If I wanted to learn Linux...

pc_builder

pc_builder

New Member
I'm not looking for a full distro.

If I just downloaded the kernel, what other tools and software would I need at the very least to get a minimal system running?

Anyhting I need to learn, I can go online.

I'm asking the same thing at HWC. And XiBase if I sign up there. I never heard about XiBase before I came to OTC and HWC. I also saw a bunch of familiar names while browsing those forums.
 
There's one that runs off a cd, but I don't remember what it is. I'll hunt around.
 
that's a toughie for me, as i've never tried to use a non-full version, i bet tommy will know.
 
I was thinking more along the lines of something that ran or installed off of floppies. Something very small. The computer I wanted to try it on doesn't have a cdrom drive nor an open bay for one.
 
I found these ones to share an internet connection, some works with VERY old machines, they just need 2 ethernet cards, thou those still to have some commands
http://www.coyotelinux.com/modules.php?name=Downloads

You know from watching the news Microsoft and internet security don't belong together in the same sentence...one of these floppies booting on an old 'doorstop' 486 machine will be faster and more reliable than a windows based software firewall running on your desktop Pentium 2 (try running windows off a floppy disk with 12 Megs of RAM :). Keep yourself safe and pick out a disk image right now.
Click to expand...
http://lrp.steinkuehler.net/

I find it almost impossible to have a full-functional linux distro off a floppy.
 
I was thinking more along the lines of something that ran or installed off of floppies. Something very small. The computer I wanted to try it on doesn't have a cdrom drive nor an open bay for one.
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I've never used this one, but I've heard of it several times. I think it's what your looking for. Remember, with that size, you won't have a GUI (or only a very basic one) or much in the way of software, but they make one you can install on your win/dos disk without a separate partition. Let me know how it works, okay?
http://home.wanadoo.nl/peterdekoning/main.htm
 
thanks everyone. I'll check out these links.

But I've been thinking...

I might just gather together a bunch of my old parts and build something better than what I had intended to install linux on.

That way, I could try a more complete system and learn from that. Then, when I know what I'm doing, I could create my own system on the older machine.
 
BTW, what's the smallest amount of RAM and slowest cpu that I could get away with for learning linux?

smallest hdd required?
 
pc_builder said:
BTW, what's the smallest amount of RAM and slowest cpu that I could get away with for learning linux?

smallest hdd required?
Click to expand...

Depends on the distro and what you want to do with it.

Smallest machine I used was a P166 with 32meg and a 2gig drive. But it was for a DNS server, no xwindows or anything.

I'm going to say anything 300+mhz with at least 64meg and 4 gig ought to be bare minimum for most distros. Beware though, as this *will* run slow. :headbang:
 
Linux doesn't eat much resources per se, the eaters are the services.

I suggest you to get the Mandrake 8 version, it is fast, easy to set up and has an older version of KDE, which is faster than the current one.
ISO files for older versions:
ftp://mandrake.redbox.cz/Mandrake-old/iso/

Make sure to get the md5sum.exe in order to verify the file integrity before burning the image. You can get it here: http://www.etree.org/md5com.html
 
you can check www.distrowatch.com they might have something. pretty much anything you can find that comes on a floppy is going to be a specialized distro for routers, firewalls, etc. and isn't going to be of _much_ use as a learning tool.

if you have a couple GB of disk you could throw the drive in another pc, copy the binaries from the cd to a partition and install from the hdd, but that's not really a great solution either.

i think your best bet is going to be jury-rigging a cdrom in the machine long enough to do your install then pulling it out. slackware might be a good bet since it's pretty spartan, my slack installs usually weigh in at under 900M
 
Well, I have a REALLY stripped down Slackware 8.1 installed on that old pos. With specially compiled kernel (something like that) for systems with only 4MB of RAM (though this system actually has 8MB, but the next version up on its website required 16MB).

Anyhoo, there is no possible way to get a cdrom drive into this puppy.
At least, not that I can think of. Here is a link so you can see some pics of what I am talking about.

All in all, I have decide to leave that system the way it is for now and go with linux on my laptop with a dual boot option.

I checked out IBM's website and found a guide to installing and configuring Red Hat Linux 6.0 for my stinkpad. :p

One question however. Would IBM's guide also be relevant for the latest Red Hat, 9 perhaps? I was at Best Buy looking at the box for RHL 9 and most of my hardware is listed in the sample compatibility sections. (I say sample because there was a note that it was a sample list of all the hardware that is compatible :tardbang: )

Oh, and I wasn't calling you guys a :tardbang:. I was calling myself a :tardbang:.
 
My laptop has a 10gig hd. So I was thinking of splitting it in half. 5gig for winblows, and 5gig for linux.








--------------------------------------------
I am a :tardbang: and a :faptard:.

Oh and don't forget :confbang:.
 
pc_builder said:
I checked out IBM's website and found a guide to installing and configuring Red Hat Linux 6.0 for my stinkpad. :p

One question however. Would IBM's guide also be relevant for the latest Red Hat, 9 perhaps? I was at Best Buy looking at the box for RHL 9 and most of my hardware is listed in the sample compatibility sections. (I say sample because there was a note that it was a sample list of all the hardware that is compatible :tardbang: )
Click to expand...

RH7.3, 8.0, and 9.0 have all installed fine on my Thinkpads. No configuration needed.

Why not just plug a cdrom in and lay it on top of the case? I do this all the time, and never had problems with it. Set the computer on its side or something and just lay the cdrom on top (of course, the case not a circuit board ;) ).
 
pc_builder said:
Anyhoo, there is no possible way to get a cdrom drive into this puppy.
At least, not that I can think of. Here is a link so you can see some pics of what I am talking about.
Click to expand...

Years ago i used to work building and repairing PCs, and a crazy guy came with a PC that looked just like that one (Compaq 486 with 4MB of RAM and 270MB of HDD??), and he told me to do whatever it taked to put a cd drive on that one.

I remember i made a hole in the case (shit those cases were solid and well built) and took an ide and a current cable out of that hole to put an internal drive outside. I could have used an external cd drive but the guy was cheap. :D
 
I was reading different online documentation for different linux distros. And it seemed that the general concensus was that for booting purposes, an external cdrom drive wouldn't work for linux. Or something like that.

BUT..... I may be able to rig up some kind of fix. I could cut a hole in the side of the computer case... omg!
:zap: I just had a brainstorm. Why don't I just slap the harddrive into a different case with a cdrom drive and install the esentials I need for a decent system? In order to do that I will need to get a bigger HDD. The one in the POS is only 121MB.


Also, does anyone have a Linux for Dummies book? If so, tell me if it's any good. I was thinking of going to the bookstore and buying that Red Hat Linux for Dummies book I saw. It comes with RHL 8.0
 
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