Laptops :: Swap File on boot



Hey, i think i havent been here for like 5 months, so im suprised my account is still acive, but on to business:

at last encounter i found that X wouldnt start on my laptop due to low memory, i only have 16Mb, will a swap file help with this?

if so, how do i create one? and can it be dont on a FAT 16 partition without killing its current contents? if not it doesnt matter... i do have a 70Mb partition that can be sacrificed to the cause

the problem is that i cant get into X in the first place, so would need the command to do it on boot, at current it is setup with a poor mans install (i insert a boot floppy and run it that way)

what would be the easiest way to create the partition?

i plan to create the swap file, and if it is succesful in getting DSL to work, i will be promptly going to a full hdd install

thanks
/walnut
On newer versions of DSL, there is a menu item, Main Menu -> System -> Setup DOS Swapfile

Give it a try.
hmm, is that AFTER you get the GUI? because, at the moment, i dont really get it to run even long enough to do that

and i can get the files to the hdd for the newer version , its not on the internet, and i dont have the PCMCIA cdrom drive that i used to get the files there in the first place :(

the only reason it doesnt have net access, is becuase it doesnt seem to like DHCP, i dont think that the NIC is installed properly, i couldnt get the right driver for it, so it is kinda running on a dodge job, i cant get win95 to run webpages properly, and it never seems to load a lot of them...

would a hdd install be "succesful" in only 75Mb of space? seeing as the image i have is only 50Mb, and i can make the other 25Mb swap space in the partitioning bit cant i?  so i could technically boot from the floppy, locate the knoppix file.. then issue the

knoppix /tohda2

command.... would this work? i could then partition, mount and install...

/walnut
Hmm... that is a problem, isn't it.

I am not using DSL at the moment, but one way to run the script is to open up your fluxbox menu file with a text editor like:

nano /home/dsl/.fluxbox/menu

and look for the above-mentioned script menu item and see what is the command syntax.  My guess is that it is something like mkdosswapfile or something.

Or you can do it yourself:

http://damnsmalllinux.org/cgi-bin....1;st=20

http://damnsmalllinux.org/cgi-bin....wapfile

As for the hdd install, you can't fit a full hd install in 75MB of space.  However, you can fit a frugal or poorman's install in there.

To boot with less resources, try this boot command:

dsl base noicons vga=normal xsetup

and then choose a low resolution like 800x600 16 bit.

Lastly, if you can't even start up the GUI because of your available RAM, my advice is to either buy more RAM or try another distro/OS.

It is no fun to have your computer swapping all of the time just to get the window system started.


An alternative might be Basic Linux.

It works well on old, extremely low RAM systems.
People have reported using DSL ok on 16mb.  
As well as swap file, you can help, I think, by making a dedicated linux swap partition.  In your case, at least 32MB (try 40MB).  This is recommended by DSL if I remember correctly
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