does a SMALL LINUX system still exist?
Robert W Current
I have an old IBM 386 at work that is crash happy, but I NEED to use it,
and I was wondering if there ws a SMALL version of LINUX I could still get
to run on it... I say small, because it's not networked, and no modem,
and it's not even normal PC slots (so I can't stick a modem in for just
the installation of the OS), and there isn't a CD drive. So, to install,
I am forced to do it by floppy disk.
I would like to get LINUX on a partition on the hard drive, put lilo on
it, and run a dosemu for the one dos application I need to use. I think
Xwindows would be unnessessary (unless it's an easy instal via floppy, but
I am guessing probably not, because there would be soo much more data to
put on)....
Any suggesstions on how to do this?
--
Robert Wesley Current Jr.
Analytical Chemistry, PhD Candidate
http://www.mainquad.com/web/rcurrent/
Department of Chemistry n,
University of North Dakota _/ | _
Office Phone (701)777-2541 /' `'/
Graduate Research Associate <~ .'
cur...@plains.nodak.edu .' |
ACS, AAAS, NDAS _/ |
_/ `.`.
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Robert Matter
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Robert W Current wrote:
>
> I have an old IBM 386 at work that is crash happy, but I NEED to use it,
> and I was wondering if there ws a SMALL version of LINUX I could still get
> to run on it... I say small, because it's not networked, and no modem,
> and it's not even normal PC slots (so I can't stick a modem in for just
> the installation of the OS), and there isn't a CD drive. So, to install,
> I am forced to do it by floppy disk.
>
> I would like to get LINUX on a partition on the hard drive, put lilo on
> it, and run a dosemu for the one dos application I need to use. I think
> Xwindows would be unnessessary (unless it's an easy instal via floppy, but
> I am guessing probably not, because there would be soo much more data to
> put on)....
>
> Any suggesstions on how to do this?
Bob,
Take a look at Mini-Linux. It should be at sunsite.unc.edu. It is
distributed as four zip files < 1.44 MB and one .exe file. It creates a
/linux directory in your DOS partition so you don't have to re-partition
your disk. Your Linux directories and files are available to you from
DOS, and your DOS directories and files are available to you from
Linux. I have the InfoMagic Linux Developer's Resource set and
Mini-Linux was included on CD-ROM #4. I have attached the minilin.txt
file for you to examine.
-Bob
--
The new version of PageMate for Windows is available at
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/rjmatter
Don't miss another important call!
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MINI LINUX
----------
By Mario Valente, 1995
Esoterica
Introduction
------------
MINILINUX is yet another distribution of Linux.
It has two objectives:
- create a suficiently powerful distribution ( 4 diskettes ) but
a powerful one ( TCP/IP and SLIP, X Windows, etc ) in an easy
to install way, particularly by MSDOS users.
Usually a Linux distribution makes you backup, repartition and
reformat your hard disk; or they make you buy a CDROM or download
lots of diskettes.
MINILINUX by using the UMSDOS filesystem and the LOADLIN command
( for DOS ) allows you to install LINUX on an MSDOS partition and
coexist: from the DOS side you'll see a C:\LINUX directory and you'll
have a "linux" command that boots up Linux. From Linux's side you'll
have a /DOS directory containing all your DOS files and you'll be
able to go back to DOS by rebooting ( with CTRL-ALT-DEL ).
- to offer, in a one stop shop, a Unix system with access to Internet.
Esoterica offers Internet access in Portugal, and MINILINUX includes
scripts to setup an SLIP link with our server; Mosaic for X Windows
is included in MINILINUX and Lynx ( a character mode WWW browser )
is also there.
Installing
----------
You'll need about 20Mb in drive C: during installation. The whole
MINI Linux distribution occupies about 15Mb.
MINI Linux is distributed as 4 ZIP and 1 EXE file.
The 4 ZIP files MINILIN1.ZIP to MINILIN4.ZIP contain 4 files
( linux.cut and linux.001 to linux.003 ).
The MINILINX.EXE file contains a text file ( probably in Portuguese :-)
and a couple of utilities to create and install the distribution.
You should create a directory called LINUX in the root of your C: drive
( md linux ) where you should put the ZIP files and the EXE file. Execute
MINILINX.EXE to get the utility to unpack the ZIP files and the one
to join all ( cd linux and then minilinx; after this pkunzip -d * ).
You can now delete the ZIP files ( del *.zip )
The fcut utility allows you to join the .cut and the .00? files.
Use the command:
fcut -j linux
You'll get a new file called linux.zip and you can now delete
the parts ( "del *.00*" e "del *.cut" )
To complete installing you just have to decompress the linux.zip
file with the command "pkunzip -d linux.zip".
After this is done you can delete the linux.zip file "del linux.zip"
With all this you should have a C:\LINUX directory on your drive
which contains the whole Linux operating system.
Using it
----------
When you boot your machine it goes to DOS as usual.
To get to Linux you should give the command
c:\linux\linux.bat
You can of course copy this batch file to a directory on
your path ( "copy c:\linux\linux.bat c:\dos" for example )
and you'll be able to start Linux by just giving the command
"linux".
