The Linux Distro Thread (maybe)

[ej-solutions]

Thought I'd start this one off, rather than continue on another thread.

As a quick catch up for others:

Have a look at Unetbootin, as a means to try out different versions of Linux, without producing numerous coasters (unwanted CDs).
I haven't tried the method of installing to hard drive, only the USB flash drive method (so far).

---

Just skimming the surface

Opinions/guidance expressed are intended to benefit the reader (mostly) but no responsibility should be assumed for the accuracy and no warranty is implied/expressed or given - so eBay may pull this post

[ej-solutions]

Boo! 😞
Easiest bet is to burn the ISO to CD, boot up on a laptop with CD & Floppy, then run the program rdsave (icon on desktop) to write the kolibri.img to floppy.
On your most powerful machine, you should get to grips with running VirtualBox 😉 I restricted Kolibri to 8Mb and it still booted in under 5 seconds - the core kernel appears to be 69Kb - yes, Kb :-)

---

Skimming the surface

No responsibility should be assumed for the above information - no warranty is implied/expressed or given. Firefox "Safer Browsing" pack available: follow my page for the link to my website.

[otherego]

run the program rdsave did the trick, thanks. Impressive little OS - must try to connect it to the internet. (I didn't realise this was possible when I tried it on the virtual machine, and transferring the floppy to the ancient Toshiba was very satisfactory BUT it didn't have a driver for the geriatric ethernet adapter.

I'm having quite a bit of fun with VirtualBox (host distro Mint, which simply copes with VBox, 2.4ghz CPU and 768mb RAM - more than enough to simulate ancient machines with 96mb RAM and less.) Confirm there's no way to imitate 233mhz processors? I've not found one so far.

Current educational project - see whether W98, Puppy and Feather can be triple-booted. Not holding my breath. Apart from anything, I've already found that VBox and W9x are not a happy combination.

However, it would be a useful trio on the old laptop for easy performance comparisons (actually using the W95 already on the laptop.)

I did get Feather installed to the virtual HD; I then killed it by trying to install GRUB from a Puppy CD. Puppy was on the first partition of the same drive; when I saw nothing on booting Lilo/Feather I assumed that Lilo had ignored Puppy - subsequent reading suggests I should have tried the Tab key first to see whether in fact it was in the Lilo menu. It would be interesting to try again, this time concentrating a little harder when trying to reinstall GRUB - or installing Puppy/GRUB last.

Any ideas about whether GRUB should theoretically be able to handle W95/Feather/Puppy? The plan would be simply to install GRUB to MBR from Puppy, rather than trying any clever editing.

[ej-solutions]

Great that your using Vbox 🙂 Not sure if Qemu does Win95/98.

Win95/98 is actually a shell on DOS, so if you can boot DOS, you can boot them. In the cobwebs of my mind, I can't remember exact details but did do this for many years, using loadlin (a DOS boot loader for Linux).

In my earliest days I even retained a DOS partition (for firmware updates) on commercial UNIX systems. Not the greatest of ideas in retrospect but can be done. 😉

Note that many ethernet adapters will respond using very basic drivers, not necessarily the exact one for the card. Brain's a bit fried at the mo' but E1000 rings a bell. Could do some research/trawl my memory, if needs be.

The command 'nice' will limit the processor cycles used, so theoretically it could be used to initiate Vbox/Qemu to restrict speed. I haven't investigated this however.
Might provide you with a search parameter. :-)

---

Skimming the surface

No responsibility should be assumed for the above information - no warranty is implied/expressed or given. Firefox "Safer Browsing" pack available: follow my page for the link to my website.

[otherego]

Now that sounds like advanced studies! But definitely worth pursuing on the morrow. (Er - later.)

Finally got W98 installed on VBox - bet it takes me a lot less time to murder it than it took to install it!

Tomorrow's entertainment, I think. But this computer business sure adds a lot of fun to insomnia.

[ej-solutions]

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=170981

---

Skimming the surface

No responsibility should be assumed for the above information - no warranty is implied/expressed or given. Firefox "Safer Browsing" pack available: follow my page for the link to my website.

[ej-solutions]

http://distrowatch.com/?newsid=05719
Interesting looking (a version for older computers) but haven't checked it out yet.

---

Skimming the surface

No responsibility should be assumed for the above information - no warranty is implied/expressed or given. Firefox "Safer Browsing" pack available: follow my page for the link to my website.

