Operating Systems > Linux and UNIX
Old laptops need Linux - but what flavor?
simontag:
--- Quote from: mobrien_12 ---Do they not boot at all or just freeze up?
If it's the latter, perhaps these laptops do not have DMA support. Can you try supplying the nodma option to the installer? I had to do that to get Knoppix working on an laptop CDROM drive.
--- End quote ---
Tried 2 others - they recognize the hardware load the CDrom drives then locks. BIOS has no options for DMA support. Very limited BIOS options
--- Quote from: WMD ---Windows 95. No, really.
Check the CDs that you have that will boot. Are they less than 650MB? Some old drives may only support 74 minute CDs. If this is the case, Debian might actually boot...oh yeah. Slackware wouldn't though - you could try finding an ISO of Slackware 8.1. which is smaller.
On to the other possibility - you aren't burning the CDs properly. The original bootable CDs were 2.88MB boot images, not your typical ISO. Not sure how you could fix all that - and you can't swap the floppy/cd-rom...
I'm stuck.
--- End quote ---
Yeah Windows 95 - installed it on some of them when I was studying for my A+ some time ago.
The debian and slack ones are both - link for the debian iso I downloaded: http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/3.1_r0a/i386/iso-cd/debian-31r0a-i386-netinst.iso
I hooked up a network card via the parallel port old xircom model - but that should not matter until after the install starts when it is checking the packages and then goes online to grab the additional during the "install the base system" portion of the setup.
As for burning I am dl an ISO and I have used Alcohol 120 and nero to burn to disc. Tried different CDROM too.
Arggghhhhh
bedouin:
--- Quote from: simontag ---Don't know if the commands are different. I know many of the core commands are not becuase I work on Mac's.
--- End quote ---
What do you mean 'core' commands? Bash is bash, csh is csh, etc etc.
Major differences are under the hood, package management, and some small things like start up scripts.
If you learn how to use one *nix in and out you'll be at home pretty much anywhere. Not to mention, each Linux distro has its own way of doing things.
And OS X is not the same as BSD, even though it borrows a lot.
WMD:
Well, I can always support this, my favorite old floppy Linux:
http://mulinux.sunsite.dk/
It's dated (kernel 2.0.36, libc5, etc.) but it still works like Linux, is easy to put on, works on 8MB RAM, the CD version comes with XFce 3.6.1 (decent desktop considering the age), and all the scripts are written in humorous fractured English - easy to understand, but nonetheless broken. I always enjoyed it.
If you can only get the floppy version running, it may be possible to add packages from the CD (like XFce) later on.
simontag:
--- Quote from: bedouin ---What do you mean 'core' commands? Bash is bash, csh is csh, etc etc.
Major differences are under the hood, package management, and some small things like start up scripts.
If you learn how to use one *nix in and out you'll be at home pretty much anywhere. Not to mention, each Linux distro has its own way of doing things.
And OS X is not the same as BSD, even though it borrows a lot.
--- End quote ---
Core meaning just that. The commands that make up the primary part of the system that would not change from distro to distro. My point was that I don't know enough about it to make that decision. Package Mgmt. might be only one of the differences. Where certain directories are might be different. Compilers for programming. Utilities for checking logs and what not - I would have no idea if they were the same as most Linux distributions. I just know that I have ran a bit of Red Hat and Debian & Slack and it seems that I have to use diffrent commands sometimes and for a new user trying to learn. It would be better to stay with 1 flavor across the board and learn it vs. multiple. Again I don't know and if I don't know how to drive a car I still might jump in but if it is a stick I might pass it up. Point is I don't know the differences!
And my OS X comment refers to something like this that I have read:
Mac OS X uses FreeBSD as a reference code base for its BSD derivations (Panther derives from FreeBSD 5.0). It includes a BSD-based POSIX API (BSD style system call vector, uap based argument passing, etc.)
ST
KernelPanic:
You need to look at something small or old.
I'd suggest Damn Small Linux, it sounds like what you're looking for. The skills you learn will be transferable across Debian based distributions (KNOPPIX, Ubuntu, Xandros etc.) at the very least.
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