A unique (and slow) computer in need of linux...

[cpugeniusmv]

I am sorry in advance for plagueing you with yet another "Which distro d00d!?!" thread...but I've really been working hard on this, and I've come to a complete halt.

I have a very old laptop:

486 CPU
8 MB RAM
340 MB HDD
'Network Anywhere' (Linksys) NP100 ethernet card from walmart (brand new.)
And a floppy drive. (No CDROM)

It is currently running windows 95, and it is acting as a Direct Connect Hub (via Ptokax). However, approximately every 10 minutes a WinSock error pops up, and after a few hours I have several message boxes that need to be closed out.

I have also been experiencing problems with my router that I believe originate from this problem (it slows down over time, and eventually needs a restart. I'm testing this theory now by having the laptop off the network.)

Well, anyway...the first thing I've done is created a Virtual Machine (VMWare) with identical RAM and HDD specifications. I've tried installing the latest distribution of Debian on it (which I didn't think would work, but thought it was worth a try) and...it didn't work, of course :)

More recently, I had lots of luck: I successfully installed RedHat 5.2 via an FTP install. However, I could not install OpenDC Hub (http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/opendchub) due to an outdated GlibC, and I couldn't update GlibC because of an outdated GCC, and I couldn't update GCC because of a lack of necessary disk space to compile it. I even tried compiling it on a network share, but ran into other errors.

Here's what I want:

A distribution of linux that I can install with network support, and get OpenDC Hub running with the least headache factor possible!

If anyone can help, I would be very grateful.

[mdwatts]

Besides searching the JL forums (based on titles) for i.e. 'old distro' or '486 distro', try

http://old.lwn.net/Distributions/

as they have many specific distros you can try that should work on your hardware specs.

[JohnT]

I dont know if your going to be able to find a solution if you constrain yourself to using the application "Open DC Hub". Your at a catch-22. Open DC Hub is configured with the latest libs at the time of its present inception, so using an older distro will result in dependency checks, and most newer distros are optimized for faster processors. Slackware, in text mode might be a choice( pre-9.0 was optimized for 386, now 486). While not exactly what your looking for....take a look at Coyote Linux (http://www.coyotelinux.com/) and see if it might help you attain what your looking for, somewhat.

[cpugeniusmv]

well, i guess i'm not really obligated to stick to opendc hub...

but it's the best alternative i could find to ptokax, i'm open to suggestions if anyone has any alternatives :)

[cpugeniusmv]

Question:

is there a way i can mount a swap partiton before i start installation, or sometime when the installer can use it?

i'm running out of memory while loading initrd.img :(

i already have partitions set up...just need to see if i can do anything with them.

[mdwatts]

Originally posted by cpugeniusmv
Question:

is there a way i can mount a swap partiton before i start installation, or sometime when the installer can use it?


I don't believe that is possible.

Did you read the 4MB-laptop (something like that) how-to at www.tldp.org as that may give you a few ideas.

[JohnT]

If you got a network installed already, I would investigate doing a setup from a remote. Slower, admittedly, but do-able.

[ph34r]

Slackware 9.x or Debian should run on that... check the 4mb Laptop Howto for some good pointers on getting it installed... may be easier to just pull the drive, put it in a "real" machine, install, and then put it back.

I have a 486/33 laptop with 12mb ram acting as cache-only DNS, DHCP, and webserver for my home LAN (5 machines).

[sclebo05]

linux users don't say "can't".

coyote is a good suggestion, slackware would be a great choice.

what distro are you installing that fails on the initrd?

[cpugeniusmv]

UPDATE:

got slackware 9.1 installed, and compiled opendchub without a hitch :)

:D:D thanks for pointing me in the right direction guys.