux.bat
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