Up and running :O)


Forum: Laptops
Topic: Up and running :O)
started by: groeswenphil

Posted by groeswenphil on July 20 2007,18:54
O.K. I've got DSL running on my ancient Compaq Armada 15920DT laptop.

The trick was downloading a boot floppy to direct the computer to load the CD.
Now, DSL runs, but its awfully slow.

Initially I thought I'd try to wipe the hard-drive and install DSL.
The hard drive currently holds a Win 95 instalation.
Thing is though, I suppose that I could install DSL onto the hard drive as it is now........but I suppose I'd need another boot disk to point the startup routine to the DSL instalation?

I've learned that you can't alter the startup routine in this vintage of machine

Am I moving in the right direction?
Phil

Posted by ^thehatsrule^ on July 20 2007,21:01
You could boot with "fromhd="
See wiki page on cheatcodes for more info.

Posted by u2musicmike on July 21 2007,02:55
Phil,

I have DSL 3.4 running on a Compaq Armada 7400 and it runs good.  I guess your Armada is older but the speed will improve by making a swap partition.  If you have room on your harddrive it might be possible to keep your Windows 95 and install DSL too.  DSL has two boot loaders to chose from: lilo and grub.  I like grub and it installs into the boot section of the hard drive.  My compaq has a small bios part on the hard drive that has the compaq utilities and by using grub I can pick it from the menu when booting up.  You might want to use a program called parted to make the partitions for your hard drive.  There is lots more about this in the wiki.

Posted by curaga on July 21 2007,06:38
DSL installs a bootloader so you don't need another boot disk to boot it..
Powered by Ikonboard 3.1.2a
Ikonboard © 2001 Jarvis Entertainment Group, Inc.