Linux on a 386 ... Brings back memories.
Back in 1993, I had a client who wanted to use number of 386 and 486
computers to connect to their new IBM RS-6000s running AIX.
We tryed various X emulations programs, but they didn't work very well.
Besides, they were moderately expensive. As I recall most of them cost
about $1000 - for something that didn't work.
I ran SCO Unix on most of the 486s and maybe a couple 386s.
It worked, but was very expensive and couldn't be justified for most
of the PCs under my client's purchasing rules.
So, I had my excuse to introduce Linux.
I managed (with difficulty) to install Linux with X on machines as small as:
386/16 with 6mb RAM
386/20 with 5mb RAM
These machines were very slow, so my client didn't use them very long.
However, the machines ran perfectly and my client was very impressed since
none of the emulators worked nearly as well. In some ways, Linux
(SLS distribution - pre 1.0 - VERY VERY BETA) even beat SCO Unix. As a
result, my client began allowing me to do more and more with Linux.
David Mandel
On Thu, 13 Feb 2003, Linux Rocks ! wrote:
> Sigh... I remeber the days... That pretty much describes my first 2 linux
> installs. I never got X working (untill I upgraded to 16 megs of ram and a
> 486 motherboard). I still have the 386 laptop w/4 megs ram, monochrom VGA,
> 130 meg hard disk... I think its my only machine with dos/win31. The battery
> is dead and cost more than the laptop is worth... but its still handy :)
>
> Jamie
>
> On Thursday 13 February 2003 09:41 pm, Cory Petkovsek wrote:
> : ----- Forwarded message from Bob La Quey <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -----
> :
> : Mailing-List: contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]; run by ezmlm
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> : To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> : From: Bob La Quey <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> : Subject: Linux and a 386
> :
> :
> : http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3401440874&category=1486
> :
> : Embedded 386-25 with ruggedized case, VGA touch screen and 8 megs of memory
> : for $40. The seller has several hundred of them. They do need both 12V
> : and 5V power.
> :
> : and
> :
> : <quote>
> : See my instruction how to create a bootable Linux diskette that runs on a
> : 386 with 4MB of RAM or maybe even less, using uClibc and Busybox. Title
> : "Getting Linux into Small Machines". HTML, LaTeX and PDF. This boot disk
> : uses LILO and an initial RAM disk and runs on a 4MB machine. To use it,
> : uncompress with gunzip and dd (rawrite) to a diskette. Here are the kernel
> : configuration file, the LILO configuration file and the shell script to
> : create the boot disk from a root file system directory and a kernel.
> : </quote>
> :
> : http://www.xs4all.nl/~lennartb/linux.html
> :
> : Sounds like a Mark Wolf project ...
> :
> : Bob "Life so short projects so many" La Quey
>
> --
> Let's call it an accidental feature.
> -- Larry Wall
>
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>
Sincerely,
David Mandel
Chief Activist
Portland Linux/Unix Group
1440 NE 59th
Portland, Oregon 97213
(360) 260-2066 at work
(541) 730-5285 cell
======================================================================
David Mandel, Product Manager http://www.MicroSharp.com
Other Affiliations
David Mandel http://www.DavidMandel.com
Portland Linux/Unix Group http://pdxLinux.org
LinuxFund http://LinuxFund.org
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