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mentalnet-gnu-linux/README.md

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Mentalnet GNU/Linux

A light, TTY-only GNU/Linux distribution for 90s Intel Pentium-class (i586) machines, built with Buildroot.

Mentalnet GNU/Linux — Modern GNU/Linux for Legacy i586 Pentiums

The ISO is a live CD: the entire system runs from the CD with a read-only root filesystem, and the same CD carries a built-in hard disk installer (mentalnet-install).

Current release

R1 "FirstStorm" — named after DECO*27's Chūlán First Storm (初嵐～First Storm～).

Versioning

  • Major releases bump the R<n> number (R1, R2, ...).
  • Minor releases keep the R<n> base version and use the codename as the minor version.
  • All codenames are taken from Vocaloid, Hatsune Miku or Kasane Teto songs.
Release Codename Song Notes
R1 Mesmerizer Mesmerizer — 32ki (Hatsune Miku & Kasane Teto) Initial release
R1 FirstStorm Chūlán First Storm (初嵐～First Storm～) — DECO*27 Current — swap-free installer, true i586 support, terminal/input hardening, interrupt-storm fixes

Quick facts
Login root / mnlinux
Hostname mentalnet
Kernel 6.12.104-mentalnet-intel32
Media Live CD with built-in installer
CPU i586 (Pentium / Pentium MMX) or any newer x86
RAM 128 MB minimum (64 MB usually works)

Security after install

The default root password is mnlinux — please change it after installing:

passwd

Then, for day-to-day use, create a regular user and give it sudo privileges (sudo is included in the build):

adduser myuser

You have two options to grant sudo:

  • Add the user to the sudo group, which the shipped sudoers file already trusts:

    addgroup myuser sudo

  • Or, if you prefer the classic wheel group, enable it with visudo (uncomment the %wheel line) and add the user to it:

    visudo
addgroup myuser wheel

Verify that sudo works for the new user before locking root — log in as the user and run, for example, sudo ls /.

Once sudo is confirmed working, lock the root account so it cannot be accessed (SSH included):

passwd -l root

Documentation

The full install and test guide — hardware requirements, QEMU testing, the install walkthrough and troubleshooting — lives in board/mentalnet/INSTALL-GUIDE.md.