New to GC Dev... barrage of questions!

Please stand by, volume of questions incoming:

Hello, I'm new to this list, and this project.  I have a little system 
I've been working on for a while.  I wanted a "client" running on the 
television set, preferable running on a video game console.

I saw the GC-Linux project, and thought... WOW.  That's what I need.

And I proceeded to read the entire wiki and a large volume of your 
mailing list.

But I have quite a few questions, some of which I might have missed in 
the Wiki or the Mailing List.

Also, I'm waiting for the last piece of my hardware to come in so I can 
tinker... until then I simply must question and think :D

Here's the questions:

* I've read two different answers about creating cubeboot-tools-0.2 
bootdiscs.  I've heard that booting from this type of disc requires a 
chipmod that causes the IPL to load the software from the disc.  I've 
also heard that the regular Gamecube IPL can boot from a cubeboot disc 
without a patched IPL chipmod, but that the disc has to be organised in 
a special way.  I'd prefer to NOT mod the development cube I have (It's 
my roommate's, and I'd lose a good friend if I made a mistake), so I'm 
currently going to use SDload.  But I would like to be able to make 
bootdiscs, in the future, to have other friends "beta test" the software 
(without modding their cube), hence my question.

* I've read that the ARAM can be used as Swap.  Can the 
Linux-On-Gamecube play sound on the Gamecube?  Can ARAM be split between 
swap and audio?

* Is it possible to run Gamecube Linux without the overhead of having to 
have NFS partitions on a separate host?  Is it possible to have all the 
information needed on the bootmedia?


I am hoping to put togeather a minimalist "Linux Gamecube Runtime 
Environment" that has

Kernel + Stackless Python + SDL (plus dependencies, etc)

I would be making a Python package that would allow programs to access 
the gamecube hardware, so support would be needed for:

Broadband + Memory Cards + Controllers + Sound + Graphics
(Which I think I read are all supported by GC Linux)

With the ultimate dream of having a basic system that would allow a 
homebrew developer to write programs using either C++ or Python on the 
Gamecube using standalone Gamecube hardware without requiring extra 
hardware (except for whatever would be needed to boot their software).

I was thinking something along the lines of the "one floppy" linux 
distros.  Something small with just the minimums required to get the 
cube to boot, then I could add as I required.  Or perhaps that would be 
too much effort for not enough gain...

Again, excited to find this project, and I hope to actually help out as 
I figure out what is going on!

Thanks!

-- 
   +----+       Shawn Boles        +------+/
  /(  )/|     "Chief Engineer"     |     \/
+----+ +      AutoDMC Labs        |Cert. |
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+----+   [email protected]  +------+


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