DSL User wanna be

Forum: HD Install
Topic: DSL User wanna be
started by: NewDude

Posted by NewDude on Feb. 10 2006,21:43

I have a couple of quick questions.

I just downloaded DSL-2.2b.iso, does it have fdisk on it?

The pc I will attempt to install this on is an older P166 Deskpro 2000 by Compaq, with 96mb, 2.5GB HD, CD ROM.

I assume DSL will run great on this system. Will Apache run on DSL? I want to prove a point to friends that Windows 2k and XP is bloated and you can still get use out of your older systems if running this OS. I do have some experience messing with Linux, but not a lot. In the past I ran OpenLinux 2.3 and RedHat 6, I also have Fedora 4 on another one of my machines.

I also want to take my old P133 laptop later on and install DSL and give it to my son and get him use to linux and "Ween" him off Windows, just like I am doing myself.

I would like to run my web site off this P166mhz and a email server, is this possible?

Does LILO need 10mb of disk space?

Just curious, I want the install to go smooth. I am rusty on this.

What is a good network card that works well with DSL? My machine takes EISA or PCI... If it is an older card, I can get it off EBAY.

Thanks for the info.

Posted by larkl on Feb. 10 2006,22:18

See if I can help,

You can use cfdisk from the iso. You can use the monkey web server or install apache. You can serve a web site, for sure; although, I'm not sure that DSL is really the best distro if you want to serve up pages for the whole world. Others will be more versed on this. You can get a lot of info on each topic by searching the forums. Most wired NIC's will work, no problem. Most wireless will work, the amount of work involved varies. You can refer to the WIki or use the search.

Posted by NewDude on Feb. 10 2006,23:17

Thanks a lot. If I have any problems over the weekend when I start this, I will be sure to search the forum before I ask.

Thanks for your info, I am excited about getting this up and running.

Thanks again.

Posted by NewDude on Feb. 11 2006,07:27

Well, I burned the 2.2b iso to a CD-R. I popped it in that old computer, and it booted to it quickly and it worked great!!!!!

It found everything and supported all the hardware in the machine, even the sound, along with my network card, and it was on my network and I was surfing the web with FireFox.

I laughed loudly. My wife came out to the garage where I was wondering what was so funny (Have my lab computers in the garage). I explained to her that for weeks I have been trying to get Fedora 4 to see the serial mouse on this older PII machine but it wouldn't, I pulled hair trying to figure why it wasn't seeing. But yet, DSL detected it /dev/ttyS0 (COMM PORT 1) with no problems.

Of course my wife doesn't understand and the humor (Or computers really), she justs walks off saying that she married a geek.

Now my next thing will be installing it on my P166mhz machine HD (Different machine with PS/2 mouse).

I messed around with it for awhile, running it off the CD on my PII 450mhz where FEDORA 4 doesn't like the serial mouse, I am truly impressed with DSL.

Since it is such a small "Foot Print", I am seriously thinking of hosting my website on that P166mhz. When I get time tomorrow, I am going out in the garage and installing it and I am going to run some tests on it.

If this OS ends up be this easy and usable. I am going to make a donation.

Posted by cbagger01 on Feb. 11 2006,22:23

FYI,

Opera will run faster on this machine, so you might want to download it from the UCI section of the MyDSL repository.

Posted by AwPhuch on Feb. 11 2006,23:26

Yes you can run apache w/php and mysql support

Just download < XAMPP > in a persistant (/home /opt) directory and you are ready to go!

Brian
AwPhuch

Posted by NewDude on Feb. 12 2006,00:09

Thanks for the info, i might do that. I am now just starting to partition my system for HD install.

I did a test boot to cd with the P166mhz and everything worked and it even found an old NIC I had lying around that I never used because I couldn't find a driver. I really amazed with DSL. It is making life very easy.

I will keep the topic up to date as I go through the install. I appreicate everyones help and input.

Opera is a great browser. I used to use the several years ago before FireFox and it was always fast.

Posted by NewDude on Feb. 12 2006,00:18

Thanks for the info about php...

Part of my website I host on my webserver (Win2k machine) is using a PHP with mysql on the backend, so this is great news. This is going to be great. I can see it now.

My website will be running on an old P166mhz with PHP and MYSQL... I think (Not sure), since DSL has such a small foot print, I shouldn't see to much decrease in system response compared to the WIN 2k machine. Win 2k is such a resourse hog.

My website doesn't get alot of traffic, so I think it will save me money in the long run because of the money I spend to keep on my WIN2k server all the time(Power wise). My WIN2K machine is a Dell PowerEdge server DUAL processor with 4 SCSI HD's in it. Although I use it for a lot of other things, it is over kill to keep it up 24 hours a day just to host my website and my MYSQL DB, and my email server.

The p166mhz will save money on energy bills in the long run.

Thanks again for the input, everyone so far on this forum has been helpful.

Posted by NewDude on Feb. 12 2006,00:21

One more question: How good does SAMBA run on DSL? I am hoping to share files between Windows and DSL.

Posted by NewDude on Feb. 12 2006,03:12

Hey fellow DSL users,

The install went great. I did a frugal... It is running off the HD now totally... surfing the net and everything. It was easy..

OK...I DID thought have one problem. My PS2 mouse doesn't work with the hard drive install, but worked fine booting off the CD.

Can someone point me to what I need to do so my system will see the ps/2 mouse. It must be an easy fix. Either way, I am happy. The install went easy... almost to easy. Hopefully the mouse fix will be easy to.

Another thing, I think I made my swap to big. I have 96mb ram on this machine, but I made the swap 250... I am looking at the
system info in the upper right hand of the screen and the only ram used is 22mb, 0mb on the swap... I am really happy with this DSL. It is so low on resourses, it is amazing.

Posted by larkl on Feb. 12 2006,12:49

Congrats on the continued success. My Knoppix Pocket Reference says that booting with the code

Code Sample

pci=irqmask=0x0e98

might help a PS2 mouse to work. Not sure if it'll help, but might be worth a shot. I haven't done Samba on DSL but I used it with FeatherLinux on a 133MHz pentium with 32M of Ram., so I think it's OK.

Posted by NewDude on Feb. 12 2006,22:05

Thanks larkl..

where do I exactly put that line to help fix the PS/2 mouse problem?

I am still a fairly new user to Linux in general and still getting use to all the config files.

Posted by NewDude on Feb. 13 2006,02:55

larkl

hey, not sure what I did... I read a few other posts about people having mouse problems, I booted to DSL, I did a ctrl-alt-backspace to turn off x, and did a run of xsetup command was xsetup.sh

I ran the setup again and rebooted, and it worked!!!! YAH!!!!!!

I am happy... I am going to take the time over the next couple of weeks to setup apache, php, mysql, and move my website to this DSL 2.2b machine.

Thanks larkl and everyone else for crossing their fingers....

I will be posting again letting you all know how this goes and I will probably have questions. This former Windows user/programmer is going to learn DSL. I will be writing native DSL code within 2 to 6 weeks.

Can anyone tell me about the DSL 2.1 Book that is advertized for $24.95? Does it cover just installing or more? Please let me know, I am thinking of buying it.