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Installing Linux on an old P1 laptop.
I have an old Dell 166 Pentium-One laptop that I want to put a simple Linux install on. I want to put this on the machines HD. I want the HD to just have the Linux partition with no Windows/FAT partition or duel-boot etc…
This machine doesn’t have a CD drive and is floppy only. The current HD is around 1 GB, although I can re-format a 2 GB drive (currently in my Amiga) if necessary! Is there an install distribution that can be built to floppy disks, so I can get it installed that way, or will I have to take the HD out of the machine and manually put Linux on this before putting it back in the laptop? Also, I’ve had a look at ‘Puppy Linux’ but any other options/suggestions for distributions which would run on a machine of this age would be welcome. A Linux that has a simple front-end dashboard-type system, like the system running on my wife’s Asus eeePC, would probably be best. Oh, and this machine currently has OS2 on the HD, not Windows! (Hay, I said it was old…) |
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A network install will be easiest. most distributions will support this i think. The laptop needs to have a ethernet port or a pcmcia card with ethernet to support this. For a diskette install you probely need a older release of one of the distributions.
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It doesn’t have a network connection on-board, and I don’t have the PCMCIA card anymore!
If I can find the docking station I should be able to frig up the AUI port to my RJ-45 network with an AUI to BNC converter and a BNC to RJ-45 transceiver; I’ve done this before, looks rubbish but it works, to give a local network connection. I’m not sure if this laptop would even be compatible with a network install though. It is really old equipment I’m working with here! Overall I think something I could write to floppies would be easier, if longer to install… How about the ‘setting up the HD in another machine’ option? Is that a feasible, and relatively easy, option? Oh, and thanks for the Welcome, repo :) |
yes you can put the HD in another system and install a system on it. Or put a extra partition on it with a cd or dvd iso put the hd back in the laptop boot from floppy and mount the cd or dvd iso and install the system.
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With a 1gb hard drive your best options will be either Puppy linux or DSl linux. Most other distros will need more than 1gb of hard drive for installation. How much memory is on the laptop. IMHO need at least 64mb of memory plus swap space to run a gui desktop, without being a linux power user and doing a lot of configuration tweaking.
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If you really do want to use the computer for something then I recommend adding a CD-ROM drive. The time you save will be well worth the $20 (or less) investment. If you want a relatively fast OS with a GUI for that kind of computer look at Windows NT 4.0. It uses less RAM than even Linux with a GUI and will run Internet Explorer 6.1. Windows NT 4.0 will run with 32 MB of RAM but 48 MB to 64 MB is better. It also supports file sharing. You will need to add a network adapter of some kind or what's the point in having the computer? You probably want a 4 GB hard drive if you can find one. That may be the largest drive that the computer's BIOS can support. It's possible that it could support up to an 8 GB hard drive. Most older computers are not useful unless you add a CD-ROM drive, network adapter and more RAM. For a modern Linux distro with a GUI you need from 256 MB to 512 MB of RAM. Without a GUI you still need 64 MB to 128 MB. Yes, you can run Linux with less RAM, but it gets progressively harder to install it and get it working as you decrease the available RAM. If you use a swap file that takes away from the small hard disk that you have. Does the computer have USB? I've used USB Ethernet "dongles" on some older computers because they are quite inexpensive compared to PCMCIA Ethernet adapters. They also work on any computer with a USB port. A USB CD/DVD drive is not going to be very useful because the BIOS in that computer won't support booting from USB, and the Setup for older operating systems often does not support USB drives. Linux probably does support installation from a USB CD drive, but you still have to boot from floppy in that case. It's much better to add an IDE CD or DVD drive since even an older BIOS can usually boot that directly. If you decide that you want to load Windows NT 4.0, let me know, I can help. For Linux, I've tried Puppy and Slackware and those are possible choices but you probably can't use the normal installation process. I haven't looked at DSL recently but that is possibly a third choice. Be prepared for a lot of time and frustration installing anything on that computer. |
Hmm, Ok... I wanted to put Linux on just to see if it would work! I thought it was supposed to run faster than windows on lower end hardware? I used to have a 486 machine running Linux, so didn't think this would have much of a problem :o
The disk in it now has OS2, but the machine runs Win95 just fine, and is passable with 98. Windows 95 installs of less flopies than OS2, and it's easy to install. I don't want to put any time, effort, or money into upgrading this machine. It did have a WiFi card, but it broke. I may get another one. It's one of the earlier Dell Latitude range. |
