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James Miller wrote:
>
> Unfortunately, the thing has no floppy drive nor any 
> current network connection, so the only way I can load 
> anything onto it is by removing the HD and sticking it 
> in another machine (ugh).  

What about a null modem cable?  DOS interlnk/intersvr has
worked on every machine I've tried it on.

> I really would like to see what a correctly configured 
> 2.6 kernel would do on a 486 or older machine.  If it 
> gives the same effect I notice on my 1Ghz Celeron, it 
> will really be worth the upgrade.  

I think size will be the key factor.  On old PCs where RAM 
is limited, a large kernel occupies RAM that is crucial for 
system performance.  For example, I've done some rough testing 
on systems with 8mb RAM (or less) and found a significant 
deterioration in performance when available RAM is reduced.

> If I can be of any help in compiling such a kernel for 
> testing on BL, please let me know, Steven. I've got some 
> decent system resources on which to do it

I would be very happy for you to try to build a small 2.6 
kernel (but I think you will be surprised how big it turns
out).  It might be useful to look at the configs for some 
of the Slackware lowram.i kernels (the config files are with 
the kernels).

Cheers,
Steven