From: amillar@netcom.com (Alan Millar) Subject: Re: Linux on a AT-286 with 386 upgrade board? Date: Thu, 20 May 1993 19:23:12 GMT
And sgberg@charon.bloomington.in.us (Stefan Berg) didst rise up and spake forth:
>I know that Linux won't work on a 286, but what if I buy one of those board,
>which go right into the processor socket and accelerate your 286 to a 386 or
>486? There is definitely a speed loss compared to a real 386/486 when doing
>this, but will Linux work on such a system?
I ran SLS 99pl4 on an IBM AT with an Intel Inboard 386. It is
an older add-in card with a 386dx and a ribbon cable to the 286
socket, not a piggy-back card. I was amazed that it worked at
all because with the Inboard 386 you still use the 286 bios.
It worked fine until the latest version of SLS which came with
LILO on the boot disk. LILO would not run, giving the "0x04"
message on booting. I don't have an ST-02 (the most common
cause of the 0x04 error), so I would guess that LILO just did not
like the 286 bios.
I ended up not bothering with trying to fix it, because I
bought a 386sx/33 motherboard for US$100.
If you have a relatively generic 286 machine, go for the
motherboard replacement because it is cheaper and simpler
than the socket add-ons. If your motherboard is proprietary,
make sure you get a 386 add-in that has a new 386 bios.
- Alan
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Alan Millar amillar@bolis.SF-Bay.org __oo \
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But Moses said "Oh, Lord, please send someone else to do it." -Exo. 4:13