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Topic: Questions about DSL and a REALLY Old Laptop

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Goober

Group: Members
Posts: 21
Joined: Sep. 2005

Posted: Sep. 17 2005,15:36

Huh, that's a coincidence. The one I am getting is supposed to have Windows 98 installed, so I have serious questions as to how well Win98 runs on something, well, this old. Yours has a small HDD but less RAM

That extra 4 Mb of RAM might be the different bewtween DSL and no DSL for me, lol.

I have Ubuntu on my Desktop, but I am 100% sure that it won't work on this Laptop. Simply too big. And ya, best way to learn about Linux, for me, was to pop in my Ubuntu CD I got for free somewhere. Of course, at the time, some nasty virus or something had consumed my MBR for Lunch, so XP didn't work, so I didn't have a choice, but that's besides the point. Anyway, I'm getting it on monday, let's keep each other Updated!

palloco

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Posts: 19
Joined: Sep. 2005

Posted: Sep. 17 2005,16:30

W98SE ran fine on a 486 DX4 75 Mhz with 16 Mb RAM. It needed 200 Mb but you can reduce it a lot by erasing unnecesary components

davide

Group: Members
Posts: 265
Joined: Sep. 2003

Posted: Sep. 17 2005,21:46

you can try using dsl or puppylinux, as for linux distributions.
there are more lightweight distributions, but if you want to have a distro that looks like win, then you cannot use a text based distribution.
with 12M ram I don't really think you'll be able to use win98. As for dsl..
I don't seem to rememeber of anyone that posted here saying that he/she is running dsl with such poor ram. P75 is ok, it's just a ram problem.
It's worth trying, anyhow. Of course you must set up a swap partition before installing, of at least the double in size of the ram. So it must be at least 24M. I would put 36M.

X, Xserver, Gui are words referred to the part of software that lets you use the mouse and interact with the desktop and some objects on it, like in winblos. without this, you can only use the OS at a text level, like it was in dos, i.e. That is powerfull, but very unconfortable for most people.

As for how many distros: there are hundreds, at least. You can start you check here:
linux.org

gook luck

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Davide

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cbagger01

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Posts: 4264
Joined: Oct. 2003

Posted: Sep. 19 2005,05:49

16MB = good enough to boot DSL and install it.
Make sure that you create a Linux swap partition or DOS swap file during the installation. A 64MB swap size is recommended.

12MB = good enough to boot DSL in text mode (console looks like an old MSDOS prompt) without graphics, see the extremely low ram boot bunch of cheatcodes listed on the DSL wiki page.

For 12MB of RAM, I am not sure if it is possible to boot DSL in graphical mode even WITH a swap file. Even if it is possible, the end results will probably be unusable.

You will probably run into the same problem with Puppy Linux.

A special install of Basic Linux is probably your best choice, short of buying more RAM.

sarah

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Posts: 73
Joined: Sep. 2005

Posted: Sep. 19 2005,14:31

Well, just a quick update before bed - I got the machine to boot from a floppy and the Zipdisk, well sort of. I'm pleased enough that it booted from floppy and recognised the zip drive to boot from it.

Unfortunately, I got seg faults which I have no idea what to do with, so I need to do more research, but I'm happy that I got that far.

I tried selecting run levels, but it told me there were no processes left

I might give a proper account of the errors tomorrow if I have 5 minutes.

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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!

30 replies since Sep. 16 2005,22:43

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