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Topic: HOW-TO: Dell Latitude XPi CD, Installing DSL 2.0 on a Dell Latitude

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BarkingOwl Offline

Group: Members
Posts: 17
Joined: Dec. 2005

Posted: Dec. 01 2005,19:51

These instructions detail how I installed DSL 2.0 on my Dell Latitude XPi CD M166ST. It took me a few failed attempts and numerous searches through incomplete and outdated information to get to a working installation. I hope this post will save someone some time and aggravation.

Some information in this post originated from:
-- Installation Wiki
-- Installation Notes

FYI, here are the basic specs of my laptop:
-- 166MHz
-- 2GB Hard drive
-- 80MB RAM
-- CD-ROM drive (not bootable)
-- 3.5” Floppy drive
-- It is standalone (NOT connected to a network)

Here are the steps I used to install DSL on my laptop:

1. Download and burn current.iso to CD.

2. Download and write bootfloppy.img to floppy.

3. Boot the machine using the boot floppy and CD. At the boot: prompt, type:

dsl vga=788

Later in the boot process, you will prompted for a number of selections to make.
-- For the X server, select the Xfbdev xserver
-- For the USB mouse, select no
-- For the IMPS/2 mouse, select no
-- For the mouse port, select ps2 port
-- For the mouse buttons, select 2 buttons
-- For the keyboard layout, select us

You should now be in an Xwindow session running Fluxbox.

4. Partition the hard drive. NOTE: This assumes you want to wipe out any existing data on your hard drive! Open up a “Root Access” terminal window and type:

cfdisk /dev/hda

Delete all existing partitions and create two new partitions:

-- hda1 -- Linux Swap (type 82), Size = 128MB
-- hda2 -- Linux (type 83), Size = the rest of the disk space (about 2GB)

Note that I did not double my RAM for my swap space size. Just a personal choice.

5. Reboot the machine, again with the DSL floppy disk and CD (and floppy, if necessary).

6. Activate the swap partition. Open up a “Root Access” terminal window and type:

mkswap /dev/hda1
swapon /dev/hda1

7. Execute the DSL install script. In the “Root Access” terminal window, type:

dsl-hdinstall

The script will prompt you for a number of selections.
-- For the install partitions, enter hda2
-- For install type, enter s (for standard install)
-- For multi-user logins, enter n (this will give you two accounts: root and dsl)
-- For whether to use ext3, enter n
-- Continue? Enter y
-- After the installation is complete, you will be prompted to run mkliloboot -- enter y
-- When LILO is installed, you will be prompted to reboot -- enter y
-- When the system is ready to reboot, it will prompt you to remove the CD. Remove both the CD and the floppy.

8. When the system reboots, you will be prompted to enter passwords for the root and dsl accounts (unless you elected to create multi-user logins above).

You’re done! Enjoy your Damn Small laptop.

If any of these steps requires more detail, let me know and I’ll update the post.

cbagger01

Group: Members
Posts: 4264
Joined: Oct. 2003

Posted: Dec. 03 2005,04:32

THank you for the very well written explanation.

BarkingOwl Offline

Group: Members
Posts: 17
Joined: Dec. 2005

Posted: Dec. 08 2005,17:16

My pleasure. I use a number of Linux distributions and try to give back to the community what I can. I'm not a Linux (or programming) guru, so my contributions are usually limited to some basic documentation.

Also, as an addendum to the first post: I do NOT have an external mouse connected to the laptop. I just use the built-in trackball (which works very well). Anyone using these instructions with an EXTERNAL mouse, let me know if the steps work as posted.

Cheers!

sarah

Group: Members
Posts: 73
Joined: Sep. 2005

Posted: Dec. 11 2005,09:23

Does anyone (in particular you as the author BarkingOwl) mind if this gets added to the Wiki somewhere? I don't mind doing it, but thought I'd wait a couple of days in case there's any objections.

Thank you for taking the time to write this up, because I'm sure that it will help others with machines of similar specs :o) I think I would have found it useful when I was doing battle ;o)

Cheers and beers
Sarah

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I've been told the best way to learn is to explain it to someone else in front of "experts". People who are knowledgable (and sometimes even if they're not!) on a topic will soon tell you if you're wrong, and love you for the opportunity to either show their prowess or make jokes at your expense!