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Topic: DSL on Pentium 1, Couple of questions

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cooler

Group: Members
Posts: 7
Joined: Jan. 2005

Posted: Jan. 14 2005,20:34

Hello!

I've got a couple of questions. I've been reading about DSL, and so far it all sounds great.

but since I'm new with this I have some questions that might seem stupid, but please try to understand.

OK, so I have this old machine that does nothing right now, Pentium 1, 200MHz, 3 GB HD, 32 MB RAM, it's currently running Win98. Got no Internet capabilities.

If I understand the DSL concept correctly, if I have the ISO file on a CD, I could just boot it off the CD, right?
It shouldn't matter that it's got 98 on there, right? I would like to leave the 98 untouched, but still be able to use Linux without alll the hassle.
So I should be able to start the machine under 98, pop the CD in, and it would start DSL?
If it's booting off the CD, I presume I don't need to make any changes to the HD setup, no dual booting or anything, unless I do a HD installation. Am I correct on this?
Can I save files that I create in DSL on the HD?
If I want to use some other apps with DSL, do they need to be on the same CD as the DSL ISO?

Well, that's it for the beginning. I hope you don't mind me asking so many questions, I just want to make sure that I have the right idea of how things work before I start doing anything specific.

Thanks a lot.

AwPhuch

Group: Members
Posts: 1404
Joined: April 2004

Posted: Jan. 14 2005,20:56

Quote (cooler @ Jan. 14 2005,15:34)

Hello!

I've got a couple of questions. I've been reading about DSL, and so far it all sounds great.

Yes to everything, but this

Quote

So I should be able to start the machine under 98, pop the CD in, and it would start DSL?

(thats imbedded adn 32Megs of ram isnt enuff!)

If you have an internal CDROM in that laptop it will boot, not even use the HD

Since you are using win98 its fat32, which DSL can Read/Write

Good luck!

Brian
AwPhuch

--------------
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./S99LinuxRevolution start

libretto

Group: Members
Posts: 336
Joined: Oct. 2003

Posted: Jan. 14 2005,20:58

Not sure how DSL will run on those specs, someone else should know.

Your three first questions appear valid and correct (I'm no linux guru BTW).

As for saving files onto the HDD, if your HDD or partitions are formatted to FAT16 or 32, there should be no problem accessing them whilst in DSL. Just be careful you don't delete anythig important! I have had dual boot HD installs before with my music/videos in a sepearte partition, so that I can play them from either OS :cool:

If you want to add apps to DSL, as you have no internet connection on that machine. You could:

- Download programs (see the expanding mydsl repositry) on another machine and put them in a directory on the HDD. (Transfer between machines using your favourite method or transplanting HDDS if your desperate)
- Same as above but burn them onto a CD, then run DSL in RAM so it frees up the cdrom drive for music etc...
- Remaster the DSL CD to contain the programs.

A good search of the foruns will bring fruitful answers to the above and more. I know it helped me alot!

HTH and good luck!

--------------
Small Radio, Small Laptop, DSL Linux

cooler

Group: Members
Posts: 7
Joined: Jan. 2005

Posted: Jan. 14 2005,21:03

Thanks for the replies, guys.

AwPhuch, so if I can't run it while running win98 because of RAM, is there anything I can do except partitioning the HDD and doing a HDD install or deinstalling win98?

Thanks again.

clivesay

Group: Guests
Posts: 935
Joined: Dec. 2003

Posted: Jan. 14 2005,21:19

cooler -

think of it this way.....

After you burn the ISO to a bootable CD you place the CD in the PC and boot up the CD to DSL. (Make sure your bios is set to boot from CD before the HD). You are now running the DSL operating system from the CD. It is not even touching your HD. If you create a document or install an app, it is stored in your RAM. If you shut off the PC, you lose anything you have created. If you want to save something to your computer HD you would "mount" the drive and that would let you either retrieve data from your HD or save the things you have created in DSL to the HD (As long as the HD is formatted with Fat32 or 16)

How do you mount you say?

There is a desktop program to do this but so you see what you are doing I recommend opening the "emelfm" filemanager on the desktop. You will see two panes. On the right side look for the folder "mnt". Double click on it and you should see something like hda1, hda5, etc.

Each of the hda numbers are a partition on your HD. If you only have one partition you will probably only see Hda1. Right click on hda1 and select 'Mount" from the menu. Now you will be viewing the contents of your "C:\" drive. From there you can copy to and from the HD if your HD is formatted as we have said before.

If you look back on the desktop in the right corner there is a little program called mount.app. It is usually defaulted to "Floppy". If you click on the arrows is will show you all the storage devices on your machine. You will notice that when you get to hda1 there will be a green line. That indicates that the drive is mounted. To unmount hda1, just click on the green slit and that's it. If you wanted to remount the drive, just click on it again and it turns back to green and the drive is mounted!!

I hope this helps you get started.

Chris

4 replies since Jan. 14 2005,20:34

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Damn Small Linux Board » Damn Small Linux » Other Help Topics » DSL on Pentium 1