Yes, I used individual package selection, I went minimalist and missed a few I needed, not a big deal, just remount the source dir and run installpkg for the ones you miss that you end up needing.

I also went through and hand-deleted a lot of things, mostly kernel modules for hardware not present and userspace applications for the same thing. I did a hand-install of XFree86 3, which may have had the effect of trimming things down as well.

As the list shows, there's still a good bit of stuff I can delete, if I come up with a way to automate it I'll post back to you.

Thanks alot for the help, Ill do the installation once I get my desktop system fully up and running. Oh by the way, what windows manager did you say you were running? I might try to install one if possible.

hehe, TWM, the most minimalist no-eye-candy wm available, it's just enought to let you move/size windows. Actually, I've been using icewm-light on my thinkpad a good bit and am considering installing that instead. You'll need to install XFree86 first of course. I'm using version 3.3.something due to the age of the video card, it get's recognized fine, but the config needed a good bit of modeline and clocks tweaking.

Hey Beavis, have you used BasicLinux? Its based on Slack 7.1 and boots off 2 floppys. There is a way to install it to the hard drive, but from what I understand it needs a DOS instalation to boot using loadlin. If you have used it, id like to know what you know about it. Thanks for all your help.

I've not heard of that one, as per the 4mb laptop howto, I used small linux and ended up installing it to the drive, it fit just fine in a 5mb partition, but never got X working with it so just used it to get a slack8 install going, then got the memory upgrade and went w/slack9.

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I followed the 4MB linux install guide to install slackware 9, its using a total of 170 of 305MB on /dev/hda1 with 24mb swap. Now I would like to know how you installed X Beavis. I used the packages that come with slack 9 and running Fluxbox, but It seems VERY slow when starting. I didnt install any compilers so I cant compile any source localy on my laptop. I can however compile on my desktop wich is also Slack 9. Can I compile X with minimal settings on my desktop and transfer it to my laptop? I know next I need to compile a new kernel to make smaller and light weight. Any other suggestions guys? Thanks for your help Beavis.

Nice work, slack 9 in only 170mb, very nice. Yes, I'm doing the same thing, compiling things on a slack9 desktop and using nfs to transfer to the little notebook.

As for X, I downloaded 3.3 from XFree86.org, 4 has a lot of things for modern video cards that I just couldn't use on that little notebook, so I would recommend v3. Did you go through and follow the recommendations in the 4mb laptop howto for conserving memory? ie: running 2 or at most 3 getty's instead of 6 or 7. With only 16mb, you may want to go with ash instead of bash as your shell, it works and is much smaller, and you'll get good typing practice as a bonus ;)

Before you go running off compiling a kernel, take a look at the config for the stock slack9 kernel, when he named it bare.i, he wasn't kidding, nearly everything is already a module, even pcmcia. Nonetheless, if a memory upgrade is not in your future, compiling a new kernel could be worth it, and then you know you've eliminated all the fluff.

I'd be curious what the output of free and ps -A are showing before you start X, can you post?

I wont be ablt to post those results, as Ive taken off X and the WM. Actually I double checked and Slack9 takes up 149Mb, with bash since thats what I know.

So you think I should leave the kernel as is? Sounds good to me, less work. Hehehehe.

Ill try installing X 3.3 with blackbox this time, but I have a question. Can I install the X 3.3 packages from Slack 7.1? Or should I compile it from source? If so, how would I compile is on my desktop and transfer it to the laptop?

Maybe I should ask how you did it Beavis, since you seem to have it running good. Thanks again.

I would not install anything from slack 7.1, the compiler and libs have changed quite a bit. You can just go to XFree86.org and download version 3, making sure you pick the one compiled with gcc 3.x, and not 2.x. even without X, you should still be able to get online with the box if you installed links, which is a textmode web browser, it works quite well, almost like "being there", heh. see if you have it.

I was just wondering since I didnt install glibc or any compilers on the laptop other than perl and python. Could I posibly compile it on my desktop and turn it into a .tgz package using checkinstall? Thats how ive been doing my other software.

Yeah I do have links installed, thats my only web browser. That is if I cant get X up and running with Blackbox. If youd like Beavis, I can give you my email so that way we can respond to each other faster. Let me know. Thanks.

sorry, I wasn't so clear about this, the downoad of XFree86 that I'm referring to is already compiled, it's binaries.

actually, I'll hit you up w/that button below your post, then you'll get a return address.

beavis, Is there any way I can get you to mail me that list.
dvdljns@yahoo.com