OSE Linux v2 Notes

Hint: See the OSE Linux page for all details.

From Christian Rupp

Regarding 4 Gb limit of live linux -

It has been a while, but my understanding was that this is a technical problem, not one of availability of bigger sticks. For one, ISOs (the file format for the OS file) is in its default form limited to 4 GB. Its not impossible to surpass that, but it limits compatibility and causes problems. But there is also a limit in the compressed OS to 4 GB as well, so even if we surpass that ISO limit, you wont get above, say, 4.5 GB. Thats because the internal Structure is FAT32, which cannot contain files larger than 4 GB. As the OS is saved in a single compressed (casper) file, this has to oblidge these rules. To change that, we would need to change the fundamental working that any live USB currently follows...

From Ray Riga

Yes, I have comments...a polite rebuttal, as a matter of fact. :)

Christian is right that the FAT32 filesystem has a 4GB file size limit. But guess what? I have NOT used a FAT32 filesystem at any point in the development of OSE Linux 2.0! That's Windows talk, and I built OSE Linux 2.0 on a Linux Mint 20 workstation. Both that system and the ISO itself are using the Ext4 filesystem, which is the current de facto standard for Linux. https://opensource.com/article/18/4/ext4-filesystem

The maximum file size on Ext4 is a whopping 16TB. That is why we have a 4.6GB OSE Linux 2.0 ISO right now that works on both of our computers as well as William Neal's -- and, I posit, pretty much every 64-bit Intel/AMD PC under the sun.

If we can get sign off on this I am ready to release the public beta via torrent and the official OSE website. Although it is ready for prime-time as is, I would like to make this a "public beta" so that we can incorporate feedback from the early adopters and the first group builds where it is used.

That reminds me, OSE Linux includes an awesome program unique to Linux Mint called Warpinator that makes it incredibly easy to do file sharing among Warpinator apps on a Local Area Network. I think that will be a great app for OSE Developers during onsite collaboration! See https://www.linuxmint.com/rel_ulyana_cinnamon_whatsnew.php for more details; I will include this link in the final documentation of OSE Linux 2.0.

I have been working to gather my notes and hope to publish the documentation of my work on the OSE wiki this weekend.

Let me know the verdict regarding an 8GB device requirement. Thanks!

Ray