Teacher new to DSL

Forum: Laptops
Topic: Teacher new to DSL
started by: groeswenphil

Posted by groeswenphil on July 16 2007,10:45

Hi,
I'm a schoolteacher working in a small school in South Wales.
We have a couple of old laptops gathering dust.
Compaq Armada 1590DT

Compaq Armada 1590DT
Processor: Pentium (166 MHz)
RAM: 80 Mb
HDD: 4.3 Gb
built in floppy
built in CD-ROM reader
PCMCIA modem
Ethernet via docking station

They currently run Windows 95 and are very unstable.
I'm considering wiping the drives and installing DSL.

2 queries.

1) Their drives are currently partitioned.
How do I re-format the drives to one partition?
2) Does DSL dowwnload as a complete installation package....like Ubuntu, or do you need a higher level of skill to install it?

Thanks,
Phil

Posted by WDef on July 16 2007,10:57

Before doing anything else first try booting dsl off the cd.

DSL is first and foremost a livecd, which means you can run it off the cd, without installing.

First check that is boots without hassle and looks ok, then come back to us for more advice - look at the wiki and search the forums also. DSL takes a little work at first if you're new to linux, and even if you aren't. But it will most likely run better on an old laptop than anything else will.

If you want to install subsequently your best bet is a "frugal" install.

Posted by curaga on July 16 2007,13:43

for messing with partitions, use cfdisk

DSL is a complete pack, can be installed from the live cd..

Posted by groeswenphil on July 16 2007,17:08

I'm not finding any obvious links to the live cd download.
Also, if it is anything like Ubuntu then you have to burn the cd in a certain way.

Help !

Phil

Posted by yodelaye on July 16 2007,17:42

the mirror list is available here :
< mirror list >

the up to date iso is dsl-3.4.iso available directly here
< http://ftp.belnet.be/packages/damnsmalllinux/current/ >

to know how to burn a cd or find another way to get and boot dsl, have a look to the getting started with DSL area in the wiki :
< http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page >

enjoy

Posted by beep_gr on July 16 2007,18:14

Quote (groeswenphil @ July 16 2007,13:08)

I'm not finding any obvious links to the live cd download.
Also, if it is anything like Ubuntu then you have to burn the cd in a certain way.

Help !

Phil

Ubuntu is very heavy system for these old systems. You can try Xubuntu but on my old Celeron 266MHz with 128MB memory I have to drink 2 coffee's until it will boot on live CD and 4 coffee's to boot from HDD where X-server crushes many times for some stupid reasons...

I think DSL is very good choice but not very friendly for very new users. It doesn't have Ubuntu's X system (gnome e.t.c.) but it works very good on these PC's

Posted by jpeters on July 17 2007,04:27

Quote (curaga @ July 16 2007,09:43)

for messing with partitions, use cfdisk

For windows users, Partition Magic works well, is very user friendly, etc......

Posted by groeswenphil on July 17 2007,07:55

Perhaps its the computer that needs the coffee, not you

)

Found the live cd download. Will try to burn the ISO tonight
Phil

Posted by groeswenphil on July 17 2007,16:55

Working now.

I've got DSL running from a CD on my main computer.

My aim is to try to breath new life into an old Compaq Armada laptop.

Now....should I re-partition the disk first, or will the Live CD arrange things for me nicely.

I get really upset when I see school computers that are only a few years old being carted out through the door; destination landfill.
I'm also convinced that we really don't need all of the bells and whistles that we keep being sold.
If I can create a machine that will just run a WP and an art package, but do it without crashing every five minutes, then I'll be happy.
Thanks,
Phil

Posted by yodelaye on July 17 2007,18:48

I agree with Wdef 's advise :

at 1st, you should try the live CD on your old hardware to check how it behaves before any re-partition.

and then, why not to use DSL directly in liveCD mode for your lessons ? I mean : it is one one of the purpose of liveCDs ( run without modifying any other system/data already on the machine )

Posted by curaga on July 17 2007,18:51

You should repartition using the Livecd nicely ;)

The installer doesn't partition (or format swap) for you, so do those before starting it

Posted by lucky13 on July 17 2007,19:08

The live CD doesn't partition anything, but it has fdisk and cfdisk (easier of the two) for you to partition however you see fit depending which installation method you choose.

Posted by WDef on July 18 2007,13:06

You don't have enough ram unfortunately to do a "toram" boot, which is what I (and a lot of others) use all the time rather than an install. So you may want to consider a frugal install.

But get familiar with the livecd first - it will take a little patience but since you're obviously interested in computers you'll get the hang of things.

And you're right - there's *finally* a slight murmuring of consumer backlash against that scam where we're all force-fed bloatware, spyware, malware and endless upgrades by the M$ world.