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Topic: 486SX with no coprocessor

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AwPhuch

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Joined: April 2004

Posted: June 06 2004,11:46

You should be able to copy over the Kernel (using same name as one from floppy and the .img file as well) and it should work.

Why not compile a "catchall" i386 Kernel, instead of a i486 Kernel?

Brian
AwPhuch

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skaos

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Posted: June 07 2004,11:13

I have tried with three diskettes (both from win and linux) and it doesn't work - I get the following message:

Loading vmlinuz ..........
Boot failed: please change disks and press a key to continue

I checked the diskettes with "badblocks -svw /dev/fd0" - two of the diskettes were ok, the last had a few bad blocks.

I have tried loadlin from a dos partition and it works: download vmlinuz, miniroot.gz, loadlin.exe and boot.bat from http://www.ipt.ntnu.no/~knutb/div/index.html in a directory on your dos partition (e.g. c:/dsl) and run boot.bat with the DSL cd in the cd drive.

And the kernel is compiled for i386.

cbagger01

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Posted: June 07 2004,16:22

See this forum thread for a possible answer:

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

skaos

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Joined: April 2004

Posted: June 09 2004,13:27

I tried cbagger01's thread-link, but still same error message.

I have tested the kernel with the "no387" boot prompt option on a 486dx with 20 MB and it works - "more /proc/cpuinfo" shows that there is no math processor (fpu). X doesn't work, maybe 20 MB isn't enough or maybe my display card is a bit "special" (Tseng ET4000w32 vesa bus). If it's lack of memory, maybe it would work with a hd-install.

I have put the files you need into an archive which you can find here: http://www.ipt.ntnu.no/~knutb/dsl/index.html

Bezda, if you're still around, other alternatives are Vector Linux 1.8 and Grey Cat Linux 3.0, or if you only have 8 MB, Basic Linux 3.21.

flatloop

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Joined: Oct. 2004

Posted: Oct. 27 2004,14:49

I did notice that this topic died some time ago, but I was wondering if I could get some finely detailed instructions as to how to make DSL work on a machine without a MathCo.

I understand that the kernel has to be recompiled to include what I would call a "mathco emulator". I think my stumbling block is the fact that I have to re-compile the kernel, so if no-one minds, I would like to ask some n00bish questions.

Are all kernels compiled the same way, independent of which distro you are running?

Can the kernel be compiled on the running system, or does it have to be done "offline" (eg. a bootdisk, or livecd)

From my reading, I've determined that the kernel does not have to be compiled on the hardware it will run on. Is this true?

Skaos, this is for you... (or anyone that knows the answer) Your solution assumes that you are running a DOS based system as well. Is there a way to copy your kernel to the HD installed DSL without DOS intervention?

I'm sorry for all the seemingly basic questions, but I think if I understand the kernel a little better, I might not be so afraid to compile one.

Thanks in advance...