[ale] Linux on Compaq 5070

[hbbs at attbi.com]

> Ale, 12-15-02 1830
> Converting the wife. I recently got married, 

Sounds like you converted the girlfriend, actually.

> and the package included a small 
> Win box. :(

Can't help you there - perhaps surgery? :)

> Of course, I was not going to let that slide and have promoted ourselves as a 
> Linux family. :)
> It worked, the wife bought it (especially after I talked about the security 
> risks to our financial data). :)
> She has a Compaq (Perserio 5070). :( 
> It only has 156 RAM :(
> I tried to install Linux on the box, but it does not boot from the CD rom. :(
> There does not seem to be access to a BIOS (tried del and F1 and such). :(

You're right in suspecting that BIOS access is screwy.  Best path forward is to
Google it.

> I install Linux on another box. :|
> I put the hard drive with the installed Linux in the Compaq box. :|
> It did not work (though that technique has worked in the past). Linux will 
> not boot. :(
> 
> I am not sure that I really want Linux on a box with 156 RAM, but now it is 
> the principle. 

That's a fully workable amount.  I am typing this on a P/100 with 96MB running
RH8.0/KDE and it's slow as hell, but not because it's swapping all the time.

I hate Compaq (worked on them before a little and they ALWAYS 
> have extra issues and such). Has anyone gotten Linux to run on a Pererio 
> 5070. Anyone can tell me how to get into the BIOS (if I can boot from CD rom, 
> I will try Caldera 2.4 OpenOffice, the God of 
> installitonanyboxthatdaressnubLinuxdistro.

Dunno about booting from CD, but there's always the floppy route.  I've run
Linux on a similar model, and one of the worst things about it was the
one-platter eight-inch-long, 5-1/4-inch-wide 2GB Quantum Bigfoot drive.

- Jeff

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