Nick Precision Posted October 10, 2003 Share Posted October 10, 2003 I have a laptop (Toshiba 2545XCDT) that isn't the newest thing around, it is somwhere around an AMD 333mhz with 64mb ram. I currently run Win98 on it only because it has Microsoft Streets & Trips and I plug my GPS into it while on the road. I would like to dual boot Linux so I can compile programs using G++, and basically get to know linux/unix commands better, I am still new to all this. I don't *need* a GUI, I am learning BASH at school and have to compile my programs in the same environment. Cygwin seems like a big joke... so close but still not usefull.So, is there a linux distro out there that would be right for me? I currently run Mandrake 9.1 on a 1GHz desktop at home, but its install is too massive for my little laptop. I am trying a slimmed down install of Mandrake on my laptop right now (normally I just do the full "stupid guy" install) but it appears to just be killing my laptop instead of installing. I was just wondering if someone out there made a flavor of linux that was just right for my application (less resources required). The only thing I really require is G++ & FTP, so I would be using a Xircom 10/100 PCMCIA card for ethernet hookup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teacher Posted October 10, 2003 Share Posted October 10, 2003 Welcome to All Things Linux!If you want a really small distro - bare bones then go for D*** Small Linux. You can pick it up off of Distrowatch or here. It has had a series of recent updates and is a nice program. It is designed to fit on a miniCd or under 50 MB I believe. Next up the chain would be Knoppix. I believe the latest of that can also be picked up from Distrowatch or here. Those should give you a good idea. Both can be run from CD as a Live Distro or installed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonicDragon Posted October 10, 2003 Share Posted October 10, 2003 Slackware has very little bloat.9.1 is two disks and 9.0 is only one.www.slackware.orgIf your not concerned about the look of the gui, don't install KDE or Gnome. Stick with IceWM or Fluxbox or something like that. That will save a lot of room and won't use up as much memory.You could also try a "live cd". They are linux distros that run directly from the cd-rom drive. Knoppix is a good live distro. If that's too much, DamnSmall is a slimmed down version of that. Slackware also has a nice live cd.Good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teacher Posted October 10, 2003 Share Posted October 10, 2003 Great minds think alike. That just goes to show you the quality of these distros. Slack is also a major player. A new version just came out a couple of weeks ago. Here is an excellent mirror. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owyn Posted October 10, 2003 Share Posted October 10, 2003 I have a laptop (Toshiba 2545XCDT) The only thing I really require is G++ & FTP, so I would be using a Xircom 10/100 PCMCIA card for ethernet hookup.You should be fine.This article gives a lot of specific details about using your laptop with Linux. Slackware is the recommended distro according to this user.I checked the Knoppix forum and it appears that some people have successfully used some Xircom PCMCIA product with Knoppix. Worth giving it a try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peachy Posted October 10, 2003 Share Posted October 10, 2003 I typically don't install X Windows on a low end system, so, I'd do a custom install with say Red Hat and choose only the development and networking packages. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owyn Posted October 10, 2003 Share Posted October 10, 2003 Oops. The last link was for the 2540 and the 2545XCDT link is broken.Here is the primary link for Toshiba Linux Laptops. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Precision Posted October 10, 2003 Author Share Posted October 10, 2003 OK well, I need a faster connection, these disk images are taking too long ;)I currently have a failed Mandrake install on the laptop now... I booted D*** Small from the CD and use it a bit, it looks like it might work out if I can get it installed with Win98 dual boot. The problem I am having now is when my Xircom ethernet card in the laptop hangs when it loads the drivers for it. It has happened on several distros now, and one of them said that sometimes that card makes it hang when it tries to find info about it, and if I knew the info already I should input it.I am downloading Slackware and Knoppix now, if my modem doesn't catch on fire (I have already DL'ed 4+ GB today), I will give these a shot tomorrow or in the coming days. I also have to catch up on math, my mom would kill me if I failed a semester because I was getting linux isntalled ;)Thanks for the help... and I will continue slowly messing around with it, see if anything eventually works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonicDragon Posted October 10, 2003 Share Posted October 10, 2003 I booted D*** Small from the CD and use it a bit, it looks like it might work out if I can get it installed with Win98 dual boot.Has anyone here ever tried doing a HD install of DamnSmall? Same instuctions as a knoppix install?I am downloading Slackware and Knoppix now, if my modem doesn't catch on fire (I have already DL'ed 4+ GB today), I will give these a shot tomorrow or in the coming days.Good luck with those. Let us know how the installs go.my mom would kill me if I failed a semester because I was getting linux isntalledYea, homework is important too. PS, have you tried installing Mandrake 9.1 without Gnome or KDE? I'm pretty sure it comes with a smaller window manager. Mandrake would probably be better at detecting your ethernet card, so it might be worth the shot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owyn Posted October 10, 2003 Share Posted October 10, 2003 The problem I am having now is when my Xircom ethernet card in the laptop hangs when it loads the drivers for it. It has happened on several distros now, and one of them said that sometimes that card makes it hang when it tries to find info about it, and if I knew the info already I should input it.What is the exact model of your Xircom card?Also noticed a