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Installation of Linux on 486sx machine.

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7 replies

by pawan_kumaraggarwal

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I would like to know the minimum hardware requirements to install the Linux 6.2.

I have an Old machine with following configuratioin:
Intel 486sx processor,
540 MB hard disk
16 MB RAM, and on board display card.
48X CDROM Drive.

Is it possible to install and run linux on this machine?More over,I can not boot from the CDROM.
I made a Linux boot floppy using the rawrite.exe.
and I am able to boot the system in Linux, the CDROM is also detected properly.
Soon after the boot: prompt itask for the driver disk, ( and I don't know How to make this driver disk) and I press Cancel , it ask me various kind of things(including root password and swap partioning), and reach a stage where it displays
"Reading Package information".
And suddenly it receives the signal 9 and exits the installation
(it unmounts the filesystem and disable the swap)

Please help me...
I don't understand why it is exiting the installation.

7 replies

by jjewelzz

Hi There,
I think your problem is that you do not have enough hard disk space.
For more help (and to learn how to make the disk,
go to: http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linux/RHL-6.2-Manual/install-guide/
and look through the contents links. This should provide you with all your solutions.

Another alternative is mini-linux. This distrbution fits onto 5 diskettes and works fine, as long as you don't want the graphical interface.

I hope this was of some help. Good luck!

by elvinogg

Yes, you can install the full version of Linux including graphics. The boot disk which you made is necessary to run the CD-rom and install. You can also make the driver disk from the CD using rawrite. If I remember correctly I was at a DOS promptwith E as the cd-rom drive. From subdirectory E:\dosutils type rawrite dosutils\supp.img. If you have a copy of Linux for Dummies it walks you thru the entire setup. Hope this helps.

by unix4me

You may need another 16MB of memory; but it sounds as though some other error interrupting the installation process.
Your hardware sounds compatable; you could double-check that in the "hardware compatability" database at the RedHat Web site.
I wouldn't try one of the newer RedHat versions on that machine; you would need more memory for sure !!
And you will have to keep track of the disk space required for the packages you select; you may not be able to 'install everything' on a 540 MB hard drive. Be sure, when you partition the disk, that a swap area is being allocated.
I'd suggest downloading the RedHat step-by-step installation docs; you can display them on one machine while you do the install on the other.
Go through that process, and see if you can come up with more information on exactly what is causing the failure. Usually when an install dies, it sends some sort of message to the system console about what went wrong.
I think there is some missing information here - andfiguring out what that is would make it a lot easier for us to help you.

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