User Feedback :: Running on old laptop - 80mb of ram!

So, I have been a fan of DSL for a long time, seen it get upgraded many times. I distinctly remember one time booting it and getting all sorts of crazy colors, trying to get it to work and probably not caring enough to fix it. Recently I tried it on the same machine with the most recent version and everything worked automatically: Video, sound, network, etc. I was pretty excited.

I was recently given a Compaq Armada 4131T, currently running Windoze 98 (actually, it runs pretty smoothly) on a 3gig drive with 80mb of ram and a 133mhz processor. This thing is so old that it has no USB, no CD (and no slot for one either!), no integrated network/modem/anything, and a floppy drive that is on the fritz. So, I did what anybody with an old laptop would do: Try to run Linux! Specifically, DSL!

Eventually I did get it running, I am still unsure of myself with all the specifics, but here is what I did (I think this is called the "poormans" install?):

I made the boot floppy using the floppy.img online, copied the /KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX to /hda1/KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX, copied the /boot/isolinux/* to /hda1/boot/isolinux/* and rebooted on the floppy.

Initially I got some hanging errors, but this could be because I got impatient and started pressing random buttons.

It boots fine right now. One thing missing is the stinking network card: I am using a 3Com Megahertz 574 pcmcia network card and it does not work. Neither does the modem plugged in either. I am moving to a location with a free wireless network, so I will be purchasing a wireless card and don't need to get this one working.

I have been fooling around with the "grub for dos 0.4.1", trying to see if I can ditch the floppy. I am hesitant to get rid of Win98 because it is the only way I can get online right now. When I can get online with DSL, I am planning on doing an install. It is slow going right now, because I have been raised on Windoze for so long and had to learn a lot of the commands/programs. Right now I am trying to understand what the initrd command is all about: It keeps saying "kernel panic ... try using the init command" or something. That is a topic for another thread and another time: I am moving tomorrow so I won't have time to fool with it for a while.

Just wanted to post a success story, even though it is only partially done. I really do love DSL, it is so blazing fast, even on a machine this slow it is ridiculously fast. I eventually want to top out the RAM so I can boot the toram option, but that will have to wait!

Thanks, guys, for all the work you do! Thanks, everybody on the forum, for all your help: I have read a lot of it and got much help already.

80mb is enough for booting text mode toram

so if you want to feel that awesome blazing speed, try it (boot with "dsl 2 toram")

I used to own an old Compaq lappy from 1996, and older DSL versions worked efficiently on that one, with only a 1.8GB hard disk and 72MB EDO DRAM, even running XVesa. Impressive, to say the least.

Now, it runs on my more modern HP Pavilion xt125 with 640MB DDR SDRAM and a 20GB drive. I still prefer either DSL or Ubuntu.

I used to run crappy old Mandrake 7.1 on a 1GHz 256MB eMachines PC, and not only was it painfully slow, but dependency hell permanently turned me away.

Quote (curaga @ Aug. 08 2007,20:31)

80mb is enough for booting text mode toram

With a HD installation (debian-type) you´ll need even less memory.
My Toshiba Libretto 100 has only 64 MB

I've used DSL HD install with 16mb ram, with X!

Next Page...
original here.