Just wanted to say a BIG THANK YOU to the Amigo Linux Developer!!!

You've really made my day today!!

After many unsuccessful attempts and wasting hours and hours trying to install Slackware, Mandrake, etc on my ol' Libretto 110CT subnote, I got Amigo up and running very quickly and working the first time I tried....

Was ready to give up on putting linux on my Libby, but thought I would try one more time....

BTW, one of the main difficulties to installing Linux on an old Libretto is that the fact that you can't boot from a CD....but even trying to install by copying files to my hard drive, booting into DOS and using loadlin, just wouldn't work (it did work for others though) for me....

Anyway, THANK YOU Amigo!!



Mark
Silicone Valley Libretterati

Great! Thanks for posting with your success story. Stick around -Amigo is doing some exciting things with the desktop for the upcoming release, which will also be available for older versions.

Hi, I'm new to Linux and this forum.

I agree! Amigo Linux and Slackware are awsome.

I downloaded Amigo Linux because I wanted to try Linux without repartitioning my FAT harddrives. I installed Amigo Linux on my Windows 98 computer that has two physical harddrives. Amigo Linux configured itself without any problem. I am also able to start the command prompt and WindowMaker easily. I can create text files and image graphics in Linux too.

I need to make a shortcut (.pif file) that reboots the computer into realmode MS-DOS using command.com. If I create an MS-Dos shortcut by right clicking on linux.bat, I will have difficulty restarting Windows 98. For some reason, Windows will not allow me to interrupt itself when I see the message "Windows is starting your MS-DOS program." Under Windows 95, I can press escape to exit Dos mode and start Windows. Since I cannot interrupt Windows from loading Linux, I deleted the shortcut and created a minimum shortcut for command.com.

I need to get used to the new file system and how Linux accesses my other partitions. I haven't tried accessing my USB, floppy or CD-ROM drives yet. It's funny that my drive "C:" is under the \dos directory in Linux.

I also notice that if I am the user "Amigo," I cannot save files outside of the user directory. I wanted to save an image onto my other drive, but I couldn't.

I'm not sure if Linux will recognize my SoundBlaster 16 PCI card. The ALSA Soundcard Matrix might have some drivers. I'll ask around for help and information.

I am curious if I could install Gnome and KDE on Amigo Linux. If I can use installpkg, which files should I install? I see many tar.bz2 and tar.gz files.

I'd also like to update WindowMaker. Once I figure out how, I'll try installing the new version. I think WindowMaker runs on top of X11? I'm not sure. I still have a lot to learn about Linux.

I'll keep playing around with Linux and WindowMaker before I install anything. Thanks for making this version of Linux! I found Amigo Linux on Linux.org, under the "Runs Under MS-Dos" distribution page. Keep up the good work!

Have you tried this for maing a shortcut to Amigo for your Win98 desktop.
http://amigolinux.org/docs/killbill.htm
It is best to try running linux.bat first from the DOS command line, but this uaually works.

Access permissions to the drives can be controlled by editing /etc/fstab while logged in as 'root'. navigate to /etc and right-click on fstab and choose 'Open as text'. There you'll see all of what Amigo HWSETUP found.
A standard line for a cdrom might look like this:
/dev/hdb /mnt/cdrom iso9660 defaults 0 0
You can give users access to the drive by putting 'users' in the options section of the line for the drive instead of 'defaults'.

To give full read-write access to a FAT partition the line might look like this:
/dev/hda5 /mnt/fat-d vfat users,umask=000,noexec 0 0
See /etc/fstab.amigo for more hints.

