Running Old Slackware 4.0. Need packages.
 

I am a newbie to Slackware and I just managed to install Tiny Linux on my 486 laptop with only a floppy drive and no usb or cd rom drive (Slackware 4.0).

I have managed to get KDE 1.1 running and was wondering if there is any old packages for this version of slackware, I am mainly look for a basic office package with a spreadsheet.

I know I could probably upgrade, but at the moment it seems to running fine and I don't know if I can go through the floppy install again just yet.

If you have any ideas where I can get some packages for 4.0 please let me know.

Cheers

- Rich -

Way too old. Try version 9
 

Unfortunately this is all I can find: ftp://slackware.cs.utah.edu/pub/slac...slackware-4.0/ But there aren't really any security patches. 4.0 is way too old. See if you can at least upgrade to 9.0 since that is still in support, I think even 7.0 might still have some support security wise. As far as packages, linuxpackages.net only has support as old as 8.0, so I guess you are completely out of luck.

I don't remember clearly but I think up to version 9, there might still be floppy support.... Which it looks like it does: ftp://slackware.cs.utah.edu/pub/slac...-9.0/bootdisks

Try version 9.

Thanks Jeebiz, it does look like I am out of luck unfortunately.

Cheers,

- Rich -

There's some interesting-sounding old packages in there like xpdf, xpaint, xspread, etc. Might be something to serve your needs:

ftp://slackware.cs.utah.edu/pub/slac.../slakware/xap1

Why can't you install a more modern slackware from floppies? If you have internet, you might be able to do a net install as well.

The slackware-basics book might be of use to you.

I've never installed slackware via floppies or the network, but I'm sure it can be done, so don't give up all hope!

Besides this, for any version of slackware, you could always build your own packages. I suggest using slackBuilds.org as a resource to learn how to do this. They have some good HowTos.

I love Slackware, but on a 486 I would install Damn Small Linux...
You'd have a reasonably modern system on it.

Yea, I'd try building packages of your own as well. I doubt any newer programs would compile on gcc-2.7 but you never know... If that's the case, just look for older versions of programs that play nice with your gcc version...

Might be a fun project. Ofcourse, I'd probably only run 4.0 for nostalgic reasons only... So ultimately, I'd suggest upgrading to a newer version of Slackware.. ;)

Hi-
Have you tried the folks at the BasicLinux site?
http://basiclinux.com.ru/
They have some packages there that might be useful. They also have a pretty friendy forum as well.
Good luck
neil

Thanks for your help. I have looked at trying to getting a new version on, but I haven't figured out how to get the color.gz file on a floppy when it is bigger than 1.44mb. If i can figure that out i can get a new version on the old 486.

Version
 

Gee Whiz
i did not even know there was a Slackware 4.0
I thought there was a version jump from 3 to 7 because of RedHat
just my 2cents
thanks
John

No, it went from 4 to 7 because of redhat, suse, mandrake. ;)

Thanks jong
i thought i remembered there was a version jump in there somewhere
unfortunately i only have the disk sets (still in there original sealed container) starting with 7.0
therefore i didn't have a quick way to check what versions were skipped
prior to 7.0 I was too poor to purchase the disks and had to resort to downloading the floppies
Thanks
John

split -b 1440000 color.gz part-

will create files part-aa, part-ab, part-ac, etc.

After transferring the files to your laptop, use

cat part-aa part-ab part-ac >color.gz



You might also investigate obtaining a null modem cable (assuming you have a serial port on your laptop). You can then use Minicom to connect to your desktop and transfer large files. To do this, you will need to edit /etc/inittab on your desktop machine to enable the serial logins. I have bootstrapped SW 10.1 onto a 486 this way.

I would recommend using Xfree 3.2 -- Xfree 4 (and subsequently Xorg) saw a rather significant increase in memory footprint and, in my experience, the older versions were more responsive (I did not perform exhaustive comparisons, though).

I assume that by Tiny Linux you mean te one at seul.org. I would not bother with KDE -- way too unstable and buggy, and would slow your machine. Have you tried the Andrew office suite developed at Carnegie Mellon University? (sorry the forum does not let me post websites).
Also SIAG. However, as I don't know how stable are those early gui spreadsheets, and don't know much about text-based spreadsheets, I would install the emulator dosemu and run a proven DOS spreadsheet there (like Lotus 123).


As for typesetting, if you can not install latex, try using groff, already installed I bet. If you want something at a higher level, try Lout.

xmbase is also a mighty good table database system. It may require some tweaking to recompile.

And of course, instead of installing software on the laptop, you can connect to other computer with a parallel cable (or infrared connection if it has one - are there parallel-to-ethernet converters? a serial cable would be the easiest but slow. I'm assuming your 486 laptop has no PCMCIA ports. If it has, there are still decent wireless cards with a PC-card profile). And run remote X sessions from there. ssh -X and that.