I have dug up an old 386sx25 with 4MB RAM and a 100 MB HD. I would like to get this system up and running.... with Linux of course. The problem seems to be finding a package that will actually run on the silly thing. I have yet to be able to boot a SuSE Linux floppy on it.... of course, chekcing the boxes ofthe various 7.x versions I have tells me that a 386 is out of the question. The ultimate goal of this machine is for it to be a simple play machine with basic ethernet/internet access. I would like to get one of the simple WMs running and a simple web browser as well, but this is not a must have.... more of a challenge once I get an OS installed. So... any suggestions? FreeBSD, RedHat, SuSE, Mandrake, Slackware etc all seem to have system requirements beyond the humble hardware of this machine. Am I stuck with loading DOS6.22 and Windows 3.11 <shudder>? C.
On April 7, 2002 06:56 am, Clayton Cornell wrote:
I have dug up an old 386sx25 with 4MB RAM and a 100 MB HD. I would like to get this system up and running.... with Linux of course. The problem seems to be finding a package that will actually run on the silly thing. I have yet to be able to boot a SuSE Linux floppy on it.... of course, chekcing the boxes ofthe various 7.x versions I have tells me that a 386 is out of the question.
The ultimate goal of this machine is for it to be a simple play machine with basic ethernet/internet access. I would like to get one of the simple WMs running and a simple web browser as well, but this is not a must have.... more of a challenge once I get an OS installed.
So... any suggestions? FreeBSD, RedHat, SuSE, Mandrake, Slackware etc all seem to have system requirements beyond the humble hardware of this machine. Am I stuck with loading DOS6.22 and Windows 3.11 <shudder>?
How much work are you willing to do? The easiest would be to find an old copy of SuSE. I bet 6.0 and before might work. The next step would be to start with one of the router based packages [which will be more upto date] and then add in the other things you need. The final way would be to roll it all yourself. Nick
On April 7, 2002 06:56 am, Clayton Cornell wrote:
I have dug up an old 386sx25 with 4MB RAM and a 100 MB HD. I would like to get this system up and running.... with Linux of course. The problem seems to be finding a package that will actually run on the silly thing. I have yet to be able to boot a SuSE Linux floppy on it.... of course, chekcing the boxes ofthe various 7.x versions I have tells me that a 386 is out of the question.
The ultimate goal of this machine is for it to be a simple play machine with basic ethernet/internet access. I would like to get one of the simple WMs running and a simple web browser as well, but this is not a must have.... more of a challenge once I get an OS installed.
So... any suggestions? FreeBSD, RedHat, SuSE, Mandrake, Slackware etc all seem to have system requirements beyond the humble hardware of this machine. Am I stuck with loading DOS6.22 and Windows 3.11 <shudder>?
How much work are you willing to do? The easiest would be to find an old copy of SuSE. I bet 6.0 and before might work. The next step would be to start with one of the router based packages [which will be more upto date] and then add in the other things you need. The final way would be to roll it all yourself.
Nick Hello I've had much success with SuSE 6.4 on old machines.I'm mostly sure
On Sunday 07 April 2002 05:21, Nick Zentena wrote: this is legal,Give me your address off the list and I'll send you a copy if you like or maybe the SuSE website will have it,too. Good Luck
On Sunday 07 April 2002 18:27, rev rob wrote:
Hello I've had much success with SuSE 6.4 on old machines.I'm mostly sure this is legal,Give me your address off the list and I'll send you a copy if you like or maybe the SuSE website will have it,too. Good Luck
Hmmmm thanks for the reminder.... I actually have a backup copy of SuSE6.4 - had to dig it out of my archive (a cardboard box in the back cupboard). I gave away my originals a few months ago and totally forgot about the copy. Good thing I didn't toast the backup copy. I also found a copy of Corel Linux 1.0 in the same archive... err umm cardboard box. Only one minor problem. Gotta find a way to make the boot floppies.... and find an old CDROM drive I can install. I could take the one out of my Smoothwall router. Did you have to do any significant tweaking to boot the 6.4 kernel, or should I be able to use the stock 6.4 kernel, and YaST1 to install? C.
On Sunday 07 April 2002 10:37, Clayton Cornell wrote:
On Sunday 07 April 2002 18:27, rev rob wrote:
Hello I've had much success with SuSE 6.4 on old machines.I'm mostly sure this is legal,Give me your address off the list and I'll send you a copy if you like or maybe the SuSE website will have it,too. Good Luck
Hmmmm thanks for the reminder.... I actually have a backup copy of SuSE6.4 - had to dig it out of my archive (a cardboard box in the back cupboard). I gave away my originals a few months ago and totally forgot about the copy. Good thing I didn't toast the backup copy. I also found a copy of Corel Linux 1.0 in the same archive... err umm cardboard box.
