Intel PII 233/66 & Linux, realistic expectations?

muckshifter

muckshifter

I'm not weird, I'm a limited edition.
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So, what are the chances of getting a 233/66 PII running Linux ?

All I want it for is crunching FaD ... and let it munch away in the corner somewhere.

Won't cost me a penny or a Dim but only have a 4gig HD spare at the moment.

:cool:

... and I got 5 more to make up. ;)
 
It will work but what you probably should be doing is not to install the latest linux as it may overwhelm the system;) Since you will not be using it it will not make any difference if the distro is not to your liking. I once used Red Hat 7.2 on an old PII and it was in one word SWIFT :D
 
Oh I wish I had my camera ... I don't know if Suse will finish installing, but it is getting there.

:D

If it fails I'll try DSL. :thumb:
 
and if it installs, will it load? ;)

I gave DSL a try. It's based on Knoppix and that's good.
It boots into a Live cd with options to install to hd.
You''ll have to create a partition for it, and I'm not going mess with my SuSe install.
But it doesn't seem to bad for a small distro. :thumb:
 
My dear lady,

I am right now downloading the Damn Small Thing :D

I plan to install it om me USB 40 GB drive and hope it will boot from there once I set it in Bios "boot from USB"

Anything else I need to worry about?
 
Quadophile said:
My dear lady,

I am right now downloading the Damn Small Thing :D

I plan to install it om me USB 40 GB drive and hope it will boot from there once I set it in Bios "boot from USB"

Anything else I need to worry about?
Click to expand...
Yep ... Grub 17 error.
Still working on that one. ;)

Suse failed with error 17 so I thought it was too good for the system, but I actually have a 6.4gig drive in there so it should have worked.

Anyway I try SDL and ... yep up it fires, but as you say, it is a 'live' CD with an option to install ... so I choose install.

oops ... same error ... I'm reading up on Grub error 17 now, so far everything should/is correct, but it no loadie.

Back later ... must get a case for this machine.

:D
 
I use DSL alot. it is a phenominal distro for a 50 meg os. a 4 gig drive is fine. I set someone up with it for a backup machine in a 2.5 gig hdd. it's nice as a backup system, has firefox, and you can add their optimized programs easily with myDSL icon. it will run very nicely on that machine from hdd, it will be pokey if run live, as it really needs to have some memory to run.
IF you wish, I'll write you up a quick howtoo for installing it standalone. Adding it to an existing install is a bit trickier, depending on which bootloadre you run.
On thing that is differrent is that the main "start menu" is accessed by right clicking on the desktop, and scrolling thru the menus. actually very nice once you get used to it.
ahh what the hell:
DSL standalone install guide:
Boot the live cd.
Open a terminal window
enter: cfdisk
this starts the partitioning tool, similar to fdisk in dos.
delete all your present partitions.
Create an install partition at the start, size it to leave about 200-300meg free. make it type of linux (83 in the list).
Create the remaining as swap, type 82.
Use the write option to create the new partitions.
this should leave you with 2 partitions, hda1 for the os and hda2 for swap.
next type:
mkswap /dev/hda2
this will format the swap partition, dsl will see it and use it when it boots from hdd.

close the terminal window.
Right click on the desktop, go to programs/tools/ install to harddisk and run it.
Say no to ext3 on slow machines/hdd's when prompted
sya yes when asked if you want to install a bootloader. I believe they use grub now, but it may have a lilo option. your choice, on a standalone install, it really doesn't matter which.
it will copy all the files over, install the bootloader, and the window will close.
remove the cd and reboot.
Create a root password.
Create the password for the dsl user. (you can create other users, but I just live with the dsl user) (lazy on my part)

on disk, it is basically a debian install. running fad should foollow the normal linux install.

Enjoy what is a really well done OS. (I've used it since release 0.8 whenit was not as polished as it is now)
 
Thanks tjm4fun!
I was actually kind of impressed with what I saw in DSL, for such a small distro.
I think I may give a try at installing it. :thumb:
 
tjm4fun,

Better late than never ... It is actually a 6.4Gig HD, one of them Seagate with the odd numberings ... anyway nothing is working.

I think I fixed the Grub error 17 by changng the BIOS to LBA mode and not Auto ... as Suse just kicked back in trying to finnish what it satarted ... but I may have to start all over again.

