Re: 386sx/25mhz compatibility

From: Juhan Leemet (juhan_at_logicognosis.com)
Date: 09/17/04 

Date: Fri, 17 Sep 2004 15:02:27 -0200

On Thu, 16 Sep 2004 16:34:53 -0500, Moe Trin wrote:
> In article <pan.2004.09.15.22.29.29.654733@siam.com>, Noi wrote:
>>Tough way to go. Try www.linuxiso.org to download some distro that will
>>run on your 386sx, like maybe Knoppix.
>
> http://ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/distributions/

I recently downloaded Knoppix and burned it to CD. I thought it was about
50MB? OTOH, maybe put in a cheap CD drive, boot Knoppix (and whatever
else) from read-only mounted file systems, and use the 20MB HD for data?

>>Truthfully 4mb of memory, 20Mb HD, 386sx is pushing at the minimum.
>
> Agreed, though it _is_ doable if you are really into PAIN ams SUFFERING
>
>>I ran RH 5.2 on a 386sx, 24mb memory, 20 mb drive.
>
> You wanna check that? Quoting right off the side of the blue box
> that still has the three 5.2 CDs:
>
> 450 MB required for a
> Linux workstation,
> 1620 MB required for a
> Linux server, 120 MB
> required for a minimal
> Custom install.
>
> 16 MB Ram memory
> recommended.
>
> As mentioned upthread, a 20 Meg drive is almost certainly a MFM drive,
> and that size was long out of productiton when the 386SX came out in 88.

Yes, trying to use 20MB (I was tempted to type GB, the fingers tried to!)
and to shoehorn linux into it would be quite a feat. Not sure if it would
be worth it.

Another thought: what about using the 20MB for swap and booting from the
net, and using network disk. We used to run Sun3 workstations with 4MB
and NO disk. Of course, SunOS-3.x and 4.x (Solaris 1.x?) were smaller, in
those days, more like early Slackware and RedHat Linux distros, I guess.
With some small disk he could run dataless, as opposed to diskless, and
get better performance, both system and network.

>>It barely ran Gnome but did better running Apache w/o the GUI interface.
>
> Never bothered with Gnome - I'm not into eye candy. But that was also a
> fairly early version (read "a lot smaller") of Apache.

Yeah. GUI is CPU expensive. Not good for old gear.

I guess I am also a sucker for old gear. Got a lot of it lying around,
and occasionally running stuff on it. Not worth trying to sell,
and some fun can still be had (and heat the house). However, sometimes
the pain gets to be too great... and it is time...

...what about buying another disk with some 100MBs (MFM?)? There must be
some available for cost of $5 to $10 at some local used and/or surplus
house? Might save some of that hair on his head? (if there is any left?) 

-- 
Juhan Leemet
Logicognosis, Inc.

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