Only one minor problem. Gotta find a way to make the boot floppies.... and find an old CDROM drive I can install. I could take the one out of my Smoothwall router.
Did you have to do any significant tweaking to boot the 6.4 kernel, or should I be able to use the stock 6.4 kernel, and YaST1 to install?
C. Stock kernel and YAST should be fine. Keep me posted of your progress
Wow, lots of interesting replies on this question. So far no sucess booting olderversions of Linux. I almost got SuSE6.4 to start up. It chokes on uncompressing the Ramdrive image. It actually runs along reasonably fast until then... and then just stops completely. I took a look at some of the other suggestions... SmallLinux is a serious "roll your own" package. I looked around for BeOS, but since they have gone the way of the Dodo, there is not much out there. I did find some ftp sites hosting the last couple versions, but the HW requiements were way beyond the 386. I know the RAM is low, but there is not much option to increase it... trying to find 30pin SIMS is like trying to find SIPS for your old 286.... although, the local computer fair is in town this coming weekend, and they sell old RAM by the 1 KG bags for cheap. There might be some 2MB or even 4MB modules in one of the bags... I'll keep poking around... and if I manage anything interesting I'll post the results if anyone is still interested... what version I actually manage to install etc. C. On Monday 08 April 2002 01:45, rev rob wrote:
On Sunday 07 April 2002 10:37, Clayton Cornell wrote:
On Sunday 07 April 2002 18:27, rev rob wrote:
Hello I've had much success with SuSE 6.4 on old machines.I'm mostly sure this is legal,Give me your address off the list and I'll send you a copy if you like or maybe the SuSE website will have it,too. Good Luck
Hmmmm thanks for the reminder.... I actually have a backup copy of SuSE6.4 - had to dig it out of my archive (a cardboard box in the back cupboard). I gave away my originals a few months ago and totally forgot about the copy. Good thing I didn't toast the backup copy. I also found a copy of Corel Linux 1.0 in the same archive... err umm cardboard box.
Only one minor problem. Gotta find a way to make the boot floppies.... and find an old CDROM drive I can install. I could take the one out of my Smoothwall router.
Did you have to do any significant tweaking to boot the 6.4 kernel, or should I be able to use the stock 6.4 kernel, and YaST1 to install?
C.
Stock kernel and YAST should be fine. Keep me posted of your progress
On Monday 08 April 2002 13:34, Clayton Cornell wrote:
Wow, lots of interesting replies on this question. So far no sucess booting olderversions of Linux. I almost got SuSE6.4 to start up. It chokes on uncompressing the Ramdrive image. It actually runs along reasonably fast until then... and then just stops completely.
I took a look at some of the other suggestions... SmallLinux is a serious "roll your own" package.
I looked around for BeOS, but since they have gone the way of the Dodo, there is not much out there. I did find some ftp sites hosting the last couple versions, but the HW requiements were way beyond the 386.
I know the RAM is low, but there is not much option to increase it... trying to find 30pin SIMS is like trying to find SIPS for your old 286.... although, the local computer fair is in town this coming weekend, and they sell old RAM by the 1 KG bags for cheap. There might be some 2MB or even 4MB modules in one of the bags...
I've got some old 30 pin simms,you can have them.Write me off the list,if interested. cheers
Success! Well sort of.. I went looking for Linux disribs based on the search ideas people suggested. I found BasicLinux and installed it. It is designed for an 8MB system, but has a HD install option for systems with 4MB or less. The install is easy. You repartition your disk into a small hda1 as fat16 and install DOS onto that partition. Unzip the Basic Linux zip files, build a root floppy, and run install.bat. Answer some basic questions, and in a few minutes it builds a complete, but basic Linux install. I have to say I am impressed. BasicLinux is Slackware based, and you can install any Slackware package including X and a basic WM. Wonder how it will manage X and a basic WM. C.