I tried SDL and it failed ... but will try that again with your 'disrtuctions', at least it boots.

PCLos was a dead loss, never got passed the boot screen, and I left it long enough ... SimplyMephis did the same, just sat at a boot screen for 10mins :rolleyes:

Back in Suse trying another clean install ... seems to be the only one that works. :p
 
Success! On try #2. First time I chose Grub and got the same Error 17, so I went back through it and chose Lilo. It booted right up.
:thumb:
 
ladypcer said:
Success! On try #2. First time I chose Grub and got the same Error 17, so I went back through it and chose Lilo. It booted right up.
:thumb:
Click to expand...
Sorry missed your post ... I changed the BIOS to LBA and Suse is quite happy with that.

May still have to do it all again anyway ... it seems to have hung. :rolleyes:

LP, you forget, I just plonk the CDs in, if it doesn't work, I try another. :D
 
This thread is going all over the place.
Mucksy, mephis and pclos may not be the best match for older hardware. they both are geared to systems with modern ati or nvidia video systems. If you're using older vid hardware, you will likely need to use the bootup cheats to get a working system. DSL is usually more generic and unless you have a wierd piece of hardware usually works. (tried it on p-133 p1's ,266 p2 laptop, k6-300 minitower, with all types of hardware, and it seems to work with no cheat codes.
What are you trying this on hardware wise? the processor is nothing, al cpu;s are supported, it is the peripheral hardware that kills installs, some wierd hardware is not always supported.

dsl lives well with other distro's, I just install it to a 300 meg partition, and choose not to install the bootloader. I then add the stanza's it needs to start to my existing lilo, create the mount point for lilo, and re-run lilo. I never did get the hang of grub, tho I really should play with it more. I use it in suse, but it is chainloaded by lilo. (that is something for more advanced installs.)
 
Mucks, are you saying it won't even boot from the cd? :confused:

I was talking about after I installed it to the hd.

I do want to say that whoever thought up the way you access the file manager in this, must have been the Marquis de Sade.
:rolleyes:
I "think" I have fad installed, after a few attempts.
 
Give me a break ... I only started with Linux 2 weeks ago, and have 8 Distros already.

I'll tell you what I can put on here, Windows ME ... hope you were siting down.

The MB is a no-name Comcrap/MSI/Haslet Hell OEM out of hell ... no manual and I called on 15years experience to get the thing to boot ... now don't get me wrong, I aint shouting at you ... you know Linux and how many of the 300 Distros you can use ... me, I'll just stick 'em in the drive and watch ... if it fails I have NO IDEA how to fix it, and to be honest, not that interested.

Oh, the graphics is an on-board ATI 3d rage, that is all I can tell you about it, never seen a MB like this before ... and a soundblaster audio chip. :)

You have given me some advice as how to use SDL ... I'll get around tuit ... in the meantime, I'm 'playing' around.

No offence tjm4fun ... :o
 
ladypcer said:
Mucks, are you saying it won't even boot from the cd? :confused:

I was talking about after I installed it to the hd.

I do want to say that whoever thought up the way you access the file manager in this, must have been the Marquis de Sade.
:rolleyes:
I "think" I have fad installed, after a few attempts.
Click to expand...
No problem booting CDs ... I just don't know how to work them.

;)
 
Think I'll go and have a break ...

I aint shouting at nobody ... just makes a nice change to have a 'spare' PC ... even if I aint got no case yet.

:o
 
Well, I have FaD installed. ./fadsetup -l shows everything is right.
I "cd" to that directory and do ./loader , and it pops the CPU up to 100% then right back down.

:confused:

I'll check ./server -l

update- it says nothing queued and it should have queued up something by now.

I'll give it a few, while I'm looking for another distro. ;)
 
Last edited:
ladypcer said:
Well, I have FaD installed. ./fadsetup -l shows everything is right.
I "cd" to that directory and do ./loader , and it pops the CPU up to 100% then right back down.

:confused:

I'll check ./server -l

update- it says nothing queued and it should have queued up something by now.

I'll give it a few, while I'm looking for another distro. ;)
Click to expand...
No, I notice mine will only queue 1 ever 12 hours unless it finishes before that ... when it first uploads it will get one for the queue as well ... err, I think. :D
 
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