From: shenton@troll.gsfc.nasa.gov (Chris Shenton) Subject: Re: Worst possible 386 setup Date: 30 Jun 1993 11:52:42
[Great subject line :-]
On Tue, 29 Jun 1993 22:36:33 GMT, jdahl@rchland.vnet.ibm.com (Jared Dahl) said:
jdahl> I wanna run X11, and I will be modifying source. What would be
jdahl> the worst possible setup that I could get away with on a 386
jdahl> system and still run Linux, with regards to: HD Type: HD space:
jdahl> Memory: Video: Floppies: Math Coprocessor: Ports: Mouse:
Well, mine may not be the absolute *worst*, but folks tend to snicker
at me when I talk about my archaic machine; 'course it set me back
over $3K when I got it... :-(
I've *never* run DOS on it -- used Interactive Systems UNIX until
Linux came along. It's been up 24 hours a day for the past 5 years
with no problems, so I can't really justify dumping it. Anyway, I've
got:
- 386-20 with 4MB 80ns RAM, no math coprocessor
- ~64MB Micropolis hard drive on a WD 1:1 MFM controller; one 5.25" floppy
- Everex EVGA video board with Magnavox analog (greyscale) monochrome monitor
- Serial/parallel card: I updated the uarts to 16550A's for modem use
- No mouse yet, but ``it's in the mail''.
I was able to fit almost the entire Linux SLS distribution onto the
drive by omitting TeX, ghostscript and dosemu; I also reserved an 8MB
swap partition, and still had a whopping 5MB user space left ;-). (I
plan on NFS mounting a disk I have on Sun on the other side of the
desk).
I think I'll have to get more memory for X; I've only poked at it a
little but when it tries to come up, the screen flashes, then the
machine hangs. I can't even telnet in from another host then.
jdahl> Would it be possible to set this machine up as an Internet
jdahl> node?
Depends on what you mean... at work, just plug it into the net. At
home -- depends on who you can call up and what services they'll
provide. I've used my 386 for sending email via UUCP for years.
I've recently gotten SLIP and PPP up on my Sun, and that's almost as
good as being there... once these are working well on Linux, you'll be
able to connect to any packet provider.
I'd *love* to get a cheap laptop that could run SLIP/PPP and had
ethernet. I wouldn't even have to have X but it would be big win.
UNIX-to-go... gotta love it!