sud_crow Posted January 19, 2004 Report Share Posted January 19, 2004 (edited) I have a Micronics Mpact 386SX and i was wondering if i could install any other OS than DOS. Any ideas? I think Linux supports 486 and above... what about freeBSD or others? By the way, the laptop has 80mb of hard disk and 3mb of RAM. Edited January 19, 2004 by sud_crow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonMage Posted January 19, 2004 Report Share Posted January 19, 2004 Ouchie.. it's the 3 MB of RAM that kills you. If you want a bare linux without X, it should be good since Linux is geared toward 386 originally. However, the SX part is iffy for me since 386 SX, as far as I know.. i still 16 bit. Seems that from your spec.. Dos + Windows 3.11 is still your best bet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kfoss Posted January 19, 2004 Report Share Posted January 19, 2004 It's been a long time since I did it, but in 1998 I put an early version of Slackware 96 (I believe) on my old 386SX/20, with 2 MB of RAM and only a floppy drive. It wasn't easy and there was no X, but I did it. I will look into some of my old Linux Format magazines as they have installed Linux on 386's before, sometimes even with TinyX! Do you have a CD-ROM? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crock Posted January 19, 2004 Report Share Posted January 19, 2004 Peanut Linux You can give that a try, I've heard of moderate success when installing it on older machines, though I don't recall anyone installing it on an old laptop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
static Posted January 19, 2004 Report Share Posted January 19, 2004 As long as you use fluxbox and cut out as much uneeded crap (like services running, etc) as possible I think you'd be alright... with an older version of mandrake if not a newer one I bet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qchem Posted January 20, 2004 Report Share Posted January 20, 2004 I wouldn't even run fluxbox - go for no x at all. Depends what you want the machine for, but I'd go with DragonMage's suggestion if you want anything graphical. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gowator Posted January 20, 2004 Report Share Posted January 20, 2004 Beos??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iphitus Posted January 20, 2004 Report Share Posted January 20, 2004 OK, i had a 386 laptop. 20mhz, 20mbhdd and i think 4 or 2mb ram. Win 3.11 crashed due to lack of ram. I couldnt open the control panel to turn on swap :| before it froze. You wont get X running on this thing, give up, its futile. I'd be surprised if it even had a color screen. 4mb is the minimum for X and that's using a special version: SmallX. You will want CLI GO to www.linux.org CLick distrobutions and give it: Language: All Matches or English, Category: Minimalistic, Platform: intel compat, INclude Unmaintained: Yes. This will give you a nice long list of distros. Some wont be suitable, some will My reccomendation is muLinux: http://mulinux.sunsite.dk/ Assuming dos is installed use this: http://mulinux.sunsite.dk/dos_install.html Another one, a bit harder tho (SmallX is also here): http://www.superant.com/smalllinux/ THese are Linux boot floppys: http://www.toms.net/rb/ http://www.informatik.uni-bremen.de/~phara...inux/index.html This one looks fun! Has a CLI tetris on it, email, links, vi, http://tuma.stc.cx/nuclinux.php There are a few others which dont look to bad: http://www.volny.cz/basiclinux/bl1/bas4mb.html http://www.wu-wien.ac.at/usr/h93/h9301726/dlx.html Good luck and *please* tell us how you go. It's possible!! I'd love to see it!! Photos would be great :D lol, good luck, go with muLinux, nuclinux, or smalllinux. Chances are the box won't ever serve a useful purpose -- the ram is too little and is a major limiting factor, but it will be a good, fun challenge to get it working. You ought to be able to get at least basic stuff like, vi and lynx going. Even links. iphitus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sud_crow Posted January 21, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 21, 2004 Wow...! I didnt thought i would get that many answers, thanks everyone... The laptop doesnt have a cdrom, though i could get one if i really need it, i think i could connect an external 2x drive to the parallel port if my friend lends me his drive. The Laptop is currently running DOS 6.1 and Win 3.11 pretty good, it even runs Word 6 without problems, its a bit slow though ;) and the screen is black and white, but works. At the moment the laptop is not being used for any usefull porpuose, but i need it at least to make text editing (something like word 6). Also about the X, i was thinking in trying DirectFB, but it just crossed my mind, and i havent checked compatibility or anything ... so for now, X is out of question. Thanks again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iphitus Posted January 22, 2004 Report Share Posted January 22, 2004 With that computer -- standard X is O - U - T of the question. It will not run with 3mb ram. You may be able to try SmallX, it's been known to work in as little as 4mb ram. It could probably work in less tho Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kfoss Posted January 22, 2004 Report Share Posted January 22, 2004 I pulled out my trusty Linux Format magazines and found in LXF#23, Jan 2002, they installed Small Linux 0.7.5 and it worked. They attempted to run TinyX, which did work, but then stopped because of a mouse problem. They did have 4MB of RAM though, with your 3MB, you may not want to try with X at all. If X is not really necessary, SmallLinux should work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kfoss Posted January 22, 2004 Report Share Posted January 22, 2004 I forgot to say that they were using an IBM ThinkPad 360C which is a 386SX with 4MB of RAM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iphitus Posted January 22, 2004 Report Share Posted January 22, 2004 I pulled out my trusty Linux Format magazines and found in LXF#23, Jan 2002, they installed Small Linux 0.7.5 and it worked. They attempted to run TinyX, which did work, but then stopped because of a mouse problem. They did have 4MB of RAM though, with your 3MB, you may not want to try with X at all. If X is not really necessary, SmallLinux should work. Yes, i have that issue too, thats how i knew about it. btw, tinyX has been renamed SmallX since then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kfoss Posted January 23, 2004 Report Share Posted January 23, 2004 Sudcrow...any results? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sud_crow Posted February 5, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 Hi, thanks again for the information... I coulndt try anything yet as i been travelling (more like a vacation)... Any way, as soon as i can get my hands on the laptop and those distros i will try and post!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.