Great Free OS for older PCs !! Simple and easy choices.

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Try the Basic Linux Mentioned above.
Click to expand...

Slackware provides DOSSLACK, it's a _modern_ GNU/Linux distribution
that can be installed using UMSDOS. <URL:http://www.slackware.org/>.
Other small GNU/Linux distributions are usually based on old stuff...

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Darrien said:
Got anything that will run on an 8086 laptop?
Click to expand...
In my opinion, Linux will only run on a 386+ (because of 32-bit
protected mode); maybe some porting have been done on older. But this
will not be the standard Linux.
 
CHarneyCHRIS said:
windows2.0 should work, you can find it at some abandonware sites.
Click to expand...

I can GUARANTEE you that Microsoft would press charges against the
site owner and doesn't consider Windows 2.0 to be "abandonware".
 
Try the Basic Linux Mentioned above.
Click to expand...

I can see why you would think that the minimun requirement of a 486 would
mean that it would run on an 8086, but despite the name, the 8086 is less
advanced than the 486.
Also search in this Treasure Trove for FREE OSs for older PCs below:
http://home.wanadoo.nl/peterdekoning/20/about.htm
Click to expand...

None of these will run on an 8086. One of them may have, but their website
was shut down in hissyfit^W protest over the European software patent vote.

I don't need it to be *nix based. FreeDOS http://www.freedos.org is
supposed to run on an 8086 but I couldn't find a distribution of it that
would fit on a 720K floppy.
 
None of these will run on an 8086. One of them may have, but their website
was shut down in hissyfit^W protest over the European software patent vote.

I don't need it to be *nix based. FreeDOS http://www.freedos.org is
supposed to run on an 8086 but I couldn't find a distribution of it that
would fit on a 720K floppy.
Click to expand...

720k floppy and nothing else - I wish you luck, you're gonna need it!

You might be able to put together a floppy set for Freedos ...
different floppies for each task, each one also containing command.com
so the system can return to command prompt.

If we're talking abaout a single (720k) floppy only, 8086 laptop, with
(if it's like one I remember), 1 Mb RAM split between 640k base and
Rom shadow or ramdisk (backed up so long as the battery is good), then
there's not really much you can do with it these days, and floppy-only
config is a lost art.

If it is the one with ramdisk capability, you can get DOS and a small
toolset in there (but you need a restore disk in case you let the
battery fade), and then use the floppy for applications and storage.
 
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