comment about needing to change the bios in a sister model.PCMCIA problems---------------If you get this error : PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:13.0. Please try using pci=biosirq PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin B of device 00:13.0. Please try using pci=biosirqor something similar, go to the laptop setup by pressingESC key as it is booting up. Then press F1, and then hit PageDn togo to the 2nd setup screen. Now find, the bios settings for the PC CARDand it should most likely be in "Auto-Selected" mode. NowPress the space bar until it reads "CardBus/16-bit".Now save the settings and reboot. This should fix the pcmcia stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owyn Posted October 10, 2003 Share Posted October 10, 2003 From DSL site. D*** Small Linux has a nearly complete desktop, including XMMS (MP3, and MPEG), FTP client, Dillo web browser, links-hacked web browser, spreadsheet, Sylpheed email, spellcheck (US English), a word-processor, three editors (Nedit, nVi, Zile [emacs clone]), graphics editing and viewing (Xpaint, and xzgv), Xpdf, emelFM (file manager), Naim (AIM, ICQ, IRC), VNCviwer, Rdesktop, SSH/SCP server and client, DHCP client, PPP, PPPoE (ADSL), a web server, calculator, Fluxbox window manager, games, system monitoring apps, a host of command line tools, USB support, and pcmcia support. For more information check out the applications pages.If you like DSL you can install it on your hard drive. Because all the applications are small and light it makes a very good choice for older hardware.Looks good. Would probably just need to add the development tools. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zox Posted October 10, 2003 Share Posted October 10, 2003 Since you said you would like to play in console I would suggest you Gentoo.It is source base and means that you have to compile everything from scratch but you definately have control over what you want to install and what not.It is time intensive though so it is up to you www.gentoo.org Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Precision Posted October 10, 2003 Author Share Posted October 10, 2003 I tried to install D*** Small to the HD with a script that is included, but when I run it it says I need to be logged in as root, and when I try that it says I need to be at the lowest level "sh" or something. Apparently the D*** Small live-cd doesn't log you in low enough to install itself... or I am missing something (quite possible).Owyn: On the Xircom card, I changed the bios setting and tried Mandrake again (it is the only one I have on CD that is easy enough for me so far). On the ethernet card is "CreditCard Ethernet 10/100". I made a Ghost boot disk for the laptop and the "RE10-RE 100 Packet" drivers are the ones that worked for the card. <6>xirc2ps_cs.c 1.31 is where the Mandrake install locks up. Pull the card out & install and it seems to work, it is copying the files now... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owyn Posted October 10, 2003 Share Posted October 10, 2003 Nick:I will need to do some more research. But, it will have to wait for tomorrow. Bedtime for me.My guess is that we should be able to add the driver support for the card after the main install. Will also need to do some updates for Mandrake after the card is working.Bruno, the guru of the forum, will probably see this early tomorrow (he is in Amsterdam). Hopefully he can pop in with some specific expertise for the card.Have a good one. And I hope your math homework is done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quint Posted October 10, 2003 Share Posted October 10, 2003 I tried to install D*** Small to the HD with a script that is included, but when I run it it says I need to be logged in as root, and when I try that it says I need to be at the lowest level "sh" or something. Apparently the D*** Small live-cd doesn't log you in low enough to install itself... or I am missing something (quite possible).Welcome, Nick Precision.DSL is great, and easy to install:DamnSmallLinux installGood fortune. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruno Posted October 10, 2003 Share Posted October 10, 2003 Hi Nick Just jumping in for a minute . . . D Small is very nice but probably too limited for what you want. You might want to try VectorLinux 4.0 ( based on Slackware ) only 225 MB download: http://www.vectorlinux.com/ VECTORLINUX is a small, fast, Intel Linux operating system based on one of the original Linux distributions, Slackware. The enormously popular Slackware is the true 'Unix' of Linux distributions and is used by major corporations, universities and home users alike. It's popularity stems from the fact that it is a robust, versatile and almost unbreakable system. Slackware has been traditionally known to be about as user friendly as a coiled rattlesnake and that's where Vector Linux comes into play. We have produced a bloat free, easy to install, configure and maintain Slackware based system that is second to none. The average user can have a fully functional Slackware Linux system up in as little as 15 minutes with the security of knowing their operating system has been built on a rock solid foundation. Vectorlinux provides a variety of features for the casual computer user such as a lightning fast desktop with graphical programs designed to handle your daily activities such as web surfing, sending and receiving email, chatting on ICQ or IRC and running an ftp server. The power user will be pleased that all the tools are there to compile their own programs, use the system as a server and/or the gateway for their home or office computer network. Administrators will be equally as pleased due to the small size and memory requirements of the operating system which can be deployed on older machines that may otherwise have been long forgotten. VECTORLINUX can handle any task large or small and is only limited by the imagination of its users. The operating system occupies less than 450 megs of hard drive space when fully installed and has a full set of preconfigured programs to handle all of your basic computing needs.Really easy to configure and easy to add all sorts of packages ! ( rpm, tgz, tar.gz, deb, anything ) VectorLinux can