Hi-

I have an old pc which has a 100 MHz processor, 64MB RAM (max) and 850 MB HDD.

It is currently struggling on Win98SE and I would like to install DSL on to it, either dual booting (I suppose DSL works with GRUB) or deleting and creating a new partition.

The CDR drive isn't really bootable, only the floppy with a bootable disk...

-If I put a DSL only installation in it, how do I install the driver for the ethernet card?

-Also if the CDR drive isn't really bootable, how will I install DSL onto this system at all (can I do this through a floppy disk or is there another method?)

Thanks

You can boot from your CDR through the floppy. Follow this instruction set:

http://damnsmalllinux.org/wiki/index.php/Boot_Floppies

This will allow you to "boot" the CD.

The ethernet card will most likely be supported by DSL. They're generally very good about this. If you'd like to check to see if your card is supported, check out the LinuxQuestions hardware compatibility lists:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/hcl/index.php

You won't have to 'install' (using your install CD), the kernel will just automatically load it. What you might have to do is configure your network by hand, though. To test to see if it works, once your system is loaded, type

ifconfig -a

and if eth0 has a ip address, you're probably good.

You have enough room to do a dual boot, but... I'd just do DSL solo. It's a great distro. Remember though- 100mhz is 100mhz. They are good with lightweight apps, but if something takes awhile to load, thats why.

Thanks a lot - this really helps. I'm still trying to find out !how to put a thank you on these posts!, so maybe someone can let me know how...

I think I will get rid of W98SE and install DSL. Dual booting through GRUB is ok but after a while it can be tedious.

You send a "thank you" by clicking on the thumb-up icon by the post you want to thank.
Personally, I think a real "Thanks, that worked" is more polite, but, whatever.