Old laptop

[linexpert]

i just bought an old zenith laptop for $25.00.
Here is what i know about it: 24MB RAM and 512 MB harddrive.
It currently has windows 95 installed on it. The problem is that it does not have a cd drive and i wanted to know if there are any good linux distros made for these kinds of notebooks. I need the distro to be on multiple flopies and the distro needs to fit in less then 512 MB of harddrive space.


i've seen some articles about flopy distros on this site but i am asking this againe because i only have limited amount of RAM and hd space.

thanks in advance

[dylunio]

You might want to look at Slackware linux or Peanut linux maybe? also search http://distrowatch.com

dylunio

[spencerf]

you could try damnsmalllinux. I'm not sure if it works of floppies though. but definitely look at www.distrowatch.com

[linexpert]

i found something called zipslack. Are you talking about getting zipslack or the regular slack?

[dylunio]

linexpert, regular slack

[1badex96]

you know the easiest thing to do. I have a laptop with those exact same specs. Go to walmart, they carry a 16 bit network card for the pcmcia slot(very cheap either 20 or 30$). Plug it in keep windows on it. Make a small partition on your hard drive to download it to. Format your hard drive and boot to the c prompt. Go to the other partition and install from there. I had to do this with my old toshiba.

[linexpert]

whats the diffrece between 16 and 32 bit pc cards.
I tried a couple and 32bit did not even get the power, i know cause the light did not light up.

i tried 3Com Megahertz 56K winmodem,3Com Megahertz 10/100 LAN CardBus and another 32 bit pc card. Only 3Com Megahertz 56K winmodem is recognized.

[1badex96]

The diffence is in the type of card that it is. Back in the day of the dinosaurs when our laptops where made they used the 16 bit (technology of that time), and now with the advancements of the computer and the pcmcia slots they have evolved to transfer data faster. With that laptop you will need the 16 bit version for your ethernet card. The reason it would not power up is the simple fact that the 32 bit slot is just a little different from the 16 bit and it is not being accessed.

[linexpert]

am i able to do things with 16 bit card that i can do with 32 bit card.

The main thing that i want to be able to do is use the wireless internet that is provided in cafe shops and places. What do i need to do that?

[1badex96]

yeah you will have the same abilty as the 32 bit. The only difference is the type of slot that it is going into. I put one in my laptop and it runs at 100 megabites per second contection with my other pc. The only thing you might run into is that it will run a little slower because it is only a 16 bit card but with the laptop you are putting it in, your going to run slower anyways.