The system has support for
- Soundblaster card and CDROM
- mouse on COM1: ( /dev/mouse ) ( Mouse Systems )
- modem on COM2: ( /dev/modem )
- various Ethernet cards ( inc. NE2000 and 3Com )
- SCSI cards and devices
- X Windows in SVGA mode ( Trident, Tseng, Cirrus, etc )
- TCP/IP and SLIP/PPP support
After the startup of the system is finished you're presented
with the login prompt. The only user available is root, without
password. You can change the password with the passwd command
and you can add other users ( recommended ) with the adduser command.
You can boot your system in MSDOS mode by pressing CTRL-ALT-DEL which
starts the shutdown procedure automatically.
Notes
-----
We dont intend to give here a course on Unix. You should read one
of the many books on Unix/Linux, attend a Unix course or gather
info and docs on the Net. We can give some hints though :-)
- Linux has support for virtual terminals. You can access them
by pressing ALT + Fx, where Fx is a function key from F1 to F8
- some commands in Linux are similar to their DOS counterparts
if not equal ( dir=dir, cp=copy, rm=del, cat=type )
- the equivalent of AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS are the files
/etc/inittab and the files under directory /etc/rc.d
( notice that in Unix the / is a / and not a \ :-)
- joe is included ( joe is a Wordstar compatible word processor )
- tetris and sasteroids ( games :-) are included
- a file manager is included ( command xtree or utree )
- a comms program, minicom, is included
- if you have Ethernet you must start up support. Check out
the /etc/start.ether file to see how its done
- a start.dip script is included for connection to Esoterica.
To connect to other providers you must edit this script and
also the esoterica.dip script
- to start up X Windows you must give the startx command. You can
change resolution with the CTRL-ALT-+ and CTRL-ALT-- combinations.
- in an X Windows terminal window you can give any normal Unix command.
You can also use X applications like "xfilemanager &", "xbombs &"
( a Minesweeper clone ) or "xlander &"
If you press the mouse button over the desktop you get the X Windows
control menu.
- X Mosaic is available ( command "xmosaic &" )
Note: you'll need an Internet connection and to supply an URL
to see anything :-)
- X Windows is heavy on memory usage. If you have less than 8 Megabytes
of RAM you should create virtual memory with the following commands
# dd if=/dev/zero of=/swapfile bs=1024 count=8192
# mkswap /swapfile 8192
# sync
# swapon /swapfile
You can test that you have more memory with the "free" command
DISCLAIMER
----------
- Esoterica doesnt support MINI Linux
- we dont guarantee that MINI Linux does anything
- we dont guarantee the availability of access in the future
- we dont do Unix support or any kind of support except for
our clients
We also wont be liable if MINI Linux destroys your hard disk,
causes any damage or loss of information, destroys the human
race or makes your girlfriend leave you.
--
Et in Arcadia Ego
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Wolfgang Trappe
Robert W Current wrote:
> I have an old IBM 386 at work that is crash happy, but I NEED to use it,
> and I was wondering if there ws a SMALL version of LINUX I could still get
> to run on it... I say small, because it's not networked, and no modem,
> and it's not even normal PC slots (so I can't stick a modem in for just
> the installation of the OS), and there isn't a CD drive. So, to install,
> I am forced to do it by floppy disk.
> Any suggesstions on how to do this?
without X11 its not to hard to install from floppy I think ...
But if you have another Unix-PC nearby try to install per NFS over a serial
SLIP conection
(maybe the problem is to start linux with slip from floppy).
Wolfgang
F. B. Quinn, Jr., M.D.
> Wolfgang
I build a set of 3.5" disks using a DOS machine which had a CDROM
containing Slackware 96. I partitioned my 386's with one DOS partition
and one linux native partition. I loaded the 3.5" disk contents onto
the DOS partition, then installed to the linux native partition using
SETUP. I have this running on three 386/SX's, each with 8M RAM, 100M HD
with a 3c503 Ethernet card. Not quite ready for prime time, but very
dependable. Best wishes-
Q.
Brett Kosinski
On Sun, 24 Aug 1997 13:20:03 -0500, F. B. Quinn, Jr., M.D. <fbq...@utmb.edu>
wrote:
Sorry, I don't have the original message in this thread, but...
If you go to the Linux Homepage/Resources/Linux on the WWW, there is a
site called Linux Memory Savers. This site has a 2 disk set containing the
required files to boot a VERY basic Linux system on a machine with 2+ megs
of RAM (less than that actually, but I can't remember the exact number).
This disk set, although not for the faint hearted, allows you to set up a
Linux system (aout based, but that can be changed) on a low powered machine.
For example, using this disk set, and a lot of manual upgrading (new kernel
compiled on my main machine (2.0.28) and copied ld.so, basic shared libs,
such as libc, libncurses, etc, and apps) I managed to install Linux on a
386/16 laptop with 2 megs of RAM, which functions as a dumb terminal to my
main machine through a null-modem cable and Minicom. The complete setup,
including shared libs, etc, is about 8 megs of HD space. Again, *this is
not for the faint hearted, or a Linux newbie*, but it is neat. :) Probably
not what you were looking for, but it proves a working Linux machine CAN be
run with minimal resources.
Brett.