Baslinux mailing list

[sindi keesan <keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org>]

On Sun, 13 Feb 2005, Termina wrote:

> I downloaded (mostly myself off slackware mirrors) the BasicLinux for
> Slackware8.1

There is no Basic Linux for Slackware 8.1.  What exactly did you download?

There is a Basic Linux 2.1 based on Slackware 7.1, which can be installed 
to two floppy disks and run in RAM, or to a DOS partition in its own small 
directory and run in RAM, or to a separate ext2 partition (which you don't 
have) which lets you set up a more complete version with additional files 
from Slackware 7.1.

There is also a Basic Linux 3.3.2 (3.32?) which can be run from two floppy 
disks and boots with lilo, or a slightly different version that installs 
to a directory on a DOS partition (it requires about 25MB for this), to 
which you can add things from Slackware 4.0 or add-ons specifically 
compiled for this version by Steven.

> Since no BOOT was made (for some reason), I type in loadlin zimage
> root=/dev/hda1 rw
>
> It loads fine, but I see this message: "Do not touch /dev/hda1"

You cannot boot linux on hda1 because this is a DOS partition with Win95 
on it.  Steven can explain how BL2 ramdisk and BL3 loop manage to run 
without a linux partition.

> Sadly, this is my only partition. I have a 81mb (85mb?) hard drive,
> which Windows95 is on. It takes up the entire drive.

We have managed to compress Win95 to 50MB.  Do you need all 81MB for 
Win95?  You could try reinstalling it as a custom version (or switch to 
Win31, which fits nicely in 8MB or less).

> If I had a CD-rom drive, I'd just my live partition magic CD.

We have a DOS version of partition magic that fits on a floppy disk.
Other people use the freeware Partition Manager.

BL's come with fdisk that you can use to partition the hard drive (run it 
from floppy disk - BL2 or BL3), but Win95 will only leave you about 30MB, 
for which I suggest the loop version of BL3.  First try to make Win95 
smaller, then defragment it.

> > I'd add another hard drive (a 1.2gig HDD i have), but I cannot add
> hard drives to this system (when I try, I get a white screen and
> beeps). ;-_-

This drive might be too large for your 486 BIOS to handle (we were just 
having a discussion about this), or maybe you have not changed the jumper 
settings on the drives so that the old 85MB drive will be master and the 
new one slave.  Have you tried putting in the 1.2G by itself? 
Older drives are often not labelled as to master/single/slave but if you 
are lucky master and slave could be the same.

> Does anyone have any suggestions for me?
>
> Thanks!

> Computer specs:
>
> 486 (50mhz)
> 8mb RAM
> 85mb hard drive (detected as 81mb by DOS fdisk)
> Only has a floppy drive

Is there space to add a CD-ROM drive?
We have several 120 and 170 and 200MB drives you could have for the cost 
of postage, or even a 340MB.
If you have 72-pin SIMM slots, we could send you more memory.
We have extra I/O cards (that add a second IDE controller to which you can 
attach the CD-ROM drive if you want to have two hard drives on the first 
controller).

Any computer repair shop where you live is likely to have this stuff 
around cheap, and you can now find old pentiums at rummage sales, thrift 
shops, and the curb.

I got BL3 working pretty well on a 486 with 8MB RAM and 120MB hard drive, 
in a 30MB DOS partition (loop version).

> --
> -Bill Twomey
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keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org
SDF Public Access UNIX System - http://sdf.lonestar.org