~Toughbooktalk~

Got DSL to load - kinda. Video is hideous with lime green, yellow, tan and white with blocky lettering so I can't read much of the Intro page. Right-click gets a vertical menu that I can't read. Any shortcut to a configuration page or OS window where I can setup better video?

BTW this page has some good info on which Linux works for old and very old computers:
http://www.osnews.com/story/24936/Damn_ ... l_Damn_Fun

All DSL did was pi$$ me off....before I learned terminal speak. The book was atrocious. (My apologies to the author)
sidenote:
This thing is fun. CF-29MK1 w/ 180SSD. 21 second boot from bios splash screen. Anyone need one. Oops...OT there.

Soap box time.
We would be so much better off if we found something and stayed there.

O.K.........go back through my posts and look for the words simply, easy and the like. (I defy you to find one) It is not simple...it's different. It's not easy.....there is a learning curve. Bite the bullet and do it and it will come to you.

What Ken is doing is interesting. Like me he hates to trash a solid piece of hardware.

At-ta-boy Ken.

Thumbs up.

Jeff

http://distro.ibiblio.org/baslinux/

See this one also, has a floppy boot. Reading up more on the Video problem.


Few others for older hardware


http://www.minix3.org/

http://sourceforge.net/projects/smalllinux2/

ADOR wrote:http://distro.ibiblio.org/baslinux/
See this one also, has a floppy boot. Reading up more on the Video problem.

BasLinux (BL3) is looking good so far . .
Minix 3 was looking good until the wiki said no USB support -- that is a deal breaker for me.
Will research the others. Please keep the ideas (and encouragement - Thanks Jeff!) coming.

(Edit to correct that Minix 3 is distro with no USB)

Springfield wrote:Got DSL to load - kinda.....BTW this page has some good info on which Linux works for old and very old computers:
http://www.osnews.com/story/24936/Damn_ ... l_Damn_Fun

I like the article, especially halfway down showing comparisons on resources, first line "best use" on processors, and 2nd line indicates best use on memory size.
The resources might be key to video problems, etc you are having.
Reading down to the bottom line says it all, ...give it a try and make that "creaky hardware freaky"..

I know that this is the Linux section, but I had WinXP-Pro running on my old CF-34 just fine. After I went through it and shut down all non-essential services using Black Viper's Guide (SAFE). It might be better to start with one of the stripped versions of XP intended for embedded applications, and then put back in what you need or even have room for, like browser or Media Player. Also, I would make a point of cutting of System Restore and Indexing, that is too much overhead for an old PC.

Black Viper's Guides (Great for giving any version of Windows a boost!) http://www.blackviper.com/

The other guy's here have far more Linux experience then me, I am just getting back into it with my new CF-30! But, I am stroked that I answered my first question on AskUbuntu.com today when two of the pros failed to read this man's question correctly and gave him the wrong code for the problem.

I have a copy of XP For Legacy PCs (FLP). I didn't think it would even try to load with only 32 MB ram, but guess it's worth a shot. FLP does run decent on a CF-07 brick with 300 MHz speed, but the CF-07 has 256MB ram.

Concerning Linux for older/minimum hardware:
download Puppy here:
http://puppylinux.org/main/Download%20L ... elease.htm
You have a choice of the ISO as either noPAE and PAE, scroll down to find the choice you prefer.
I'm going to try this on several old PIII machines and report back. Other distros mentioned above are:
BasLinux (BL3), DSL(XorgDesktop), Vector Linux, Lubuntu, Wary Puppy, CrunchBank, and Slacko.
Cheers

Here's a new distro that is only 15 mb total, minimalist but might work also:
http://distrowatch.com/?newsid=08401
CorePlus is 72 mb
I sorted by "old" computers and got this list:
http://distrowatch.com/search.php?categ ... +Computers

I put this project in a box, no time to work it for a while. The main issue is 32M memory and Pent-MMX performance. Much slower than a Pent-III, and much less ram than 256M that most Linux distos require. So what works for old CF-M34 and CF-27 won't even load on this M-33, or runs so slow it takes 15-20 seconds for a menu to popup on the desktop.

I have several of the M-33 units, let me know if anyone wants one to try out, my cost + shipping ~ $50 each.