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Linux will run on less powerful hardware, but the newer Linux distros usually are configured to run on more powerful hardware than the computer you described. If you want to use Linux, then either don't use a graphical interface, or install a very simple one such as XFCE. Both GNOME and KDE will probably not run well on that computer, but other window managers in Linux may be fine. The trouble with saying anything about Linux is that Linux is not the same thing as a Linux distro. Linux is just the operating system kernel and some standard utilities (programs) that usually go along with that. Unlike Windows, the graphical environment in Linux is totally separate from the operating system. It is the usual graphical environment (GNOME or KDE) that has gotten larger over time, and so it requires a more powerful computer. Just about anything one can say about Linux is probably true for some distro or some configuration of a distro. Linux distros are really just a starting point and one can add, remove or change software. The least amount of work is required to get a Linux distro running well on newer hardware. More work is required to get Linux running well on older hardware, and that is mainly removing things, or finding alternatives requiring less RAM and processing. Puppy and Damn Small Linux (DSL) are small distros designed to be booted from CD and use little or no hard disk. You can also install them from the hard disk, but they are designed to install from a boot CD to the hard disk. You might be able to find or create floppy disks for one of those. Slackware Linux allows selective installation of packages. Although Slackware requires more knowledge of Linux to install and use it may be the best choice to get exactly the things you want, or that work well on the computer. Puppy and DSL are sort of "canned" distributions although they do have some add-on packages. Removing things from the standard Puppy or DSL, or adding things that aren't pre-made packages might be difficult. With the popularity of netbook computers you might want to consider investing in an external CD/DVD drive that uses USB. An external hard disk is useful for storing backups of files or disks. Either one of those would make installing Linux easier on a computer without a CD/DVD drive and they would be useful for other computers that you have. Unfortunately a computer as old as you describe probably does not support USB access in the BIOS and won't boot from a USB device. It's always a challenge trying to make use of older computers. I've probably had to junk as many as I've been able to use. I've given away quite a few older computers to people who couldn't afford to buy one, but often their expectations exceed the abilities of an old computer. I've had more success sticking with the OS that came on the computers originally, or an OS from the same era than trying to upgrade the OS. So far most Linux distros that I've tried require a computer similar to that required by Windows 2000 when using a graphical interface and web browser. I haven't spent a lot of time trying to find or configure smaller Linux systems for older computers. It just didn't seem to be a worthwhile investment of time. Things that have worked pretty well for me on older hardware are these:
I have my own sort of minimum requirements for a "useful" computer.
I also try not to invest more than $50 in an older computer, and less is better. The cheapest new junky laptop will be many times better than most used laptops. I have gotten Linux to run very well on my cheap Acer laptop (except for the dial-up software/Winmodem). That laptop cost $425 but a similar one can be had now for around $300. |
If you want (really need) linux on old hardware, you might try to compile your LFS, optimising for size and for your CPU, though it'll make you install/update (almost)all packages manually from source. And, you will have to do some research. Another way could be Gentoo, but it would be awful to wait until a package gets compiled on a Pentium ;). And, of course, you can install it package by package, from binary packages of e.g. Slackware.
Usually bottleneck of old hardware to run linux is amount of RAM. If you have less than 64M, it might be really hard to make a usable linux install on such machines. |
I think I’ve been a little confusing here. When I said Linux I meant the operating system; I’ve had a look around and realise that most people seem to be talking about Linux in terms of OP-systems-with-GUI-bolted-on-top packages…
I’m an Old UNIX hand, so when I say OP-system I mean OP-system, none of this fanct graphical stuff ;) I’ve still got the original unopened GEM install floppies around somewhere :D I was thinking about trying to connect it up through a serial link to my SPARK 10 (Running Debian Linux ) for terminal emulation; although I can just use Win95 to do the same thing |
Then, if you have time to compile (maybe on another machine) & search for packages, IMHO best option is LFS.
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The link below has a number of links to sites which have Linux on floppy for various purposes:
http://www.linuxlinks.com/Distributions/Floppy/ |
Thanks for all the help on this thread. I definitely have a better idea of what I'm looking at now.
Ta! |
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YMMV |
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