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James Miller wrote:
>
> I've got a really neat little 386 SX 25 with 4MB RAM 
>
> I did get ahold of some 4MB 30 pin simms a while back 
> and tried sticking them in this machine, but it would 
> only detect them as 1MB.  

Are you sure all of them are 4mb?  386sx takes RAM in
pairs (not fours).  So install only two at a time and
rotate them round to see if any pair produces 8mb.

> I've heard there are major compatibility problems with 
> 30 pin simms and varying boards, 

I've installed 30pin SIMMs in lots of systems and there 
is usually no problem.  Generic systems always work with
standard SIMMs, brandname systems usually work.  However,
some brands (of a certain age) used non-standard SIMMS.
Phillips was one (I wasted a lot of time trying to upgrade
the RAM in an old Phillips 386 -- I gave up in the end).
If your system is generic, it is possible that the SIMMs
are not (or they may be SIMMs designed for some other
device, like a printer).

> First, he is speaking of using xvesa rather than traditional 
> xwindows.  Apparently, its requirements aren't as great as 
> traditional xwindows.  

That's right.  It is significantly smaller (freeing up 
precious RAM) and simpler.

> And he did cite a source that spoke of running xvesa in 
> 4MB RAM.  

He was running an X terminal in 4mb RAM.  Trying to run X
applications (standalone) in 4mb isn't recommended.

> I don't know if that person was using a 386 SX, though.  

It was a 386 laptop (don't know the specs beyond that).

> running xvesa on the machine I'm talking about may still 
> be out of the question.

I'm pretty sure we can get it running as an X terminal,
but wasting 1.5mb RAM on a ramdisk is probably not the
way to go.  However, as a first try, it's worth having
a look at that option.  

There are other options to try, but they will take some
more time to develop.  I'm leaning toward a whole new
version of BasicLinux based on the 2.0.40 kernel and
uClibc/dietlibc.  Not only will it fit more into a 4mb 
ramdisk (including Xvesa), it will run better on really 
old hardware.

Cheers,
Steven