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Linux on really, really old hardware

Win20004lifeWin20004life
edited December 2015 in Software
Thinking about giving Linux another shot now the novelty of Windows 9x is wearing off.
Will any distro work on my NEC 2650CDT? Pentium MMX ~150Mhz, 32mb ram, 1.3GB HDD.

An old out-of-date version is OK. I just don't want a massive battle with making the thing work...

Comments

  • birdybirdy
    Do you want to install Linux on it?
    You could try puppy Linux, or TinyCore
  • Win20004lifeWin20004life
    birdy wrote:
    Do you want to install Linux on it?
    You could try puppy Linux, or TinyCore

    Yeah I think I'll give Linux a shot. :-)
    Will either of those be easy to install and operate? How about drivers, etc?

    *EDIT* - Looks like TinyCore is the best bet, but it looks like I'll need to order more RAM.
  • Win20004lifeWin20004life
    Damn Small Linux looks more like my laptop's speed:
    http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/wiki/mini ... ments.html

    What do you think of this distro?
  • calvinbcalvinb
    DSL hasn't been updated in years.

    For PMMX I'd be running more vintage OSes.
  • Win20004lifeWin20004life
    ampharos wrote:
    DSL hasn't been updated in years.

    For PMMX I'd be running more vintage OSes.

    That's a shame. Looks like the perfect fit :-/ Is there any disadvantage to running an older Linux distro? Couldn't I just manually update the applications?

    Sorry I'm a bit ignorant of Linux. I ran Ubuntu for a short time but that's it.
  • birdybirdy
    The dis-advantage running an older and or out dated linux is that you want have patches for it. The Linux kernal will not change and some applications that you may need to install might not work. But lucky for you, Dam Small Linux has the .DEB package manager. So there is nothing really to worry about. All your questions about how to install any program on DSL (Dam Small Linux) can be found by just searching google. Like this.

    P.S Make sure your CUPS(Common Unix Printing Server) is working. That is if you want to print stuff.
  • Win20004lifeWin20004life
    Great. I've downloaded DSL 4.11 RC-2 which was made available in 2012, so not *super* outdated.
    I need to boot from the CD, but my BIOS only supports HDD and floppy boot, and I don't have any floppies handy. Any idea if it's possible to edit the BIOS to CD boot?
  • thiekusthiekus
    Win20004life wrote:
    Great. I've downloaded DSL 4.11 RC-2 which was made available in 2012, so not *super* outdated.
    I need to boot from the CD, but my BIOS only supports HDD and floppy boot, and I don't have any floppies handy. Any idea if it's possible to edit the BIOS to CD boot?

    Get update for your BIOS. If only BIOS update can't resolve this, the only way is to install on hardisk on another PC, unplug HDD and install through external SATA/IDE cable, IMO it's not too expensive. Don't forget to install bootloder on mountpoint where your harddisk resides. Or you can temporarily replece PC hardisk for installation only.
  • MethusalixMethusalix
    Another very interesting distro comparable to TinyCore or DSL is SliTaz.
  • Win20004lifeWin20004life
    thiekus wrote:
    Win20004life wrote:
    Great. I've downloaded DSL 4.11 RC-2 which was made available in 2012, so not *super* outdated.
    I need to boot from the CD, but my BIOS only supports HDD and floppy boot, and I don't have any floppies handy. Any idea if it's possible to edit the BIOS to CD boot?

    Get update for your BIOS. If only BIOS update can't resolve this, the only way is to install on hardisk on another PC, unplug HDD and install through external SATA/IDE cable, IMO it's not too expensive. Don't forget to install bootloder on mountpoint where your harddisk resides. Or you can temporarily replece PC hardisk for installation only.

    Man that sounds time-consuming. I don't really have the necessary gear hanging around.

    I've downloaded a BIOS update I found, but 1) It requires a floppy disk to install, and 2) I'm not even sure what's in the update, so even if I successfully install it I'm not sure if it enables CD-Rom boot. Release was ~October 1997.

    When I upgraded from Win 95 to 98SE, the .ISO image for the latter was burnt to a disc. I didn't need to boot from it, I simply inserted the disc in Win 95 and setup did the rest. Is there any way to replicate this experience in Win98SE? Without a floppy being required at any stage? I'm guessing not...
    Looks like Win 98SE will do for the time being...
  • thiekusthiekus
    Win20004life wrote:

    Man that sounds time-consuming. I don't really have the necessary gear hanging around.

    I've downloaded a BIOS update I found, but 1) It requires a floppy disk to install, and 2) I'm not even sure what's in the update, so even if I successfully install it I'm not sure if it enables CD-Rom boot. Release was ~October 1997.

    When I upgraded from Win 95 to 98SE, the .ISO image for the latter was burnt to a disc. I didn't need to boot from it, I simply inserted the disc in Win 95 and setup did the rest. Is there any way to replicate this experience in Win98SE? Without a floppy being required at any stage? I'm guessing not...
    Looks like Win 98SE will do for the time being...

    Sorry if too consuming tricks :mrgreen: . IMO, the possible tricks is to install custom bootloader as here. Then you should boot from grub and able to reach cdrom from grub commands.

    EDIT: These links that attached on website may dead, may you use wayback machine to get them.
  • Win20004lifeWin20004life
    thiekus wrote:
    Win20004life wrote:

    Man that sounds time-consuming. I don't really have the necessary gear hanging around.

    I've downloaded a BIOS update I found, but 1) It requires a floppy disk to install, and 2) I'm not even sure what's in the update, so even if I successfully install it I'm not sure if it enables CD-Rom boot. Release was ~October 1997.

