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baslinux - Re: [BL] BasLinux Digest, Vol 96, Issue 8

baslinux AT lists.ibiblio.org

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  • From: baslinux AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • To: baslinux AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [BL] BasLinux Digest, Vol 96, Issue 8
  • Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2011 19:00:47 +0000 (UTC)

On Mon, 21 Mar 2011, baslinux AT lists.ibiblio.org wrote:

Thanks Sindi
I assumed that was the case but I keep thinking that the main reason
most people use Basic Linux is because they wish to run machines with
few resources. Apparently that is not always the case.

Can you somehow change your subject line to match the topic?

I used BL2 on a laptop with 24MB memory, 100MHz, with Opera 8, but it does not work at a lot of websites. The laptop can however play streaming mp3
audio (and CDs), does fine at email (except for webmail that is fussy about browsers, or big and slow - try fastmail.fm) and nongraphical nonjavascript browsing (links, elinks, lynx, and others), even graphical browsing without javascript (links -g).

40MB memory and 75MHz might run Opera 9 (use a swap file).
It should be fast enough to display images (xli in BL3, xv in BL2).

Steven was using his with MGP presentation software. I have given people old laptops to take notes at meetings or in class or library. Even a 2.2 kernel works with Aironet non-cardbus wireless network cards, and with any non-cardbus wired network card, so you can take the laptop to the library
and download large files on it via broadband. Or you can use a pcmcia modem for dialup access (which I think Steven still uses). You don't need a 2.4 kernel since you have no USB ports.

I use Basiclinux on newer (8-10 year old) computers too because I like it. Boots fast, simplified and non-automated so it is easy to make changes, etc. I got OSS sound working with BL in one Thinkpad (600E) laptop by simply insmodding a few things with the correct parameters. In a newer linux it took me months to figure out - the automated detection process was buggy, you had to disable the wrong modules, make a change in BIOS, delete some lines from modprobe.conf which BL does not even use, etc.

I still use it for everything except if I need a recent browser, because I have not figured out how to make a 2.6 kernel so I can use newer Slackware glibc with newer other libraries, X, gtk2, etc.

I don't know of ANY bugs in BL. Steven is amazingly thorough.
But not interested in making BL work for anything newer than a very early pentium. His laptops don't have USB ports either, or cardbus.

You could also check out Tinycore linux (10MB download and I did not measure RAM usage) and a low-memory version of puppy linux called pulp (uses 14MB memory booted to X). These both have 2.6 kernels and up to date libraries.

Sindi




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