Hi Andrew,
You are a prince thanks!
Makes my post easier, as I have the specs for the hardware that will become my Linux box.
Here are the unit's specs.

HP Compaq dc7900 Small Form Factor Desktop
Intel Core2 Duo CPU E8400 @ 3.0GHz
4MB DDR2 RAM
320 GB hard disk
HP DVD-ROM TS-H353C
Integrated graphics with VGA port and DisplayPort
Integrated Ethernet adapter
PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports
Rear audio in and speaker ports
Front microphone and speaker ports
9-pin serial port
25-pin parallel port
6 rear USB and 2 front USB ports
3 low-profile expansion slots

granted, I have never run Linux locally. Should I be concerned about the memory?
What is the best distribution, it will not be a graphical installation.
Instead, I will be using ssh to reach  what is run from this unit.

With appreciation,

Kare


On Tue, 20 Oct 2026, Andrew M.A. Cater wrote:

[Note: subject slightly changed to widen it and make it clear that
it relies on Karen's requirements.]

On Sun, Oct 18, 2026 at 07:37:14PM -0400, Karen Lewellen wrote:
Hi Dan,
Will try to explain things in context for a change laughs.


Hi Karen,

Thanks very much for the attempt: it will help me and others, I think.


On Sun, 18 Oct 2026, Dan Ritter wrote:

Karen Lewellen wrote:
My goal is not simply playing radio stations, or streams.
My goal is to reach specific stations, several of them, included in what
tune in provides, for professional reasons.

If you can specify them, it is likely that the underlying stream
URLs can be extracted so that you don't need to deal with


 TuneIn.

Dan, I produce radio series and media content for an arts/ cultural
nonprofit.


Ah, you're _that_ Karen Lewellen :) From previous messages on the list:

1.) You use DOS on an older machine.

2.) You also use WordPerfect, if I remember rightly.

3.) You have a visual impairment/are blind so that virtually everything
graphical doesn't really work for you - and you don't generally need or
use a monitor.

Looking up shellworld.net - there's not much on the 'Net apart from their
home page last updated 2023. When I went to look a bit deeper, a note from
the American Federation of the Blind from 2001 mentions shellworld as having
been set up a few years earlier by Ken Scott, himself visually impaired.

Pretty much everything you do is via that Linux shell and is all text-based.
You get to that Linux shell by using ssh - and I'm guessing a menu system
at the far end which is read for you by your DOS computer.

High quality voices for your speech synthesiser are an absolute must because
that's what you rely on. You don't say whether you also read Braille or
use a Braille output device to help read text.

I'm guessing you've been doing things one way and doing them well for
25 years. That's understood - and you don't want to waste huge amounts
of time learning Linux administration and you're not a programmer.

You've hit a list where there are a bunch of experts, engineers, tinkerers
and opinionated folk :) That's not ideal if they don't understand your unique
situation.

I'm also making a wild guess that you have to start working on providing
your own texh support / own connections to services in case shellworld
disappears or is taken over.

The one thing we don't have: we don't know exactly what peripherals
you have on your DOS computer that you absolutely rely on. We do understand
that you don't have local support to just dive in and fix things
straightforwardly for you.

You have other old computers - but from the details you've given, they
might be too old to run current Debian or other current Linux.

Am I reasonably right so far in the summary above? If so, can you
tell us some more of what's running on the DOS computer and the Linux
programs and services you rely on shellworld for.

With every good wish to you, as ever,

Andy
([email protected])



www.curtainupdistribution.org

I also produce stories for a solutions journalism newsroom, a program area
of the same organization, in Canada.

www.commongroundmedia.ca

Lastly, I sing professionally.

www.karenlewellen.com/samples.htm
What I am not is a programmer.  I would rather invest in  tune-in, letting
them do the heavy lifting, then list the likely scores of stations that I
might require, at any given moment, for my jobs.


>
I run DOS on my computers.  In fact the Box I am having built will, if
freedos manages multiprocessing, which I feel sure it does, be configured so
I  can manage Linux resources as I do currently.

I'm sorry to tell you that this is incorrect. FreeDOS is a
single user, single-thread, single-processor operating system,
specifically built to be compatible with MS DOS, which was a
single user, single-thread, single-processor OS.
I am realizing such is the case *sniff*.



Currently I ssh, from DOS, into various Linux  focused shell services.
If successful I will ssh into a Linux shell, but on a different drive of my
own machine, local as you state here.

That's not a thing which can happen as you describe.
 Yes,  although it is rather sad to discover.


However! Your goal, as described, can be handled in another way.

Linux can manage the machine and run FreeDOS in a virtual machine
session under Linux. (You can run many such sessions at the same
time.)
Perhaps.  what I am not explaining clearly is that I must have access to
suitable adaptive tools first.
Yes, Linux has some.   but for me personally, those tools are physical
non-starters  for a variety of medical reasons.
so, unless, even when running Linux, the machine boots directly into
freedos, while still allowing me to ssh around, this may be far too complex.



Each virtual machine's "disk" will actually be a file in the
Linux machine's filesystem.
I respect this.  I must, however, run a dos screen reader from the start if
that resonates.


The reliable, built-in tool for doing this is called KVM/QEMU.
There are various toolkits on top of this to make management
easier, including Incus, LibVirt, and others. Incus and libvirt
both have complete command-line clients that do not require
GUIs.
My understanding of virtual, which I admit is limited, gave me the sense
that the host system must be launched first.  If such is the case, then this
process will not work.

>

Another possibility just occurred to me. Keep your existing DOS
machine, and put a new Linux machine next to it. With speakers
plugged into the Linux machine, you can use the familiar DOS
machine to SSH in to the Linux machine, and have your radio
streams played to those speakers.
granted, I am keeping my DOS system anyway, it is my primary means of
getting things done.  Including using ssh to reach my employer's dreamhost
workspace, my own site's workspace, and a third location where I manage
gmail among other things.
However, building a local Linux box  into which I ssh, not just for running
tune-in, but for using tools like tawb, which allows one to run Firefox in
a text focused graphics environment.
More and more daily I need to swiftly access YouTube and other links from
within an email, review the content, and go back to the email or article
involved.
The time it would take me to strip down streams is simply not productive if
that resonates.
My other serious challenge is going to be getting the Linux stuff configured
locally.
The engineer providing this hardware is firmly a windows person, not even
mac solid.
Hopefully the project will be so unique that someone with my local Linux
group takes an interest.  At the least I will want a solid image that can be
burned to a cd for easy of installing what is required.
The Linux resource providing my gmail door, and working to give me a taste
of tawb lives across the country from me.


-dsr-

Kare



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