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Message from Steven
===================
> 
> how could I tweak Basic Linux 3.5 to get more 
> working directory space on the root filesystem ??  

The best way is to install BL3 to its own HD partition.

> Would it help to reinstall BL3.50 from "scratch"
> so-to-speak, modify certain parameters of the various 
> startup files' command sequences, delete certain unused 
> commends, 

install-to-hd is what you want.

> The PC in question is a desktop Pentium 90 with 2 x 1 GB 
> hdd's, 96MB RAM, fdd, 32X cdrom, 10/100 Fast Ethernet NIC

You've got plenty of RAM and HD space.  Your only
bottleneck is the CPU speed.  This system should 
work well with BL3.

> Currently dual boots DOS 6 and Windows98, 

A partition for DOS, a partition for Windows, and a
partition for swap?  Can you spare some room for a 
BL3 partition?  Even 100mb would be very useful.
IF necessary, you can use FIPS to shrink the DOS 
partition, creating space for a new partiton.

> with Basic Linux starting on the hda1 DOS partition 
> from the standard C:\BASLIN\BOOT.BAT startup

OK you are using the DOS version of BL3.  This was
designed to be a starter version, where users could
try out BL3 and install one or two packages.  It was
assumed that long-term users would use install-to-hd
and put BL3 on its own ext2 partition.

> Problem is that after installing several of the nice, 
> helpful .tgz files and needed .o modules at the Basic 
> Linux and Slackware repositories, I'm left with the 
> following space considerations :
>    /dev/loop0  20146 1K blocks, 18643 used blocks, 
>    1503 available blocks, 93 percent full

That's right, your root filesystem has 20mb (2000kb)
of total space.  It is quickly filled by add-on 
packages.

> Yes, BL3 is running as UMSDOS within the fat16 partition.

No it isn't.  It is running from a 20mb loop file which
resides in C:\BASLIN.  If it were running from a UMSDOS
filesystem, it would be able to use all the available
space in your DOS partiton.  But it is not using your
DOS partiton (except for the parking of the loop file).
The loop file is an image of a 20mb ext2 partition and
it occupies 20mb of space, no more and no less.

> is there a straightforward way to increase the "virtual" 
> space 

Yes.  It is possible to use a larger loopfile, but I do
not recommended this (although some users are using this
option).  Or, alternatively, you can install BL3 to its 
own partition on your HD.

> Would I really _need_ to recompile the kernel for this ?? 

No.  Recompiling the kernel is completely unnecessary.

> Any way(s) to use another bzimage besides bzimage.p1 

The kernel has nothing to do with this issue.  You simply
need more space for your root filesystem.

> or maybe to use another loadlin startup-sequence setting ??

Once you install BL3 to its own HD partition, you will
use different loadlin parameters; however, this will
be automatically created for you by install-to-hd

Cheers,
Steven