Baslinux mailing list

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

On Fri, 19 May 2006 3aoo-cvfd AT dea.spamcon.org wrote:

> sindi keesan wrote:
> > Does the FD BL3.40 need 8MB RAM to boot
>
> No.

Does it need 12MB to boot?

> > 4MB is used for ramdisk
>
> The floppy version of BL3 uses two ramdisks.

Can it manage with just one ramdisk, and can I hit Ctrl-C after the first 
disk loads and get everything but X and documentation?

> > and I think 8MB if available
>
> That's BL2.
>
> > 9K of 3c509.o fits on disk2.  Please include it in the
> > next BL if possible.
>
> 3c509.o is available at the BL3 site.

I know, but it is small enough to fit on the second disk even 
uncompressed.  I have been insmodding it from floppy disk.

> > Most of our ISA cards are 3com 3c509.
>
> I have a dozen ISA network cards.  Only one is a 3com.
> Half are NE2000.  The rest are wd's and SMC's.
>
> > It told me:
> > eth0:  3c509 at 0x300....IRQ7  (about 2 lines of text)
>
> What did those 2 lines say?

The 16MB RAM has been reduced back to 4MB so I can't check again.


> > ifconfig eth0 192.169.1.1
> >
> > Illegal instruction
>
> I assume that was 192.168.1.1
Yes.

> > This computer has a 33MHz bus 386SLC cpu and currently no 387 in it.
>
> Thanks for your input, but I don't think we should draw too
> many conclusions from a 386SLC.  It's a non-Intel 386/486
> hybrid that caused problems even for DOS users.

It acts funny with a laptop hard drive plugged in through an adaptor. 
Linux finds hda @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@.  DOS balked at the drive but 
eventually booted from hard disk.

We unplugged the hard drive to run the floppy disk linux.  The laptop 
drive is supposed to use less energy.

> > I presume the busybox commands oversimplified hardware calls.
>
> If I were a busybox coder, I would ignore the 386/486 DLC/SLC.

We have no other 386 desktops to try.  Alejandro is using a 386 desktop 
(with MDA card).

> Cheers,
> Steven