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sindi keesan wrote:
>
> > My guess is RAM.  Not enough?  Faulty?
> 
> I booted with the fast pentium and loadlin ... 
> mem=4M and that worked fine.  

Sure, 4mb RAM is sufficient to boot the DOS version
of BL3.  Even 3mb.  What I meant by "Not enough?" 
was "Perhaps not enough RAM is available in that 
computer".  Or to put it another way:  "Perhaps
you are mistaken about the available RAM in that
computer?"

> I can do a RAM check with memtest before giving 
> up on this laptop computer.

Yes, a proper RAM check is always a good idea when
Linux behaves strangely on untested hardware.

> >> I mentioned the failed floppy boot because that also
> >> gave us a black screen
> >
> > Wasn't that insufficient RAM?
>
> Yes, but with 8MB RAM on another computer there was no 
> black screen with floppy boot.  

Different computers react to memory/partition overflows 
differently.  Particularly laptops.

> Maybe loadlin was not using the swap file?

Loadlin is a DOS executable.  It never uses a swap file.

> Could there be something peculiar about this extended RAM?

Yes.

> 25MB does not seem adequate for a DOS partition on a 
> computer with 4MB RAM and BL3.32.  

That's true.  To use the swap file you need more than 25mb.

> plip and llpro-parallel would NOT transfer fs.img or the 
> big zip file properly.  

I realize that you've had some problems transfering, but 
there is nothing magic about the big zip file that trips 
up your plip transfer.  Most likely it is a fault in your 
hardware/software that shows up during long transfers.

> Why would parallel mess up a transfer of fs.img when 
> modem does not and ethernet does not?  

Faulty parallel port?

> I never did figure out how to transfer files in dumb 
> terminal mode with Kermit.

Commo works fine (I use it often).  I described what to 
do it in a previous message.

> Can you explain again how to modify the size of fs.img?

I gave very detailed instructions for that in a previous
message.  I suggest you search the archive.

> I notice you used 6.7MB swap file instead of 2x4MB - is 
> this a compromise between 2x3MB and 2x4MB?  

No, it's 1x8MB (minus what the kernel occupies).

Cheers,
Steven

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