Hi!
> My questions are: How does monkey linux do this? What are the pros and cons?
> And can any of the major distributions do this?
If I recall well Slackware presented first UMSDOS. UMSDOS is an
interesting aproach of Linux: it lets you install Linux at (almost) full
power on FAT instead of EXT/EXT2.
Monkey Linux is just another small distribution - there are several at
sunsite. I had it some time ago, just for fun. Some say this is the
best way to get started with Linux. Because you don't have to make a
new partition and it's somehow easier to handle/install linux than using
those boot and root disks.
Talking about how it works: that's relatively easy. UMSDOS is an
enhance to the standard dos FAT. How does it add the long file-names
and the file permissions? By adding a file -linux-.--- in each
directory which stores these informations.
As far as I can see pros are: easier to install because you don't have
to work with the partition table. I don't see the use of fdisk as
dangerous - so far I didn't have any problems - but it is a powerfull
tool and a mistake can lead to lots of hours of recovery work. Than
UMSDOS projects require less disk space.
Cons: under dos/win anybody can interfere with the linux part. So you
don't have any security. You can lose the file permisions and the long
file names if anybody getts smart and removes those -linux-.--- files.
Than, there are the disadvantages that come with using FAT: even if you
have a 1 bit of data that you want to store in a file the real size will
be that of the allocation unit (4/16/32/64 K) while ext2 makes sure that
file occupies no more than 1K.
I'd say it's interesting to have it if you have some free space on your
dos partition. But only at the beginning. And it can come handy when
it comes to install Linux in it's own partition. Also it's good at the
begining because let's face it: Linux is not for all. And while you
have to dedicate some time to make all like they were before when you
put Linux in it's own partition, with UMSDOS uninstalling Linux is just
deleting recursively that \linux directory.
I belive there is a UMSDOS-HOWTO.
Raider
--
``Liberate tu-temet ex inferis''
