one ancient machine - one modern os
one ancient machine - one modern os
dell xms233 dimension cpu 233mhz, 192mb ram, 1 x 6gb, 1 x 4gb and 1x 3gb hd, nvidia riva 128 video card, sound ?, 3com ethernet
since i was given an ancient dell xms233 dimension to play with it has done very little work, except to test the odd hard drive and to use as an experimental machine to try various versions of linux.
as i have stopped mucking about and am sticking to pclos minime, which seems to suit me best, it has sat there doing no work at all, especially as i gave the monitor to someone else.
my neighbour found a couple of old crts and gave me a daytek, which is actually a nice little monitor, only 14" 'tis true, but a crisp display.
seeing as how i needed to test whether it worked, or not, i decided i might as well install pclos.
before i booted the minime i entered
livecd keyb=uk xres=800x600 return
because the last time i tried i had video problems, i.e. no display.
once booted, i got a console with a message to login as root and run video. i did as instructed and a small panel appeared offering the parameters for setting up, to my surprise, nvidia riva 128. i had to fiddle about and reboot a couple of times because it won't have a higher resolution at any price. i am sure that it can handle the higher resolution.
once i had that done i typed
# startx
and up came the gui. yeeha!
then i set about sorting out the installation.
after a bit of thought, i gave the 6gb hd to root because it doesn't seem to matter how much verbiage i produce, it takes up very little space, so 4gb will do. i gave the 3gb drive to swap. minime seemed content with this and when i clicked done, wrote the fstab file.
moving on, i checked that the correct drives were selected and also set /home to format, even though i had already formatted all three. next to the summary - all ok, next and install.
it is said that patience is a virtue. it's just as well i have >1 machine as it takes over 2 hours to install. quite a comparison with the laptop at 10 mins 54 secs!
after 3h 19m i was sure there was something not right. as i had just remastered a livecd, forgetting to add k3b, which this machine doesn't need, i used that after forcing a shutdown. same old malarkey with the video, but each time i do this it gets more familiar and easier. i have to constantly remind myself that this machine is old and slow and to wait for the system to catch up.
i now know what is meant by the no bootsplash in initrd.gz. it's the jazzy black and white image that appears prior to boot where the system pauses for the user to add commands.
i was more than gratified to see it boot successfully.
i may have been a bit previous with the original version. this one has been at it for over an hour and it hasn't got far. i was just about to intefere when i noticed the info legend change and left it alone. it is wonderful to have more than one machine to play on. when i am satisfied that this old thing works as it should, i shall pass it on to someone who needs a machine and hasn't got even one.
i'm wondering if this thing will ever install. it's got less far in 2 1/2 hours than previously. ignore it for a while.
i think the reason it won't install is because the drive is old and can't read rw disks too well. i know it doesn't much care for dvds. i'll give it a clean and see if it works better then. the pclos 92 in not a rw, so it may be dirty optics.
______________________
that was a redo from start.
i used the cleaner and saw the light come on, so it whizzed around and brushed the lens. my dos floppy failed to boot - could be i reset the bios to boot from cdrom then hd and left out floppy, will check sometime.
booted original of pclos minime 93 as this is on cd-r and the drive can at least read those comfortably enough.
this time decided to see if the whole thing will fit on the 6gb drive and formatted the others to fat2 in case i want to put win98 back on there.
i let root have the biggest chunk of 4gb swap got just over 512 because i can't get the slider do be precise and i gave /home just over a gb.
that seems to have stuck too. perhaps i'll try pclos 92 again. ho hum.
dell xms233 dimension cpu 233mhz, 192mb ram, 1 x 6gb, 1 x 4gb and 1x 3gb hd, nvidia riva 128 video card, sound ?, 3com ethernet
since i was given an ancient dell xms233 dimension to play with it has done very little work, except to test the odd hard drive and to use as an experimental machine to try various versions of linux.
as i have stopped mucking about and am sticking to pclos minime, which seems to suit me best, it has sat there doing no work at all, especially as i gave the monitor to someone else.
my neighbour found a couple of old crts and gave me a daytek, which is actually a nice little monitor, only 14" 'tis true, but a crisp display.
seeing as how i needed to test whether it worked, or not, i decided i might as well install pclos.
before i booted the minime i entered
livecd keyb=uk xres=800x600 return
because the last time i tried i had video problems, i.e. no display.
once booted, i got a console with a message to login as root and run video. i did as instructed and a small panel appeared offering the parameters for setting up, to my surprise, nvidia riva 128. i had to fiddle about and reboot a couple of times because it won't have a higher resolution at any price. i am sure that it can handle the higher resolution.
once i had that done i typed
# startx
and up came the gui. yeeha!
then i set about sorting out the installation.
after a bit of thought, i gave the 6gb hd to root because it doesn't seem to matter how much verbiage i produce, it takes up very little space, so 4gb will do. i gave the 3gb drive to swap. minime seemed content with this and when i clicked done, wrote the fstab file.
moving on, i checked that the correct drives were selected and also set /home to format, even though i had already formatted all three. next to the summary - all ok, next and install.
it is said that patience is a virtue. it's just as well i have >1 machine as it takes over 2 hours to install. quite a comparison with the laptop at 10 mins 54 secs!
after 3h 19m i was sure there was something not right. as i had just remastered a livecd, forgetting to add k3b, which this machine doesn't need, i used that after forcing a shutdown. same old malarkey with the video, but each time i do this it gets more familiar and easier. i have to constantly remind myself that this machine is old and slow and to wait for the system to catch up.
i now know what is meant by the no bootsplash in initrd.gz. it's the jazzy black and white image that appears prior to boot where the system pauses for the user to add commands.
i was more than gratified to see it boot successfully.
i may have been a bit previous with the original version. this one has been at it for over an hour and it hasn't got far. i was just about to intefere when i noticed the info legend change and left it alone. it is wonderful to have more than one machine to play on. when i am satisfied that this old thing works as it should, i shall pass it on to someone who needs a machine and hasn't got even one.
i'm wondering if this thing will ever install. it's got less far in 2 1/2 hours than previously. ignore it for a while.
i think the reason it won't install is because the drive is old and can't read rw disks too well. i know it doesn't much care for dvds. i'll give it a clean and see if it works better then. the pclos 92 in not a rw, so it may be dirty optics.
______________________
that was a redo from start.
i used the cleaner and saw the light come on, so it whizzed around and brushed the lens. my dos floppy failed to boot - could be i reset the bios to boot from cdrom then hd and left out floppy, will check sometime.
booted original of pclos minime 93 as this is on cd-r and the drive can at least read those comfortably enough.
this time decided to see if the whole thing will fit on the 6gb drive and formatted the others to fat2 in case i want to put win98 back on there.
i let root have the biggest chunk of 4gb swap got just over 512 because i can't get the slider do be precise and i gave /home just over a gb.
that seems to have stuck too. perhaps i'll try pclos 92 again. ho hum.
posted by Anon at Tuesday, June 27, 2006
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