Maybe put the HD in another box, and build a LFS system on it, then place it back in the 386. http://www.linuxfromscratch.org Good luck! McTrex -----Original Message----- From: Clayton Cornell [mailto:c.cornell@chello.nl] Sent: zondag 7 april 2002 12:56 To: SuSE Subject: [SLE] old hardware question I have dug up an old 386sx25 with 4MB RAM and a 100 MB HD. I would like to get this system up and running.... with Linux of course. The problem seems to be finding a package that will actually run on the silly thing. I have yet to be able to boot a SuSE Linux floppy on it.... of course, chekcing the boxes ofthe various 7.x versions I have tells me that a 386 is out of the question. The ultimate goal of this machine is for it to be a simple play machine with basic ethernet/internet access. I would like to get one of the simple WMs running and a simple web browser as well, but this is not a must have.... more of a challenge once I get an OS installed. So... any suggestions? FreeBSD, RedHat, SuSE, Mandrake, Slackware etc all seem to have system requirements beyond the humble hardware of this machine. Am I stuck with loading DOS6.22 and Windows 3.11 <shudder>? C. -- To unsubscribe send e-mail to suse-linux-e-unsubscribe@suse.com For additional commands send e-mail to suse-linux-e-help@suse.com Also check the archives at http://lists.suse.com
On Sun, 7 Apr 2002 12:56:17 +0200
Clayton Cornell
I have dug up an old 386sx25 with 4MB RAM and a 100 MB HD. I would like to get this system up and running.... with Linux of course. The problem seems to be finding a package that will actually run on the silly thing. I
4MB RAM is too little for today's Linux and *BSD distributions, you'll need to increase the RAM. If you don't use X Windows a minimal system will fit on the hard drive. I remember however running a LFS (before there was such an acronym) Linux kernel 0.95 and 0.99 system on a 386sx16 with 4 megs of RAM and a 40 meg HD. I even compiled the aforementioned early kernels; though it took most of the day to do it. I remember around the same time Slackware just starting, maybe Slackware with only a few neccesary non-X packages, as sacriligious as saying that on this list might be :-), might be the right thing for a 386sx25 with minimal hardware. (Though, again, I wouldn't expect it to be practical unless you increase the RAM.)
Some time ago I had a version of BEOS that would run off a floppy, and access the internet using a GUI! I think the BE people went under, but somewhere I may still have the source code for it, and if so, I will send it. (You could make the floppy from the source using Windows, iirc. Maybe from Linux, don't know.) I also don't remember if it would run on a 386, but I was pretty impressed with it. At 12:56 04/07/2002 +0200, Clayton Cornell wrote:
I have dug up an old 386sx25 with 4MB RAM and a 100 MB HD. I would like to get this system up and running.... with Linux of course. The problem seems to be finding a package that will actually run on the silly thing. I have yet to be able to boot a SuSE Linux floppy on it.... of course, chekcing the boxes ofthe various 7.x versions I have tells me that a 386 is out of the question.
The ultimate goal of this machine is for it to be a simple play machine with basic ethernet/internet access. I would like to get one of the simple WMs running and a simple web browser as well, but this is not a must have.... more of a challenge once I get an OS installed.
So... any suggestions? FreeBSD, RedHat, SuSE, Mandrake, Slackware etc all seem to have system requirements beyond the humble hardware of this machine. Am I stuck with loading DOS6.22 and Windows 3.11 <shudder>?
C.
-- To unsubscribe send e-mail to suse-linux-e-unsubscribe@suse.com For additional commands send e-mail to suse-linux-e-help@suse.com
Also check the archives at http://lists.suse.com
C., have you tried Small Linux?
From the Small Linux FAQ: "Q: What is Small Linux?
A: Small Linux is a partial distribution of the Linux kernel and support files that can boot on older x86 systems with less than 5 meg of ram memory." I have not used it myself, but here is a link to their website: http://www.superant.com/smalllinux/ Mike Reith On Sunday 07 April 2002 03:56, Clayton Cornell wrote:
I have dug up an old 386sx25 with 4MB RAM and a 100 MB HD. I would like to get this system up and running.... with Linux of course. The problem seems to be finding a package that will actually run on the silly thing. I have yet to be able to boot a SuSE Linux floppy on it.... of course, chekcing the boxes ofthe various 7.x versions I have tells me that a 386 is out of the question.
The ultimate goal of this machine is for it to be a simple play machine with basic ethernet/internet access. I would like to get one of the simple WMs running and a simple web browser as well, but this is not a must have.... more of a challenge once I get an OS installed.
So... any suggestions? FreeBSD, RedHat, SuSE, Mandrake, Slackware etc all seem to have system requirements beyond the humble hardware of this machine. Am I stuck with loading DOS6.22 and Windows 3.11 <shudder>?
C.
-- "The best way to get yourself a reputation as a dangerous citizen is to go about repeating the very phrases which our founding fathers used in the struggle for independence." - Charles Austin Beard "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve and receive neither liberty nor safety..." - Benjamin Franklin
participants (7)
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Clayton Cornell -
Doug McGarrett -
Joshua Lee -
Marco Teeuwen -
Mike Reith -
Nick Zentena -
rev rob