Re: tlug: Giving an old pc a new purpose in life?

["linuxwiz" <linuxwiz@example.com>]

If you have or can borrow a zip drive you can load Zipslack (available from
the Slackware site) on it. I put it on a 386sl laptop with 4mb or ram (no X)
and a 486 with 12 mb (X works, but really slow).
hope this helps
jerry
----- Original Message -----
From: Jonathan Q <jq@example.com>
To: <tlug@example.com>
Sent: Monday, September 13, 1999 7:45 AM
Subject: Re: tlug: Giving an old pc a new purpose in life?


> On Mon, 13 Sep 1999, John Seebach wrote:
>
> > As I don't have a CDROM, floppy, or a network card for it, I can't
figure
> > out how to get anything else on there. Getting linux onto this machine
> > would definitely be an interesting exercise. The missing floppy would
> > certainly add an unusual challenge.
>
> Yeah, the floppy problem sure does add a twist.  If you have/get/can
> borrow a supported PCMCIA SCSI card and a drive, I think (someone please
> confirm this) you can use a bootable CD-ROM if your BIOS supports that
> (it may not, considering its age; fire it up and see if the BIOS has a
> boot sequence option that includes CDROM).
>
> If you can't boot a CDROM, you may be able to start the install using
> the loadlin utility to boot Linux from Windows, but I don't know if you
> can use it to do a network install or not.  If you can, loadlin, a
> PCMCIA network card, and a local box with the Linux CD NFS mounted or
> set for anon ftp will do the job.
>
> Of course, if you can find a floppy cable, that would greatly simplify
> everything, since you could boot a Linux floppy then do a network
> install.  A couple of junk shops you might want to check for that item
> are VNC (Virtual Network Computer) and CompuAce.  CompuAce is a true
> junk shop; VNC sells some junk, but also some older notebooks and a lot
> of older UNIX workstations, mostly Sun and SGI, and reasonable prices.
> Highest-end stuff I've seen in there was an SS20 with 125 MHz
> Hypersparc, and an Indigo 2 with R4400/250 MHz.
>
> > So, what would YOU do with such a beast, besides use it as a bookend?
I'm
>
> I would definitely find a way to get Linux onto it.  With careful
> picking and choosing, you might even get a minimal X install in there.
> I have TurboLinux 3.0J with X and Xemacs and the Japanese stuff on a 500
> meg disk.  You do have to pick and choose what goes in, but it fits.
> This is probably doable on a 360 meg disk, but will take more pruning.
> Another alternative (without X) is Austin's own Green Frog Linux.
>
> At least some big distros (Slackware, maybe Debian?) can be put all onto
> floppy, so if you can get a floppy cable and have some time to kill, you
> can do an install totally from floppy.  Maybe GFL can do this, too
> (Austin?).
>
> Austin, it's time to start writing a fancy installer to handle tough
> situations like this one  :-)
>
> Anybody wanna try installing Linux on John's notebook at the nomikai if
> he can come up with a floppy cable by Friday?  :-)
>
> Jonathan
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
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> *** Linux 8th Birthday Anniversary! ***
> Next Technical Meeting: October 9 (Sat), 13:00     place: Temple Univ.
> *** Topics: 1) Linux i18n   2) Japanese TrueType fonts
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>

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Next Nomikai: September 17 (Fri), 19:30 Tengu TokyoEkiMae 03-3275-3691
*** Linux 8th Birthday Anniversary! ***
Next Technical Meeting: October 9 (Sat), 13:00     place: Temple Univ.
*** Topics: 1) Linux i18n   2) Japanese TrueType fonts
-------------------------------------------------------------------
more info: http://www.tlug.gr.jp        Sponsor: Global Online Japan