Similar issue (Was: [ale] linux on a 486)

Tue Aug 7 11:35:27 EDT 2001

Try blackbox, its extremely light weight and usable when you configure it

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-ale at ale.org [mailto:owner-ale at ale.org]On Behalf Of Jeff
> Hubbs
> Sent: Monday, August 06, 2001 10:59 AM
> To: byron at cc.gatech.edu
> Cc: ale at ale.org
> Subject: RE: Similar issue (Was: [ale] linux on a 486)
>
>
> Byron -
>
> Thank you for the "A-HA!" moment" moment.  I was going straight to typing
> "setup."
>
> I had forgotten that Slack drops you at a working floppy-booted system
> partway through.
>
> I could use a heads-up, though - given that this is a 20GB machine and I
> want to put X on it, will I get ample opportunity to select a
> lightweight WM
> like fvwm2?
>
> - Jeff
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: byron at cc.gatech.edu [mailto:byron at cc.gatech.edu]
> > Sent: Monday, August 06, 2001 10:45 AM
> > To: Jhubbs at niit.com
> > Cc: mhw at wittsend.com; esoteric at denali.atlnet.com; ale at ale.org
> > Subject: Re: Similar issue (Was: [ale] linux on a 486)
> >
> >
> > >
> > > I'm in the process of trying to do a very similar thing -
> > put Slackware 8.0
> > > on a 486 with 20MB RAM.  I'm setting up this machine for a
> > home-school
> > > teacher who will be starting some kids in first grade in the fall.
> > >
> > > I got to the point where it was asking me for IP addresses
> > and the name of
> > > the NFS export, only to die miserably.  It occurred to me
> > that although it
> > > asked me for network setup information, at no time did it
> > ask me what kind
> > > of NIC I had nor did it give any impression that it had as
> > much as attempted
> > > to autodetect one.  I noticed that the corresponsing link
> > light on my
> > > Ethernet switch was not lit.
> > >
> > > The various READMEs led me to believe that I needed the
> > bare.i and the
> > > network.dsk floppies.  Upon reading the README for the
> > network.dsk image,
> > > though, it said I needed the colors.gz rootdisk, and so I
> > first powered up
> > > with the bare.i floppy and put in the colors.gz floppy when
> > asked for a
> > > rootdisk.  At no time, though, did anything ask for the
> > network.dsk floppy.
> > >
> > > Can anyone tell me where my procedure went awry?
> >
> > 1) Boot with bare.i
> > 2) Install color.gz when the kernel asks for a root disk.
> > 3) Login as root at the login prompt.
> > 4) Type the 'network' command. It will prompt for the
> > network.dsk floppy.
> > 5) Follow the proble directions. I always try to probe only
> > for the netcard
> >    I'm using.
> >
> > That's it.
> >
> > BAJ
> > >
> > > - Jeff
> > >
> > >
> > > What's kind of funny to me about all this is that slack was
> > the first distro
> > > I ever installed, back in 1995 - just me and a big stack of
> > floppies!
> > >
> > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > From: Michael H. Warfield [mailto:mhw at wittsend.com]
> > > > Sent: Monday, August 06, 2001 10:01 AM
> > > > To: Wandered Inn
> > > > Cc: ALE
> > > > Subject: Re: [ale] linux on a 486
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > On Mon, Aug 06, 2001 at 09:21:07AM -0400, Wandered Inn wrote:
> > > > > Trey Darley wrote:
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Dude. He just got done saying he TRIED Slackware.
> > Better grab that
> > > > > > second cup of coffee. ;-)
> > > >
> > > > > Yeah, true.  What I tried to do was to add enough swap to
> > > > compensate for
> > > > > the lack of memory.  I'm going through the same process
> > > > again, this time
> > > > > adding an even larger swap.  It appears that my last
> > > > failure could have
> > > > > been attributed to problems with the network card
> > though.  When I
> > > > > attempted to setup my nfs network connection, I received
> > > > errors.  I shut
> > > > > the box down, tried to reseat the nic, rebooted and I'm
> > > > cooking again.
> > > >
> > > > 	OH!  $#@$#@$#@!!!
> > > >
> > > > 	I totally forgot about that weird problem when I
> did a Slackware
> > > > install on those two laptops.
> > > >
> > > > 	It was an NFS install, just like you're trying.  I
> found that if
> > > > I told the Slackware installer that it was NFS and
> > specified the NFS
> > > > path, it got all sorts of errors.  Most often it got errors
> > > > complaining
> > > > about mount timeouts and RPC timeouts.  Which was really
> > weird because
> > > > my NFS server was working fine.  Finally, I used Alt-F? (3 I
> > > > think) and
> > > > did a manual mount of the NFS mount point and that worked
> > > > fine.  Then I
> > > > went back to the installer screen on F1 and told it to
> > use a locally
> > > > mounted path and specified the path to the NFS directory I
> > > > had manually
> > > > mounted.  That worked perfect!  I never DID get the Slackware
> > > > installer
> > > > on either laptop (PCMCIA network card) to mount the NFS directory
> > > > successfully, but mounting it by hand manually and telling
> > > > the installer
> > > > to use a local path, worked perfect, first time, both times.  This
> > > > was also Slackware 8.
> > > >
> > > > 	With 8 Meg of memory, swap is definitely going to
> be important.
> > > > With that little memory, I don't thing the 2x rule (16Mb) would be
> > > > appropriate.  You'll need more than that.  Don't know
> > what you tried
> > > > or what you have but I don't think I would give it less than 64Mb.
> > > > If you try doing to much at one time, you'll spend your
> > life in swap.
> > > >
> > > > > I'll post my success or failure once I get there. :)
> > > >
> > > > > --
> > > > > Until later: Geoffrey		esoteric at denali.atlnet.com
> > > > >
> > > > > "Great spirits have always found violent opposition from
> > > > mediocre minds.
> > > > > The latter cannot understand it when a man does not
> > > > thoughtlessly submit
> > > > > to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his
> > > > > intelligence." - Albert Einstein
> > > >
> > > > 	Mike
> > > > --
> > > >  Michael H. Warfield    |  (770) 985-6132   |  mhw at WittsEnd.com
> > > >   (The Mad Wizard)      |  (678) 463-0932   |
> > > > http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
> > > >   NIC whois:  MHW9      |  An optimist believes we live in
> > > > the best of all
> > > >  PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471    |  possible worlds.  A pessimist is
> > > > sure of it!
> > > >
> > > > --
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> > > >
> > >
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