Similar issue (Was: [ale] linux on a 486)

Byron A Jeff byron at cc.gatech.edu
Mon Aug 6 10:45:02 EDT 2001


> 
> I'm in the process of trying to do a very similar thing - put Slackware 8.0
> on a 486 with 20MB RAM.  I'm setting up this machine for a home-school
> teacher who will be starting some kids in first grade in the fall.
> 
> I got to the point where it was asking me for IP addresses and the name of
> the NFS export, only to die miserably.  It occurred to me that although it
> asked me for network setup information, at no time did it ask me what kind
> of NIC I had nor did it give any impression that it had as much as attempted
> to autodetect one.  I noticed that the corresponsing link light on my
> Ethernet switch was not lit.
> 
> The various READMEs led me to believe that I needed the bare.i and the
> network.dsk floppies.  Upon reading the README for the network.dsk image,
> though, it said I needed the colors.gz rootdisk, and so I first powered up
> with the bare.i floppy and put in the colors.gz floppy when asked for a
> rootdisk.  At no time, though, did anything ask for the network.dsk floppy.
> 
> Can anyone tell me where my procedure went awry?

1) Boot with bare.i
2) Install color.gz when the kernel asks for a root disk.
3) Login as root at the login prompt.
4) Type the 'network' command. It will prompt for the network.dsk floppy.
5) Follow the proble directions. I always try to probe only for the netcard
   I'm using. 

That's it.

BAJ
> 
> - Jeff
> 
> 
> What's kind of funny to me about all this is that slack was the first distro
> I ever installed, back in 1995 - just me and a big stack of floppies!
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Michael H. Warfield [mailto:mhw at wittsend.com]
> > Sent: Monday, August 06, 2001 10:01 AM
> > To: Wandered Inn
> > Cc: ALE
> > Subject: Re: [ale] linux on a 486
> > 
> > 
> > On Mon, Aug 06, 2001 at 09:21:07AM -0400, Wandered Inn wrote:
> > > Trey Darley wrote:
> > > > 
> > > > Dude. He just got done saying he TRIED Slackware. Better grab that
> > > > second cup of coffee. ;-)
> > 
> > > Yeah, true.  What I tried to do was to add enough swap to 
> > compensate for
> > > the lack of memory.  I'm going through the same process 
> > again, this time
> > > adding an even larger swap.  It appears that my last 
> > failure could have
> > > been attributed to problems with the network card though.  When I
> > > attempted to setup my nfs network connection, I received 
> > errors.  I shut
> > > the box down, tried to reseat the nic, rebooted and I'm 
> > cooking again.
> > 
> > 	OH!  $#@$#@$#@!!!
> > 
> > 	I totally forgot about that weird problem when I did a Slackware
> > install on those two laptops.
> > 
> > 	It was an NFS install, just like you're trying.  I found that if
> > I told the Slackware installer that it was NFS and specified the NFS
> > path, it got all sorts of errors.  Most often it got errors 
> > complaining
> > about mount timeouts and RPC timeouts.  Which was really weird because
> > my NFS server was working fine.  Finally, I used Alt-F? (3 I 
> > think) and
> > did a manual mount of the NFS mount point and that worked 
> > fine.  Then I
> > went back to the installer screen on F1 and told it to use a locally
> > mounted path and specified the path to the NFS directory I 
> > had manually
> > mounted.  That worked perfect!  I never DID get the Slackware 
> > installer
> > on either laptop (PCMCIA network card) to mount the NFS directory
> > successfully, but mounting it by hand manually and telling 
> > the installer
> > to use a local path, worked perfect, first time, both times.  This
> > was also Slackware 8.
> > 
> > 	With 8 Meg of memory, swap is definitely going to be important.
> > With that little memory, I don't thing the 2x rule (16Mb) would be
> > appropriate.  You'll need more than that.  Don't know what you tried
> > or what you have but I don't think I would give it less than 64Mb.
> > If you try doing to much at one time, you'll spend your life in swap.
> > 
> > > I'll post my success or failure once I get there. :)
> > 
> > > --
> > > Until later: Geoffrey		esoteric at denali.atlnet.com
> > > 
> > > "Great spirits have always found violent opposition from 
> > mediocre minds.
> > > The latter cannot understand it when a man does not 
> > thoughtlessly submit
> > > to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his
> > > intelligence." - Albert Einstein
> > 
> > 	Mike
> > -- 
> >  Michael H. Warfield    |  (770) 985-6132   |  mhw at WittsEnd.com
> >   (The Mad Wizard)      |  (678) 463-0932   |  
> > http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
> >   NIC whois:  MHW9      |  An optimist believes we live in 
> > the best of all
> >  PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471    |  possible worlds.  A pessimist is 
> > sure of it!
> > 
> > --
> > To unsubscribe: mail majordomo at ale.org with "unsubscribe ale" 
> > in message body.
> > 
> 
> 
> ___________________NOTICE____________________________ 
> 
> This electronic mail transmission contains confidential information intended
> only for the person(s) named.  Any use, distribution, copying or disclosure
> by any other person is strictly prohibited. If you received this
> transmission in error, please notify the sender by reply e-mail and then
> destroy the message.  Opinions, conclusions, and other information in this
> message that do not relate to the official business of NIIT shall be
> understood to be neither given nor endorsed by NIIT. When addressed to NIIT
> clients, any information contained in this e-mail is subject to the terms
> and conditions in the governing client contract.
> --
> To unsubscribe: mail majordomo at ale.org with "unsubscribe ale" in message body.
> 

--
To unsubscribe: mail majordomo at ale.org with "unsubscribe ale" in message body.





More information about the Ale mailing list