I am trying to install slackware 7.1 onto a 386 with 16 megs of RAM and 200 MB of HD space, using bare.i and colour.gz as boot and root disks. The boot disk appears to load fine, but when I insert the root disk I quickly get a message:

VM: do_try_to_free_pages failed for swapper (and occasionally 'kswapd').

Could anyone tell me where I'm going wrong? I've tried using text.gz as a root disk instead, and received the same message.

R U sure a i386 can even run Slackware? lol

Slackware was what I was recommended for a 386.. but now I'm stuck. >_< Is there a better distro I could use?

Slack is probably your best bet for a 386. I had no problem with that version, 7.1 on a 486DX/2, but a 386 is pretty old. You might want to consider going one or two major versions further back as I assume this is going to be much more a hoppy project than a workhorse machine. 16Mb of RAM may very well not have cut it.Here's an explanation about memory issues. 16 Megs would be more than enough on a P1 75mhz, but on a 386 there may be some issues.

Cheers,

Finegan

Computers that junky don't even deserve to have linux running on them...i mean come on! you can pick up a very cheap computer nowadays.

Duron 900Mhz ------- $41
ECS K7S5A ------------$57
Crucial 256Meg ram--$71 <---------damn thang used to be $35
TNT2 (assuming u dont play games)----$30
Case w/ 300Watt PSU -------$50
--------------------------------------------------------------
Sum it all up and its $249 + 50 shipping = $299

Now all u need to do is pop in ur old cdrom & floppy and your golden, btw Linux doesnt seem to have any compatibility issues with VIA chipset as i've tried it on my computer now. But just to play it safe i would get the ECS K7S5A, although even though the memory bandwidth is 13% lower than the KT266A it has proven to be one of the most reliable systems ever..prolly more so than a Intel. nuff said now you dont have excuses.

I do. I haven't got $300. I've got 8 functioning Linux boxes in my house, why in the world would I want to 'buy' another one. I haven't 'bought' a machine in a while, but when I'm given one, the first thing I think is: ah... what distro this time kids.

Not only that, but you're quoting US prices... I buy 3Com NICs used for $5 a pop, but a guy in Holland I talked to on this forum can't find anything for less than $40. Not only that, but you're discounting the hobby factor... heck last night I fiddled with booting Linux on a 4 year old Palm knock-off with a 24Mhz MIPS chip.

Anyway, giving someone flak for having dimunitive hardware is unnecessary, heck I do all my hacking on an old P1 200 when the Athy 1.2Ghz is sitting just in the next room.

Cheers,

Finegan

ok sorry.

Sorry dude, reading back I went a little postal. The one thing I found on this forum that always gets a negative response is suggesting hardware. Heck, in one of them this guy was looking for ways to speed up his system: 450Mhz 36 Megs of RAM, so I suggested... buy more RAM, duh... turns out its a notebook and the RAM was not one of the easy modules like the stinkpad or the slot cards like dells, but this proprietary $100 a stick crap. Heck, this guy may be trying to install on a laptop, that was my last 386 venture too.

Anyway, I was being far too rude, my apologies mate.

Cheers,

Finegan