[KLUG Members] DSL 3.4.4 on a Toshiba Tecra 500 CDT

[Peter Bart]

Hi,
	Just wanted to let you guys know about my success installing Damm Small
Linux on an old laptop. The box in question is a Toshiba Tecra 500 CDT,
Pentium 120Mhz, 32 MB ram, Toshiba 6x internal cdrom, external 3 1/2"
FDD w/adapter, 1.26 GB HDD. Nope, not a typo ;). 
	I had an old install of Red Hat on it that would freeze at the sign in
screen and of course I couldn't remember the sign on in any case. I used
the single user mode to log in and change the password. Then I realized
I could simply use cfdisk to create the two partitions needed by DSL. No
I'm not that smart, I used the wiki extensively
<http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/wiki/index.php/Installing_to_the_Hard_Disk>. Once I figured out I would need the older syslinux.iso image everything just hummed along. I hit a major stumbling block though trying to get online with a newer wireless card. Once I figured out the difference between the newer cardbus and the older pc card; which I needed; I was all set. Plugged an old Xircom ethernet adapter in, plugged the ethernet line in and presto I'm online! Wow, I'm impressed. Not only does that old box zip right along, the install was relatively painless and well documented. It took me a while but that doesn't surprise me, I still need to look things up. Battery life is very good too, better than an hour on the original battery!

Best Regards,

-- 
Peter Bart <peter at petertheplumber.net>
http://petertheplumber.net