Linux on i486SX at 3MB RAM?

ichrispa · 06-15-2005, 05:09 AM

The subject says it all. I have an old i486SX laptop and I wish to get over the DOS and Win3.11 compatibility problems. I am thinking of installing Debian, but the earliest distro I have requires 4MB Ram, I only have 3 and no store has the ability to upgrade a laptop this old.
Is it worth it, or rather, is it possible for me to install Debian? Say that I manage to connect this drive to a computer using standard 40Pin IDE and can use a cd to install a Linux distro on the 2.5inch HDD, will it actually run?

thx in advance

perfect_circle · 06-15-2005, 05:39 AM

I would try one of the floppy linux distros:
http://www.linuxlinks.com/Distributions/Floppy/

michaelk · 06-15-2005, 05:10 PM

Maybe BASIC linux.
http://basiclinux.com.ru/

happen23 · 06-16-2005, 08:28 AM

zipslack may be work

ichrispa · 06-17-2005, 02:07 PM

Are any of those going to work with a 2.6.11 kernel version?

apocolipse · 06-20-2005, 03:25 PM

dude i think ur SOL if u want 2.6.xx

Shade · 06-23-2005, 10:45 AM

Yeah, I would probably suggest a 2.0.x or 2.2.x series kernel for that machine.

--Shade

ichrispa · 07-12-2005, 07:52 AM

I have it working on Debian 1.3.1, but I have to bypass loading the initrd into the memory during boot.
However I had to install it on the 2.5inch HDD using another computer. I had it working once, but then the kernel started to complain about "optional unsuported parameters" during boot and refuses to mount the root filessystem.
The fs is ext2 and for all I know all ext2 are the same ext2. Any idea if what causes this error (only occurs when I use a partitioning program on FC3, not during installation of Debian. But all versions or clones of fdisk report it to be Linux native - which is ext2.)?