Linux on a 14 year old notebook (Toshiba sat.110CS) UPDATE

[mehmet7]

Hi all, just a question, born out of curiosity.
I am the "proud" owner of a Toshiba Satellite 110 CS, I think about 14 years old...
Processor
2,9V Intel Pentium 100 MHz / SL Enh. Display
SVGA, colour 11,3" STN LCD Memory
8-40 MB EDO RAM Harddisk
810 million bytes hard disk (funny, i know)

As it is not of much use for me I just was curious if I could run any Linux version on it, being aware that actual distributions are not quite possible, if anybody could give me a tip which Linux distribution might run on it? I ll install either via trans.cable from another PC or-if possible Linux distributions are really old)- even via floppy disk as it has no CD-ROM. Oh yes, and other tips what to run on this notebook or things to do(besides scrapping it) are also highly appreciated, and as I said, it is just curiosity..

Many thanks in advance!

[vincent]

Wow, that really is an old notebook!

Well, you should still be able to run really light-weight Linux distros on that old machine. Give Puppy Linux a whirl, and if it's too slow, try out Deli Linux. If that doesn't work...well, I guess you could just do a base install of a Linux distro, but without the X server (I hear a really trimmed-down version of Ubuntu Server can run on 11 MB of RAM, without X, although I wouldn't try ). I don't know what you can really do with that machine though...I know I personally wouldn't be able to stand such a slow machine.

[mehmet7]

Thanks a lot Vincent, I ll give Puppy Linux a try!
And as I said, its just curiosity what to do with such an old thing before throwing it away...
If anybody else has a clue, just let me know please!

[rich_roast]

I know I personally wouldn't be able to stand such a slow machine.

Time was, that machine was lightning fast

Seriously, though, time was I was running a 386 and was perfectly happy with its performance for what I needed to do with it. Why should that have changed? (Alright, I know, but point is the machine still is as fast as it always was).

I've mentioned kolibrios before. Find it here via Unixmen where I first saw it.

I'd definitely recommend it over Puppy, which while lightweight, is still going to tax the machine in question, if it runs at all (there's going to be issues with RAM. Kolibrios will run with just 8 meg.)

[Zwopper]

Slitaz would be my choice.
...or DSL...

Keep us posted how it works out for you.

[FedoraRefugee]

Turn it into a digital picture frame!!!

Install DSL Linux on it, strip DSL (did I ACTUALLY say that? ) of everything except an image viewer capable of slide shows, then load up as many family pics as you can.

There was a time when I was getting a ton of such laptops for free (they ran Windows 98 but could not go any further in the Windows realm) and I would convert them into picture frames and give them as gifts. You can dismantle the hinges for the top so you can turn the LCD "inside out" by flipping it around so that the screen faced up when it is closed. Then construct a wooden frame that will hold the keyboard on the bottom then the screen. This will enable the laptop to be propped up like a real picture frame. Then make a top to this box using real picture frame material that will frame out the LCD screen and attach to the bottom box. Each laptop is different enough that you would have to custom make these things but the principle is always the same.

I miss the days when I was getting all these free parts. One of my favorite projects was my wallcrawler. I took apart an old desktop and mounted the motherboard, psu, HD, and a CD drive to a piece of plywood covered with thin diamond plate aluminum sheeting. I used rubber standoffs to mount the components then artistically ran the wiring. I then took a laptop LCD and using the pinout I managed to wire it in to VGA for the motherboard. Mounted that on the 2'X2' square and hung the whole thing on the wall as a picture. Plugged a keyboard into the MB, installed DSL and my family picture album, got things running, then unplugged the keyboard.

It got a LOT of attention! But...it collected serious dust and needed to be blown off frequently.

[mehmet7]

Thanks all for your great suggestions, I decided to give Linux Puppy a try but due to problems with a connection cable it did not work out...so I ll scan for some old floppy disks and give kolibrios a try! I ll keep you updated

[mintnoob]

I got a solution:



Don't get me wrong, I'm all for reducing and reusing, but COME ON PEOPLE! Sometime you just got to recycle it and move on to the 20th century!

[rich_roast]

I honestly disagree. While in jest the picture of the bin is hilarious, I can't help but despair the logic. I think it lacks respect for an important factor besides pragmatic "reduce" and "recycle". I think it forgets that objects can be more than just objects.

My impression was that the OP is realistic in not wanting to necessarily use the machine as the hub of his business:

Oh yes, and other tips what to run on this notebook or things to do(besides scrapping it) are also highly appreciated, and as I said, it is just curiosity..

Yep, the machine in question is old. So's my ZX Spectrum +3. If anyone so much as touches that in anger their hands will be removed. Precisely because it's an antique, and precisely because I'm attached to it, because of the memories, the marvel and the history.

I think it's a great idea to keep old technology if for no other reason than as a record and a link to the past we grew up in, and if the relic can be made to work today then that's fantastic.

If dialup were still available where I am I'd be trying to hook the old +3 up to the Internet just for funsies (yes, modems were available for it).

I think I'll go visit the museum today.

[mintnoob]

I wasn't necessarily picking solely on the OP and have no problems if he has sentimental value for that laptop. Maybe that laptop was sitting in the front seat of his car when he was in the back getting his cherry popped for the first time. I can understand wanting to keep it.

