This laptop has windows 98se installed on it, my question is can I install DML on this laptop and wipeout Windows 98 so that DML is the only OS installed. And if this is possible does DSL have enough programs to surf the internet do e-mail and have a wordpad type program and one more thing while on the road I like to take photos and e-mail them home or to the internet. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I am no expert with linux but have run Mandriva 2006 on my home pc for about a year now and like it very much. Eric

DSL does provide everything you ask for; e-mail is done with Sylpheed, and as a simple word processor (with quite a lot under the hood) there's Ted. You'll have to try and see if USB will work in order to be able to transfer your images. DSL is great system; if you take the time to explore it and get to know the concepts, you'll find it very useful and adaptable, and the community is really helpful.


If you're a bit in doubt as to your ability to handle it, you might also want to take a look at BeaFanatIX (BFX 2006.2 is still beta but already makes for a very usable system); I've recently managed to install BFX on a P233MMX with 64MB RAM - it doesn't exactly fly, but it works reasonably well, and if you're not a Linux die-hard, you might find it considerably more familiar than DSL.

Thanks for all the great advice. I finally received my DSL disc in the mail a day or two ago so tried to install it today but did not have much success as there was no video after system booted up. The screen was very light and the text and pictures were not readable. So probably did the wrong thing next, but tried loading Mandriva 2007 with the minimun amount of programs all went well until Mandriva wanted the second Disc. I got an error message that said disk was unreadable and had to try reinstall but same thing happened on second try so gave up for tonight but think I will try the DSL again tomorrow but need to figure how to make the video work better. I probably need to manually configure the video before system boots up but did not see an easy way to do that. I also have a problem with the CD Rom Drive, DSL and Mandriva both had a problem reading it and sometimes I would have restart computer as I would get an error message that said there is no OS. I have bios set to read the CD Rom first so do not know why this would happen except that drive is old and may be almost worn out.
Eric

Try
at the boot prompt!

Actually, replace 800x600 with whatever resolution you think your laptop should be capable of doing. However, I had some issues using DSL 3.0.x on hardware that 2.4 handled perfectly - so going back to DSL 2.4 might actually be a good idea. And if you want to do so, try to download it (if broadband is available, of course) - it's only 50MB! You just need to burn the ISO as a "CD image" to get a working live CD.

Moonmind thanks for the advice. If my next attempt fails I may try the older version you suggested. Eric

WOW SUCCESS!!! I was able to boot up and go online with DSL and my Gateway Solo 2500 Laptop, 96 MB Ram, 4.3 GB HDD. I am not sure how I did it exactly but during boot process I typed in the command startx than command xsetup.sh this allowed me to change video setting from 32 bit to 24 bit which made all the difference! I love this DSL and Dillo, it rocks on this older laptop. I want to install the OS onto the HDD so that the CD ROM DR. is free to use. I also need it to recognize the wireless card, it recognized the network card automatically which allowed me to be online and make a post to this fantastic forum. THANK YOU all for your help. I am new at this Linux so when a small success like this happens it's great! Damn Small Linux is awesome! Thanks - Eric

I wanted to try and let any potencial users of DSL know how I was able to get my Gateway Laptop to boot up with DSL. It may not be the best way or easiest but it worked for me after several failed attempts.Here goes...
1. At start up type "expert" hit enter
2. Load SCSI Modules? [Enter full filename(s) (space separated) Return for auto probe, n for none] insmod module(s)> Type "n" hit enter
3. Do you want to load additional modules from floppy disk? Type "n" hit enter
4. Do you want to (re)configure your console keyboard? type "n" hit enter
5. Do you want to (re)configure soundcard? type "n" hit enter
6. Do you want to (re)configure your mouse? type "Y" hit enter
7. Choose ps/2 mouse hit enter then choose ps/2 wheel mouse hit enter
8. Do you want to (re)configure your graphics (Xll) subsystem? type "Y" hit enter
9. type "startx" hit enter
10. type "runsetup.sh" hit enter
11. choose "xfbdev xserver" hit enter
12.USB Mouse? choose "no" hit enter
13. imp/2 mouse? choose "no" hit enter
14. choose mouse port "ps2 port" hit enter
15. choose "2 button" hit enter
16. keyboard choose "us" if you want US Keyboard hit enter
17.type "startx" hit enter Now it is running.
I know there has to be a better way but until I learn how to save configuration this will work. If your laptop is not setup the same you will have to make different choices on options. I also want to install DSL onto the HDD but haven't figured out how to do it yet. I can't seem to find the drive so that I can create the needed partitions. Having fun trying to figure it out. If anyone knows how to install DSL to HDD I would much appreciate the help. Eric