> I've been surrounded by all sorts of computers, hundreds of them,
> all different shapes and sizes, for the past few years now. Except
> for some kludgy old (discarded) laptops, I can't recall seeing a
> 386/no-copro or 486sx class machine up and running in all that
> time... every one of them has had hardware math capability. These
> old machines are so slow and getting so difficult to maintain or
> upgrade that they are just not worth the time or effort.
I have several 486SX-33s with 8megs running Linux. Using them mostly
as network terminals. They work acceptably well even using X. In my
queue of things to do is get some 386s running Linux on my net.
Getting enough memory in them seems to be the primary problem. Have
been looking at Minix to turn old computers into network terminals.
>
> But the kernel itself would boot without a copro, no problem. The
> downside would be that applications might no longer be 100% usable
> on those low-end boxes, with tomsrtbt one of the very few unix-based
> tool that could be booted on them to, eg, assess the state of their
> hardware.
This is my primary use of toms, testing a "new" computer to see if it
is a candidate for Linux. With the right nic and 8 megs, most any pc
can be quickly setup as a temporary network terminal. BTW, I have had
little luck with Toms recognizing plain jane NE2000 clones. Does
anyone know if one version works better than another on those cards?
--
Onward! Through the Fog!
Willie
http://austinfarm.org/homegrown