But I just see so many Linuxers holding on to ancient relics just to see if some superduper lightweight distro will work on it. You can buy a used dual core laptop for around $200 on craigslist nowadays. People are practically giving P4's away. I doubt cost is a factor to not upgrade. I just hope it's not epidemic of computer hoarding with Linuxers.

[deleted]

Check it out... It's a little old, but...
http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS4984662030.html
-Hinto

[FedoraRefugee]

I wasn't necessarily picking solely on the OP and have no problems if he has sentimental value for that laptop. Maybe that laptop was sitting in the front seat of his car when he was in the back getting his cherry popped for the first time. I can understand wanting to keep it.

But I just see so many Linuxers holding on to ancient relics just to see if some superduper lightweight distro will work on it. You can buy a used dual core laptop for around $200 on craigslist nowadays. People are practically giving P4's away. I doubt cost is a factor to not upgrade. I just hope it's not epidemic of computer hoarding with Linuxers.

Wow! I actually agree with you!

rich_roast is not wrong, I like keeping at least one example of all the major steps in the home pc evolution. I even have a working TRS-80 model 3 and a VIC 20! I have a 386 and a 486...I also keep old game consoles.

The difference is when people post that Ubuntu Gnome does not run on their PII with 64MB RAM and that Linux sucks because of this! I mean, for real, there is only so much you are going to do with a laptop that was designed to run Windows 98!

As long as the OP has the understanding that his use will be limited on this then there is nothing wrong with "playing" with it to see what it can do. But if he is going to try and run his business on it, or do any other serious work, then he needs to just use it as a boat anchor! Like mintnoob says, you can build a fast, modern desktop for around $300 US and that includes case and everything!

[mehmet7]

Well, thanks for your interest and all the suggestions...BTW I cannot really say that I have a special connection or even romantic memories connected to that old laptop, I m just curious how it would work with Linux...
to keep you updated: I tried to install kolibri OS with a floppy disk, the booting process started but was always terminated by the message " Bad sector- replace Floppy". I think this is related to the laptops hardware, I ll try some other ways and I am actually forced to use a Floppy as there is no CD ROM. I ll try to get a very small iso image on the disk, if anybody knows a good (even old) version... oh, and just for the record, the laptop is still working, I have still installed a (Turkish) Windows 95 on it.

[deleted]

On a 10 yr old p4 (I think it was a win 98 pc), puppy was about the only thing I got to run.... It took a while to boot since the cd drives weren't nearly as fast as they are now.
-H

[Superewza]

I'd say Slitaz, i ran it reasonably well on an old PII rig but from that i really wouldn't expect much from it. If you can do without X then Microcore (Tiny Core minus the GUI) is worth a look at a 7MB ISO.

[mehmet7]

Very short update: I repaired my antique laptops floppy disk drive so I will be able again to load Floppys. Next week I shall get some Floppys and will try out to install again.
Actually. Kolibrios was installing but due to the problems with my disk drive (and the old floppy disks ) it would stop the installation process at 80 something %.
I`ll also try out slitaz and puppy and will definitely let you know, thanks again for the suggestions.

[mehmet7]

Dear all,

After fixing the Floppy drive and getting new floppys for my old laptop, I proceeded to try out small Linux distributions.

While Kolibrios installer files were recognized as booting from the Floppy disk, the booting process stopped after around 90 % were completed leaving a black screen , therefore I assume that the BIOS might not be compatible.

Trying to run Puppy 2 with wakepup, the system was looking for IDE/ USB and CD ROM drives as the program seems to assume not to board from a floppy.

While using wakepup 11C to boot, the boot seems to fail to recognize the Floppy drive as installing medium again, nevertheless I get a more detailed report.

Before booting I have four choices, the first being IDE/USB drives (built in or external CD ROM, HD or flash), the second one IOMEGA ZIP disk drive, connected to a parallel port, the third option a backpack CD Rom drive connected to a parallel port and the fourt one 2Addonics or similar) CD ROM drive connected to PCMIA.

If I get this correct, what I have to do is make the boot disk / BIOS recognize my floppy drive as either one of the options mentioned, has anyone an idea how to do that?

If I try to install any of the choices aboves I get again the message that the above drives are (obviously) non existent.
Finally, I get the following failmessage: (please note that I cant find those on my floppy)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Failed to find Puppy on the selected drive(s)...
I'm assuming VMLINUZ, IMAGE.GZ and USR_CRAM.FS are somewhere!

Note, place empty file 'PUPXUSB' on USB drive, as WakePup uses
it to identify that drive as a USB msdos/fat/vfat drive.

Note, place empty file 'PUPXIDE' on IDE drive, as WakePup uses
it to identify that drive as an IDE msdos/fat/vfat drive.

...but only create 'PUPXUSB' or 'PUPXIDE' on drive which has Puppy
...the CDROM does not need any special identifier file.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An idea anyone how to trick the system to recognize my Floppy drive as USB/ CD Rom?

Thanks a lot...

[mehmet7]

Short update: while I still try to get my device recognized properly (any help is appreciated) Kolibrios installs fully but again, i only get a black screen. Probably the graphic card is just too old...

[mick55]

You can't realistically expect any modern distro to run on something that old.

This distro however, is designed for older, obsolete hardware with small amounts
of RAM and it installs from floppy disc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MuLinux

http://www.micheleandreoli.it/mulinux/

Yes, you too can have a glorious desktop like this one.