Memory is the issue here.

Does Xfree86 Version 3.x have a smaller memory footprint than 4.x? (probably) You might need to "downgrade" to it. The video in that laptop probably won't support the advanced features in 4.x anyway.

Seems to me I was running MuLinux which is a real small distro on a desktop machine with comparable processor and 16 megs of RAM. Xfree86 ran just fine, with FVWM-95 but the machine started to really thrash when I started the really old version of Netscape Navigator the distro supplied.

You only need to do something special with PCMCIA if you need it to boot (like using an external CDROM or Hard Drive, or doing an NFS Boot or something), Otherwise all you have to do is start PCMCIA card services and everything else is pretty much plug-n-play.

I would strongly recommend custom compiling a kernel (and maybe a lot of other sources) for this machine to keep the memory footprint as small as possible. When you run out of the 16 MB of RAM, the computer will start swapping to that very slow laptop hard drive (that probably isn't even on a DMA capable IDE controller!) Plan on growing old using a Linux GUI on this system!

My root disks were trashed in my travels back into the states... anyone know where I can pick them up? THe ftp given out on this thread no longer has them.

thank you!

ftp://ftp.slackware.com/pub/slackwar...-8.1/bootdisks

I didn't read the whole thread, but that's the latest place to pick up boot images for floppies on Slack 8.1

Cool

Fafaforza, you mentioned that you are using a machine with 32 mb.
Which Linux are you using? If Slackware, then what version. I am trying to get my Sound Blaster Live card to work, but it's a pain with such little memory. Please let me know.

George

P.S: I also tried Vector Linux, but it does not like my sound card

I have run Slackware 8.1 on as little as 16MB RAM (XFree86-4.2.0). You'll need at least 16Mb swap for X to work, but the more the better. Use opera instead of netscape, mozilla etx. use Balckbox or fluxbox. use ROX-filer for file manager. See my HOWTO:
http://home.earthlink.net/~gnashley/...ix8_1howto.htm

Thanks for the help with a minimal install, however I could not get alsa to work in Slack 8.1, so I installed 9.1. Filnally sound works. By the way, adding memory to my system made a difference. I just looked under, www.yahoo.com - yellow pages for computer stores. Then I called them and asked for EDO RAM. I finally found some guy selling 2 32 Mb pieces for $16 each. I took, my computer to the place, found the RAM compatible with my motherboard, and now I have 64 Mb ram instead of 32 Mb.

George

hehehe