What to Use?

[Dwolf]

I think i'll try slackware tomorrow...no time/ extra floppies today ... Will pick some extra floppies up on my way home tomorrow. I think it should go well. Don't need everything to work on this laptop - just PCMCIA for network, FDD, HDD and the display so I can see the console...that may be the trickiest, I'm not sure about any onboard display cards or chips, probably in Motherboard - will check. You really think PHP would be a bad idea? Too CPU intensive? or Memory? HDD I think I have plenty of space...Samba would be nice also...I think Slackware will fulfill my needs perfectly.

Anyone have experience with Slackware as dual boot with Win95? I'm probably going to wipe the drive, but first just to make sure linux will work...

[Dwolf]

Quick question...what does framebuffer console mean?....something if u have GPU i think...probably shouldnt use that with my old laptop...lol...not sure tho... :P

[craig_mcd]

Basically, it enables you to use the console at a high resolution.
I use fbset to set the res, dont know if there are any other similar apps.

It is great to use, especialy on servers.

[Dwolf]

Thanks for the quick reply - i thought it was something with resolution or GPU. But do I need it if my machine will only be running in 640x480 (pretty sure thats what it will be - old laptop display - i might get an extra monitor hooked up to it for 800x600)? Also, another quickie, how can I find out what the kernel module is for my PCMCIA Ethernet card? And slackware says they can still install off of floppies, and most of it can, but some of the bare system apps are like 8meg in thier format, how do i install them off of a floppy? I'm currently delving thru the slackware docs, havent found too much on disk installs....

[Dwolf]

Coming back wiser, and a little tired...I have figured out, I may not need some of the larger packages at first, and can get them over the net once i get the smaller base system installed. My main concern now, is getting the PCMCIA Ethernet card configured, I really don't want it to be a pain in the ass, but I am determined to get this working.

[Dwolf]

One final (hopefully) update before I go ahead. I have read through most of Slackwares docs, and have decided I will make a Slackware CD along with a few diskettes. The diskettes for boot, and getting PCMCIA up and starting the install process, and the CD for getting all software (solves any problem with a file being too big for floppy). Plus, I can reuse the CD on another computer to try out slackware more if I so desire in the future. Heres to hoping my install works out ok! :P