[Discuss] Light Linux Distro for VM usage

[tmetro-blu at vl.com (Tom Metro)]

Bill Bogstad wrote:
> It sounds to me like he wants a VM guest optimized as a web browsing
> kiosk.

You'd think this would be a common enough need that there would be a
kiosk "appliance" among the choices at Turnkey Linux:

http://www.turnkeylinux.org/all


> ...I'm not aware of any distribution optimized for that...

If you stretch your definition of Linux distribution a bit, there is
Chrome OS, Android, and Mozilla's recent project to build a
browser-centric OS.

Each of these would be very efficient on resources, given their intended
platforms. Chrome OS might be the least effort to install.

If your needs venture beyond a web browser to other desktop apps, any of
these might be a poor choice.


> One thing to try might be to start with a minimal server
> install of a distribution that also does desktops well and attempt to
> install your browser of choice via package management.   If
> dependencies are done right, you should end up with a fairly minimal
> footprint compared to a full desktop install.
> 
> Unfortunately, that's not the hands off, single install that Aldo
> apparently wants.

True, though in theory you could start with Ubuntu's JeOS, and install a
GUI web browser and let the cascading dependencies take it from there.

The Turnkey guys have a version of JeOS packaged as a VM appliance:
http://www.turnkeylinux.org/bootstrap

I'm not sure what the advantage would be to using that rather than what
you'd get directly from Canonical.

 -Tom

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Tom Metro
Venture Logic, Newton, MA, USA
"Enterprise solutions through open source."
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