be downloaded from: The ISO´s: ftp://ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/distributions...eclinux-4.0/isoAdditional packages: ftp://ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/distributions...ux/veclinux-4.0 Features # Kernel version 2.4.22 available in ide or scsi configurations. # Available as a text console system or with optional XFree GUI # New graphical package manager has been added, vecpkg. # Easy on your system resources, should run fine with a minimum of 32mb of ram # Laptop support including pcmcia and apm. # Usb support with hotplugging # Most available Linux hardware drivers are included. Bruno Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owyn Posted October 10, 2003 Share Posted October 10, 2003 Quint.I have GOT to learn to check the tips before I google it. Or even worse, try to re-invent a wheel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonicDragon Posted October 10, 2003 Share Posted October 10, 2003 You might want to try VectorLinux 4.0 ( based on Slackware ) only 225 MB download:Yea, try Vector Linux. That would certainly be nicer than DamnSmall. It's slackware based so it's pretty slimmed down, stable, and speedy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owyn Posted October 10, 2003 Share Posted October 10, 2003 You might want to try VectorLinux 4.0 ( based on Slackware ) only 225 MB download:Yea, try Vector Linux. That would certainly be nicer than DamnSmall. It's slackware based so it's pretty slimmed down, stable, and speedy Agreed. I had not got around to testing this distro yet, had enough on my plate, and it was not configured the way I was heading.Looked at the distro details again in light of this thread and I can see where I have missed a good bet. Added it to my weekend list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teacher Posted October 10, 2003 Share Posted October 10, 2003 Vector is always nice. I am waiting on the SOHO version to come out. Right now I have the SOHO version from the last update on my computer. I loaded the 4.0 and tested it but it just does not have everything I need (or think I need ). But since you are looking for a smaller download then 4.0 might be perfect for you.Mainstays tend to be Mandrake, Slackware, Vector, DSL and then add in the distro of the week. It takes me a while to learn a distro so I don't hop around as much as some of our expert distro testers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owyn Posted October 10, 2003 Share Posted October 10, 2003 It takes me a while to learn a distro so I don't hop around as much as some of our expert distro testers. Same here. And it can become addictive. I have become a great fan of the live CDs. A great way to pretest hardware for general compatibility with a distribution family (eg. Knoppix/DSL... are Debian based, Vector is Slackware, etc.) and try out new functions (eg. Alsa driver support) before messing up your primary install(s). And they just keep getting better.Knoppix is my number one test tool now. Lots of options and familiar tools. And, it is the base distribution for several other Live CDs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owyn Posted October 10, 2003 Share Posted October 10, 2003 (edited) Nick:Can you check the back of your Xircom card. There should be an exact model code, probably CE something. Looks like exact driver support depends very much on model.The main Intel/Xircom support page for this adapter does not include any Linux options. Edited October 10, 2003 by Owyn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Precision Posted October 10, 2003 Author Share Posted October 10, 2003 Today I got Slackware 9.1 installed & working, custom install, no GUI and removed a lot of other stuff, just what I wanted. It only ever needed disk 1 of the 2. I changed the primary boot partition with cfdisk and now LILO picks up the boot and lets me pick what I want (linux or dos/windows). So, overall the setup is working as I want now, except for the ethernet card.There is no specific card model on the thing... I have always hated it for that, but I have found out as best I can tell it is the CE3 10/100 card. When I put the card in the laptop and load linux it freezes on the xirc2ps_cs.c line. If I cannot get the card running I could deal, just use Windows to move files around online and I have the dos disk mounted in the linux install, so I could edit them that way. But, I would like to get the ethernet going, and I will search around this weekend and see if I can find anything. If this card just will not work I will probably pick a "new" one up on ebay for cheap.Right now I am just happy dual boot is working and I got the penguin sitting on the top left of my screen. The rest of the stuff can be worked out later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owyn Posted October 10, 2003 Share Posted October 10, 2003 Right now I am just happy dual boot is working and I got the penguin sitting on the top left of my screen. The rest of the stuff can be worked out later.Congrats. Glad you got this far.I am just about ready to sign off for the night but I will take a look at this again tomorrow.We just managed to get a problem ethernet interface working for another member. Would hate to strike out with you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teacher Posted October 11, 2003 Share Posted October 11, 2003 Wonderful. It sounds like you have made a lot of progress today! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruno Posted October 11, 2003 Share Posted October 11, 2003 Great job Nick !Only the network card . . . looks indeed the best option to pick up another one . . . but check compatibility:Linux CompatibleLinux Hardware.comRedHat Hardware Database ( I know you don´t run RedHat, but searching here is still a good indication )Mandrake Hardware Database ( Same story ) Bruno Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruno Posted October 11, 2003 Share Posted October 11, 2003 Nick,Another few links for the Xircom CE3 10/100 :http://www.fdlinux.com/networkcompat.html#Version3http://www.abclinuxu.cz/hardware/ViewCateg...?relationId=134 Bruno Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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