[otherego]

Other matters have been interfering with my playing-with-computers, but some progress has been made. If this actually gets sent - I'm trying out Dillo, which was installed along with DSL on this ancient Toshiba (Satellite Pro 430CDT, ca 1997-8? 120mhz CPU and RAM maxed out at 48mb...).

Although DSL installed easily on V/Box with the RAM set to 48mb, it did have the benefit of a 2.4ghz precessor. It took about four attempts to get it installed on this old warhorse, getting slightly further along the installation process every time.

Firefox (also included in DSL) sort-of works, but incredibly slowly. It takes about three minutes to load and to avoid constant "unreponsive script" warnings, the default for that function had to be changed from 20 (seconds?) to 180 - still not always enough. Installing NoScript, WOT and a version of AdBlock + that works with Firefox 2 must have taken the better part of forty minutes - but as I discovered on the other antique last week, NoScript, especially, actually seems to speed things up on old equipment if one can get it installed. Presumably it restricts the amount of script trying to load.

Apart from the fun/educational element, trying to get really low-spec equipment working does seem to clarify what is useful and what just slows things down.

If this DOES get sent, I apoligise in advance if it looks really odd. Dillo doesn't seem to do line-wrap etc, so this could just be really weird.

Incidentally, installation required a DSL boot floppy to point things in the general direction of the CD. You folk who learned about computers in the eighties and nineties - RESPECT, man!

Let's see whether this goes.

[otherego]

Other matters have been interfering with my playing-with-computers, but some progress has been made. If this actually gets sent - I'm trying out Dillo, which was installed along with DSL on this ancient Toshiba (Satellite Pro 430CDT, ca 1997-8? 120mhz CPU and RAM maxed out at 48mb...).

Although DSL installed easily on V/Box with the RAM set to 48mb, it did have the benefit of a 2.4ghz precessor. It took about four attempts to get it installed on this old warhorse, getting slightly further along the installation process every time.

Firefox (also included in DSL) sort-of works, but incredibly slowly. It takes about three minutes to load and to avoid constant "unreponsive script" warnings, the default for that function had to be changed from 20 (seconds?) to 180 - still not always enough. Installing NoScript, WOT and a version of AdBlock + that works with Firefox 2 must have taken the better part of forty minutes - but as I discovered on the other antique last week, NoScript, especially, actually seems to speed things up on old equipment if one can get it installed. Presumably it restricts the amount of script trying to load.

Apart from the fun/educational element, trying to get really low-spec equipment working does seem to clarify what is useful and what just slows things down.

If this DOES get sent, I apoligise in advance if it looks really odd. Dillo doesn't seem to do line-wrap etc, so this could just be really weird.

Incidentally, installation required a DSL boot floppy to point things in the general direction of the CD. You folk who learned about computers in the eighties and nineties - RESPECT, man!

Let's see whether this goes.

[ej-solutions]

Indeed it did, twice even :-D

---

Skimming the surface

No responsibility should be assumed for the above information - no warranty is implied/expressed or given. Firefox "Safer Browsing" pack available: follow my page for the link to my website.

[ej-solutions]

I could send you my 6-CD set of Slackware from the early 80's (I think), which will run on a DX2 (remember them?). Hate to think the vulnerabilities that those old kernels might have.
IF I had more time on my hands (and I'm not even employed/employable!), then it would be better to build a custom kernel for older machines. There is a heck of a lot of surplus in modern kernels. The latest ones have support for EISA, for example (old technology) and SATA (in an old machine, no chance).
This would make a substantial difference to the performance/memory overhead.
:-)

---

Skimming the surface

No responsibility should be assumed for the above information - no warranty is implied/expressed or given. Firefox "Safer Browsing" pack available: follow my page for the link to my website.

[otherego]

Hang on to your classic cds, ej - but thanks very much for that very generous offer.

Apart from anything else, I'm still coming to grips with modern Linux - which is obviously much, much easier than older Linux. DX2? Alas, I was still twenty years from discovering computers then. (Had a "DS20", though - a beautiful if eccentric Citroen.)

I take your point about the vulnerabilities of old kernels. Presumably this is almost as much of a problem with Linux as it is with Mr Gates's Finest. It would be great if someone could come up with a couple of really lightweight modern distros to give old equipment a new lease of life.

If you're bored, trawl the eBay laptop pages sometime. It's amazing how many machines with as little as 64 mb of RAM attract bids. One wonders whether their new owners are simply enthusiasts, which is fine - I've had lots of impractical fun from my ancient Toshibas and at an average price of twelve quid, cheaper than the equivalent time down the pub.

