Quirky 1.4
Quirky is a Linux distribution and is in the “Puppy Linux family”, also known as a “puplet”. However, Quirky is not a mainline Puppy release — it is a distinct distro in its own right.
Quirky is built with the Woof build system, as is Puppy 4.3.x and later official puppies. Quirky is my plaything, an avenue for me to try out some quirky ideas — hence the name “Quirky”.
These are few of the ideas or objectives that make Quirky different. This list is just a start, and some may be dropped and others added. Some ideas may not even have have any practical usefulness — they are just there because they are, well, quirky…
Embed the distro inside the kernel
Recent versions of the Linux kernel have the ability to embed the initramfs and the entire distro filesystem inside the kernel. That sure is one big kernel!
A distro that keeps getting smaller
Everything keeps getting bigger of course. Feature creep, inefficient coding. Puppy Linux started life as a 20MB live-CD and is now pushing 150MB in the latest betas. Quirky is currently 89MB and intends to move down with each new release.
Chroot instead of switch_root
This is a very technical thing. The initramfs will stay in existence after bootup and perform a kind of “super root” security function and ensure clean shutdown of all partitions.
Simplified module loading management
Very simple scheduling and synchronisation mechanisms for module loading to ensure all peripherals are properly recognised and made ready for use.
Quirky is also an avenue for trying out new ideas in Woof, before they make it (or not) into the other “straight” puppies.
Download link to the distribution ISO