Yes, you can install gnome/KDE. Just go to ftp.slackware.com or any on of the mirrors. Go the the Slackware9.1/slackware folder. There you'll see the slackware package categories with folders named /a /ap /d /f /l /n /x /xap and others. Go to the /gnome or KDE folders to see what is available.
The minimum to get KDE going is the 'qt', 'kde-libs' and 'kdebase' packages.
For gnome it is very difficult to split the packages up and is best to install all the pkgs in /gnome.
For either of the above to work best, you should check the /a and /ap directories also and add the packages there that are left out of the basic Amigo installation. Also look in /n for network packages you may need. And load up on libs from /l.
For software that is not available from slackware, you can choose from hundreds of slack-packages from linuxpackages.net to extend Amigo. Be sure to use packages for the correct version (see /etc/slackware-version).
Here's a link to a newer WindowMaker which I am now using -has very nice anti-aliased fonts!
http://www.linuxpackages.net/pkg_details.php?id=3190
Save the pkg somewhere you have access to. In this case, since it is wmaker you want to change, you should do it from the command line or run fluxbox as window manager while changing wmaker.
Shut down X by exiting window maker. the navigate to the file:
cd /mnt/cdrom/example/path/to/file
run 'pkgtool' and choose 'Remove installed programs'. Scroll down the list to windowmaker (use pgdn/pgup for faster scrolling). When the wmaker pkg is highlighted press the SPACEBAR to select it. then hit <ENTER> to remove it. Then exit from pkgtool and type:
installpkg wmaker*.tgz
You should see a short text summary of the pkg as it is being installed.
Then run 'xwmconfig' and choose window maker as your window manager. Then type 'startx' to restar the GUI.
I always INSTALL pkgs this way, but remove them with 'pkgtool'. Use pkgtool 'List files in packages' to see what all comes in any package.
tar.bz2 and tbz are usually source code files. tar.gz files are also sometimes source code, sometimes binary installer files, like for Firefox or Opera. These files cannot be handled by pkgtool. Stick to using Slackware-type packages at first, before learning to deal with those.

Open /etc/rc.d/rc.modules as text and uncomment(delete the '#') the line for you sound card and it should load the next time you boot.

Amigo is a very powerful user. If you need to do something as 'root', while logged in as 'amigo' just open an xterm and type:
sudo su
You will become 'root' in that window and be able to run any command.

I do run Linux from the DOS mode command line. If I create a shortcut of Linux.bat on my desktop and boot to Linux, I cannot restart Windows 98.. I'm not sure how to exit the Linux Command Promt (I think it's the shell) and return to the Windows 98 / DOS command prompt.

Thanks for your tips about KDE. I'll dowload it after I use Linux for a while. I'll look for a more powerful Window Manager. I'm not confident enough to install a big GUI like KDE yet.

I forgot to mention that I download Amigo Linux because the zip file is only 90 MB. I've seen many distributions that are more than 300 MB in size. Some require that I burn an .iso image onto a CD and boot from it or a floppy disk. Installing Amigo Linux is easy!

I downloaded and installed the new version of WindowMaker. WindowMaker won't load: I see an error message saying that something can't load some fonts and initialize the WINGs widget set. Do I need a new version of X11 or xf86?

The settings for my soundblaster in "/etc/rc.d/rc.modules" aren't correct. I'll need to edit it. Thanks for the information.

HMMM, I haven't tried that version of wmaker on Amigo2. I AM using it on the new AmigoXP(Slackware10) without problems, though.

Thanks for the information. I'll try to install Slackware 10, KDE and Gnome after I get a new harddrive.

Amigo Linux and Window Manager is running fine on my computer.

that means a new version of amigo is coming?

i also want to thank the developer, amigo is what i was looking for... i have a small hard drive, and a computer i share with parents/brother who are rather intimidated by technology, so now i can run linux without causing them much trouble...

so, in the true spirit of open source, i think the best way to thank you is asking:

is there anything i can do?

i am fairly new to linux, but i can help with documentation or something...

I put a PAUSE in the BAT file run by the .pif, like this:
@ECHO Press Enter to run Linux.
@ECHO Or, to return to Windows:
@ECHO press Ctrl-c
@ECHO reply Y
@ECHO at prompt, enter win
@ECHO then press Enter
@ECHO .
pause

Thanks for the tip. I found out that I was pressing the wrong key; I was using F-8 instead of the control key to interrupt the boot sequence.