    When I upgraded from Win 95 to 98SE, the .ISO image for the latter was burnt to a disc. I didn't need to boot from it, I simply inserted the disc in Win 95 and setup did the rest. Is there any way to replicate this experience in Win98SE? Without a floppy being required at any stage? I'm guessing not...
    Looks like Win 98SE will do for the time being...

    Sorry if too consuming tricks :mrgreen: . IMO, the possible tricks is to install custom bootloader as here. Then you should boot from grub and able to reach cdrom from grub commands.

    EDIT: These links that attached on website may dead, may you use wayback machine to get them.

    Thanks for digging that one up. Contains some really interesting info. However it seems to me that I need Linux to install GRUB, can I install it via Windows 98?
  • thiekusthiekus
    Win20004life wrote:
    thiekus wrote:
    Win20004life wrote:

    Man that sounds time-consuming. I don't really have the necessary gear hanging around.

    I've downloaded a BIOS update I found, but 1) It requires a floppy disk to install, and 2) I'm not even sure what's in the update, so even if I successfully install it I'm not sure if it enables CD-Rom boot. Release was ~October 1997.

    When I upgraded from Win 95 to 98SE, the .ISO image for the latter was burnt to a disc. I didn't need to boot from it, I simply inserted the disc in Win 95 and setup did the rest. Is there any way to replicate this experience in Win98SE? Without a floppy being required at any stage? I'm guessing not...
    Looks like Win 98SE will do for the time being...

    Sorry if too consuming tricks :mrgreen: . IMO, the possible tricks is to install custom bootloader as here. Then you should boot from grub and able to reach cdrom from grub commands.

    EDIT: These links that attached on website may dead, may you use wayback machine to get them.

    Thanks for digging that one up. Contains some really interesting info. However it seems to me that I need Linux to install GRUB, can I install it via Windows 98?

    Oh, i forgot to set you how to use grub on dos :D
    https://sites.google.com/site/grubdos/
  • Win20004lifeWin20004life
    thiekus wrote:
    Win20004life wrote:
    thiekus wrote:
    Win20004life wrote:

    Man that sounds time-consuming. I don't really have the necessary gear hanging around.

    I've downloaded a BIOS update I found, but 1) It requires a floppy disk to install, and 2) I'm not even sure what's in the update, so even if I successfully install it I'm not sure if it enables CD-Rom boot. Release was ~October 1997.

    When I upgraded from Win 95 to 98SE, the .ISO image for the latter was burnt to a disc. I didn't need to boot from it, I simply inserted the disc in Win 95 and setup did the rest. Is there any way to replicate this experience in Win98SE? Without a floppy being required at any stage? I'm guessing not...
    Looks like Win 98SE will do for the time being...

    Sorry if too consuming tricks :mrgreen: . IMO, the possible tricks is to install custom bootloader as here. Then you should boot from grub and able to reach cdrom from grub commands.

    EDIT: These links that attached on website may dead, may you use wayback machine to get them.

    Thanks for digging that one up. Contains some really interesting info. However it seems to me that I need Linux to install GRUB, can I install it via Windows 98?

    Oh, i forgot to set you how to use grub on dos :D
    https://sites.google.com/site/grubdos/
    Cheers for that,
    Wow! I can't believe I can use Wayback machine to revive those file downloads. I had no idea you could do that.
    Thanks so much :D I'll have a go at this tomorrow I think, it's midnight here -.-
  • Win20004lifeWin20004life
    OK, I'm having trouble installing GRUB4DOS. I've been following these instructions as they relate to 98SE:
    http://diddy.boot-land.net/grub4dos/fil ... ll_dos.htm

    What I did was:
    1. Copied the folder containing the Grub4Dos (including grub.exe) files to C:\
    2. Renamed the folder exactly to 'Grub4Dos'
    3. Replaced the config.sys file on C:\ with the one in the Grub4dos folder
    and the result upon reboot is ...
    Nothing. Pressing the space bar upon start-up as instructed does nothing. It boots up the same as before.

    What have I done wrong? :-/
  • Win20004lifeWin20004life
    Oh wait I got it I think, do I restart into MS-DOS mode and open it that way?

    *EDIT* Seems to work if I do that. I assume this is the way it's intended to be accessed.

    Now, I'm having trouble with the last few steps with those two files. I have successfully downloaded them, now I don't understand the rest. I'm assuming that the two files are copy pasted into folder:
    C:/Grub4dos
    Then what? :-/
  • thiekusthiekus
    Win20004life wrote:
    Oh wait I got it I think, do I restart into MS-DOS mode and open it that way?

    *EDIT* Seems to work if I do that. I assume this is the way it's intended to be accessed.

    Now, I'm having trouble with the last few steps with those two files. I have successfully downloaded them, now I don't understand the rest. I'm assuming that the two files are copy pasted into folder:
    C:/Grub4dos
    Then what? :-/

    You can edit boot.lst from grub4dos and add grub boot menu entry as first blog article i mentioned, or you can boot directly to grub then enter commandline mode by pressing c, enter these command (assuming you copied in Grub4dos folder):

    root(hd0,0)
    kernel /Grub4dos/memdisk.bin
    initrd /Grub4dos/sbootmgr.dsk
    boot
  • TCPMetaTCPMeta
    You need a configuration file that reflects on the bootable media that is on the system such as the Windows kernel and where it is located.
    The file is called "menu.lst" Heres a example of mine I used a while back with my tinker system.
    color light-blue/blue light-red/red
timeout 10
default 1

title Windows 2000
chainloader  (hd0,0)
rootnoverify (hd0)


    Try this site for more into. Honestly I hate grub4dos and use Plop Boot manager for older hardware. This way I can have bootable optical drive support and USB support.
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