From: ewtroan@ewt.raleigh.ibm.com (Erik Troan) Subject: Re: Advise me! Date: Fri, 7 May 1993 12:00:22 GMT
In article <1sctob$fqg@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu>, jac11@po.CWRU.Edu (James A.
Clark) writes:
|> Now I'll just describe my current system is because the first thing
|> I want to know is whether it's even possible to run Linux on my
|> machine. Ok, here goes: I have a mail-ordered 386-16SX (I know...
|> I know...) Anyway, it has 2M ram, a 42M harddrive (I know... I know...),
|> both standard HD drives, 4 8-bit slots, 4 16-bit slots, SVGA card and
|> monitor (Trident chipset). First things first. I read in the FAQ that
|> Linux will only run on an ISA machine. I'll be frankly honest. I have
|> NO CLUE what ISA and EISA stand for (something about IRQs???). Is my
|> machine ISA? If so, can I install Linux? Before you answer that
|> second one please realize that I am close (maybe a month or two) away
|> from buying a approx. 215M harddrive and some more memory (mother-
|> board will follow later...). ???
If you add another 2 meg of RAM it should run Linux just fine. If it's a
386/SX, it's ISA - as long as it's not IBM (since it's mailorder, I presume
it isn't). One of the machines I use it on is a 386SX-16 MHz w/ 4MB of
RAM and 40 MB partition, and its happy and useable. My apartement mate uses
it regularly logged in on multiple consoles. Just make sure you give
it some swap space (8 MB is good). I'd wate for the bigger harddrive
personally. Rumor has it Linux will run in 2 MB if you don't feel like
doing unimportant things like run gcc.
|> Also, here's something else also. Assuming that I can even install
|> the system, will it be able to do the following for me:
|> - run my old DOS software
|> if not, or partially, then can I have both systems on
|> my machine and just boot under the one I want to use like
|> OS/2's boot manager setup?
|> - be able to use TCP/IP and FTP with the (Cabletron?) Ethernet
|> card that I have? (LAN network support???)
Run DOS software - don't hold your breath. There is a DOS emulator being
written that's supposed to be improving be leaps and bounds every day, but
until its complete, you can easily boot DOS (like OS/2 lets you do) using
LILO. I have mine setup like that now. I don't know if the networking
stuff supports your Ethernet card though (sorry). Look in the net-faq
at sunsite.unc.edu:/pub/Linux/docs/NET-FAQ.
|> As if I haven't thrown enough questions at you here's some more:
|> Given my current processor at its turtle-like speed, would it even
|> run Linux "well"? And how well? One more question before you get
|> sick of me: if Linux isn't right for me given my current setup/config
|> then what multitasking environment would be? I prefer command-line over
|> GUI but would easily bypass this preference to use X-Windows just because
|> I've seen it in action and it looks really good.
Well as in really well. Like I said abbove, I use Linux on the same setup
w/ 4 MB of RAM and I'm perfectly comfortable doing so. Speed is not a
problem (Windows, OS/2, BSD, don't make that claim for that machine). If
you want to upgrade your OS w/o upgrading your memory, don't. I don't know
of a decent multitasking OS that's happy with 2 MB anywhere for any price.
As for X, don't touch it. It runs like a champ w/ some memory and processor
speed, but not with you setup. Since you say you're happier w/ a command line
anyway, just stick with it.
Let me know if you have any more questions,
Erik
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
When I was in school, I cheated on my metaphysics exam: I looked into
the soul of the boy sitting next to me. -- Woody Allen
Erik Troan = ewt@sunsite.unc.edu, ewtroan@vnet.ibm.com