Date: Sun, 9 Oct 1994 15:52:20 -0400 From: "J. Alan Eldridge" Subject: Linux (please respond via mail only - this is the wrong place) To: djgpp AT sun DOT soe DOT clarkson DOT edu On Fri, 7 Oct 1994, Anthony J. Duben wrote: > A number of people in my department are planning to experiment with > Linux as a cost effective alternative to the high priced UN*X > versions -- esp. if we can run them on our PC's, (486DX, 486DX2 > with 8 meg., 340 Meg HD, and connected together (Novell) and CD-ROM on > network.) We also have similar machines at home, most of us with > double speed CD ROM drives. Good platform. TCP/IP will run over your existing net (I don't know if the server needs reconfiguration to simply exist; I know you need the NFS package from Novell if you want Linux to see your server). > >From comments I have seen, running Linux directly from the CD-ROM > (as can be done in most of the versions sold) is not something you > would want to do -- slower than molasses on a glacier -- unless > you a just testing something prior to installation. Yes. And especially over a network. > I have read that one needs a separate hard disk partition on which > to install Linux. The question is "How big?" Before we start going Technically, no it doesn't. Some dude did a hack that fakes a Unix filesystem on a FAT partition. It is only recommended for use by the terminally brain-dead, in my opinion. > repartitioning our hard disks (and deciding what DOS/Windows software > we are going to sacrifice), it would be good to know how much space DOS? Winblows? Ack! Thppxxt! Thppxxt! > to allocate in separate Linux partition -- big enough to do useful work > (i.e., binaries for the operating system, compilers, and commonly used > tools, but not the source or any on-line text documentation that could > be left on the CD-ROM). Any suggestions from experienced users of Ummm, nope. You don't want to be getting anything off the CD, even if you can (see note above re NFS). > Linux? You can write to me directly or post to the list, as you see > fit. N.B. As I see fit means writing to you directly. This is not a topic we want to overburden the djgpp list with. (FWIW I'm the author of the BSD curses, the multitasker, the Borland 'conio' emulator, and the second version of the async for DJGPP. I don't use it anymore at home since I run an Operating System on my computer (Linux). But I still use it at work when I need a Real Compiler for MS-DOG.) You need about 200 meg to work with. First, I'll show you how my system is set up (I have a Quantum 1050meg disk here at home): bash$ df Filesystem 1024-blocks Used Available Capacity Mounted on /dev/sda1 297379 174420 107600 62% / /dev/sda5 198283 27233 160811 14% /usr/local /dev/sda6 99120 3290 90711 3% /home /dev/sda7 399497 147728 231137 39% /local bash$ Don't let the 'Used' column scare you -- I have a LOT of stuff installed that came off of the net, plus some really cool .gif files that take up a lot of space in /local :) Now, on a 340 megger with need for Winsuckz, I would recommend the following: Partition Type Size Mounted on ---------------------------------------------------------- /dev/hda1 DOS-16 120M n/a /dev/hda2 DOS Extended 220M n/a /dev/hda5 ext2 (Linux Native) 140M / /dev/hda6 ext2 40M /usr/local /dev/hda7 ext2 40M /home You'll use LILO (LInux LOader) to boot your system, and choose between DOS and Linux. Now as a final note, most CD-ROM distributions are out of date by the time they are produced. Even Linux quarterly is sadly out of date with respect to the current Slackware distribution. If you can, I would recommend that you ftp to tsx-11.mit.edu, go to the /pub/linux/distributions/slackware directory and get the following: bootdisks.144/WHICH_ONE (Read that file, then get a boot disk) rootdisks.144/color144.gz (Look for a program called rawrite. Get it. It is used to write your boot and root disks from DOS.) slakware/* (This is the 70 floppy disk distribution. Get all of it. You write it onto MS-DOG floppies and install from there. Once you get one machine up on Linux, and you've assigned IP addresses to them all (DON'T FORGET TO GET YOUR IP ADDRESSES FROM NIC!!! DON'T JUST MAKE THEM UP OR SATAN HERSELF WILL RISE UP FROM THE BOWELS OF YOUR NETWORK!) then you can use the first box as an NFS server, and the rest of the machines can install off the floppy images stored there.) I'm cc'ing this to my friend Erik. He may have some additional help for you. Then again he may tell you I'm crazy. (If he does, no harm done. I am. But in a nice, systems-analyst, sort of way.) -- Alan Eldridge (alane AT wozzle DOT linet DOT org, also alane AT cosmic DOT com)