I've been trying to install Linux on an old compaq for a while now. It previously ran Windows 95, but the hard drive has since been formatted. I've tried my hand at installing two distributions; SuSe and Slackware. I got these distributions from linuxiso.org After I aqquired the .iso disc images I burned them to a CD-R.

At first I tried installing SuSe. I went into my BIOS, and set the CD-ROM as the first boot device. I rebooted after saving the settings, and put the CD in the tray. I followed the setup instructions until it displayed an error message something like "Unable to mount drive (8,5)" The setup was unable to continue.

The second time when I tried installing Slackware it had a much more lengthy setup procedure. I believe when I had Windows 95 on the compaq it was using the Fat32 file system. In the Slackware setup it had a help section, and it said something about creating a linux hard disk partition using the "fdisk" or "cfdisk" command tools. I used the cfdisk command to wipe my drive and turn it into a Linux partition. I believe it CALLED the File System "reserif" or something similar. Continuing on with the setup I specified which software packages to install. I then read that for computers low on memory that they can create a swap partition. I tryed to use the mkswap command, but it said the /dev/hdb2 directory didn't exist.

Anyway this is too technical for me. All I want it too install Linux on this computer.



Let's get some specs on your machine - hard drive, RAM and processor especially. What model is this?

When you use cfdisk you need to create a partitioon for Linux AND a swap file, which should be approximately twice your RAM size. Use the cfdisk option for type and press enter twice and you will get 82 which is correct for linux swap. Make sure it is a logical drive and NOT bootable. After you WRITE your changes to disk, and reboot and get back to the setup menu, use the option to activate the swap partition.

If you have less than 128 RAM, do not choose KDE as the window manager. Use one of the others (IceWM is a good choice) and you can ALWAYS change this later.

Linux will run on older MACHINES, but using the high end Window managers (KDE or Gnome) you need at least 128 RAM and preferably more. (DOS will run on low end hardware but Windows may not run well also. Don't use an underpowered system and expect blazing speed!)

Once you get it installed and reboot with your root account, set up a user account. Type in adduser from the command line andn fill in the details. Then type in alsacconf to set up the sound card.

Now you are ready to reboot. Type in reboot and press enter. When the login command comes back on, then type in your user name and password and then type in startx andn off you go.

Don't forget to make a start up floppy during install, DO install the boot loader to the MBR, and give yourself time to learn. Slackware is certainly not the most user friendly distributioon BUT you will learn linux and it is infinitely configurable.Haven't tried all of your options yet, but I'm working on it. 8-) It's a Compaq Presario 4824; Getting a little old . I'm not positive, but I think it has 64 megabytes of RAM. The Hard Drive is roughly 6.5 Gigabytes. Pentium 2.

Since I likely have less than 128 MB of RAM will I not be able to use the desktop enviroment? :-? Just the command-line? :-/Yes, you will be able to use a desktop environment. But there are lots of different "flavours" - each of them comes with a different level of bells and whistles. X Windows is the underlying windows system, but on top of this you have a window manager which determines how the whole thing will be displayed and what bits and pieces of eye candy you'll have. Gnome and KDE are the "big two" window managers. Enlightenment, ICEWM and Windowmaker use less resources; twm and fvwm2 use even less. There's a lot of choice out there, to fit many different scenarios.
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Use one of the others (IceWM is a good choice) and you can always change this later. Linux will run on older machines, but using the high end Window managers (KDE or Gnome)