Hey Day (and others interested), I'm doing one of my annual re-evaluations of Linux distributions, and I'm currently playing with Mandrake 9.2. I'm going to be installing it on a machine -- hopefully this week -- and am going to play with some of the newer options. Supposedly, there's a "minimal" install (still 100MB but oh well) onto which I can add a light window manager and DOSemu for testing. Now this will be on non-SurvPC hardware, but I am curious how "small" a current mainstream distribution can be made, and while I'm at it, I can try out a couple of things for you.
What DOS software do you run? Could you send a link, or better, a diskette image of a "typical" configuration you run under DOS for connecting to the 'net? Now this may be a complete fiasco with Mandrake, so I'll try again with Debian if so. I'm not out to create a new distribution, but simply a configuration to meet basic needs using mainstream (i.e. can readily buy books on it and find large groups of users) distributions. The DOSemu part comes from a perverse sense of curiosity. :) Here's what I see including: 1. Basic, text-only Linux install (varies depending on distro) using current kernel and hardware support (to provide best odds of working with most things.) 2. Ability to dial up ISP using PPP, ethernet or whatever. 3. Provide NAT to 'hide' DOS software from outside. 4. DOSemu (plus your diskette image) I'm wondering if a "mid-range" older PC -- probably above a Pentium but not more than a PII/III 400 - can do some of what you're after by providing a "Linux support for DOS apps" solution. If DOSemu works well in an xterm, could add the following: 5. Basic x-window configuration with SMALL window manager. 6. xterm This would allow MULTIPLE DOS sessions in resizable xterm windows with resizable text (sort-of overly complicated DesqView) while still providing the necessary "gateway" services to allow older DOS apps to work on the "new" Internet. The next step would be enabling physical serial interfaces to allow hooking up an actual physical XT-class machine, or even a beloved old Apple II+... something I'm thinking about. The big gotcha will be what apps you're using to access the 'net. Are they network (ethernet) capable (IP based), or dial-only? - Bob To unsubscribe from SURVPC send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with unsubscribe SURVPC in the body of the message. Also, trim this footer from any quoted replies. More info can be found at; http://www.softcon.com/archives/SURVPC.html