On the other hand, how many of them go to somebody just looking for a cheap computer - who then connects it to the internet? My own efforts suggest that not even Avast! will run on a Windows machine of such low specs - and connecting an unprotected W95 or 98 machine to the internet must surely be the computer equivalent of a human using the bathwater after an ebola victim's final wash. And those machines are using the same internet as all the rest of us - even connecting to internet shopping sites such as this.

Be interesting to know whether there are still enough really low-powered machines online worldwide, especially in the third world, to justify somebody coming up with a version of Linux that will safely offer a browser (which probably needs Javascript support, alas - eBay on Dillo is less than satisfactory) and a word-processor of at least Abiword-type capability - which will run on, say, the 120mhz CPU and 48mb RAM of the old Toshiba 430.

Incidentally, KolibriOS works fine on a 48mbRam/120mhz machine - so presumably a few games could also be thrown in to a super-lighweight Linux? A shame my antiques' ethernet cards are unsupported by Kolibri (not Linux, but surely deserving of a mention her) - an OS that runs from a floppy on the specs given above? Amazing.

[ej-solutions]

Good turn of phrase. 😄
What's the model number for those cards?
The past few days & the next few more, have been/will be hectic, so finding it tricky to clear the cobwebs. 😞 Desperately trying to remember the part numbers for 'old' legacy NIC - Intel Pro, for example. There are a series of model numbers that most cards can emulate and you should be able to utilise the drivers for them.

---

Skimming the surface

No responsibility should be assumed for the above information - no warranty is implied/expressed or given. Firefox "Safer Browsing" pack available: follow my page for the link to my website.

[ej-solutions]

This series is one of them 3COM Etherlink III 3C509B

---

Skimming the surface

No responsibility should be assumed for the above information - no warranty is implied/expressed or given. Firefox "Safer Browsing" pack available: follow my page for the link to my website.

[ej-solutions]

A bit newer: Realtek RTL8139
Non fiber (sic) 3com cards in this list:
http://www.pcidatabase.com/search.php?device_search_str=nic

---

Skimming the surface

No responsibility should be assumed for the above information - no warranty is implied/expressed or given. Firefox "Safer Browsing" pack available: follow my page for the link to my website.

[otherego]

"Xircom CreditCard Ethernet 10/100+Modem56" - hope that makes sense.

I did find out which cards Kolibri supported, but seem to have misplace the envelope on whose reverse I scribbled this gen - seem to remember it supports a 3-Com card and two others, but may be mistaken...

Those older laptops seem to need a PCMCIA card in order to connect via either ethernet or modem - networking was an expensive extra. I found an advert for the 430 CDT - $2000. About £1350 in 1998, I think - and just think of the performance £1350 would buy today. Actually, £350 will provide most of what it needed most of the time.

Still - all very good fun and really interesting. One's also a touch perished tonight, so an early night looms - but always plenty of projects left over for later!

[ej-solutions]

I had one on of them on my Tosh 🙂
My 490XDCT was about £2500! :O

---

Skimming the surface

No responsibility should be assumed for the above information - no warranty is implied/expressed or given. Firefox "Safer Browsing" pack available: follow my page for the link to my website.

[ej-solutions]

Try Intel Pro drivers.

---

Skimming the surface

No responsibility should be assumed for the above information - no warranty is implied/expressed or given. Firefox "Safer Browsing" pack available: follow my page for the link to my website.

[ej-solutions]

If you can pop the card into a working Linux laptop: from a terminal...
lspci -v | less - look for the details of the network card there - a step in the right direction

---

Skimming the surface

No responsibility should be assumed for the above information - no warranty is implied/expressed or given. Firefox "Safer Browsing" pack available: follow my page for the link to my website.

[otherego]

I'll give that a try tomorrow. The only suitable machine is lurking beneath a pile of rubbish at the moment - I'll fish it on the morrow.

(Sometimes envies tidy people.)

£2500 - I've never spent that much on a CAR! Imagine the computer you get for that now.

[ej-solutions]

Likewise - was a corporate one. Had to purchase, then they paid me back over the course of 6 months - crazy scheme.

---

Skimming the surface

No responsibility should be assumed for the above information - no warranty is implied/expressed or given. Firefox "Safer Browsing" pack available: follow my page for the link to my website.