Take a look at the screenshots in the signature below. I run this knoppix remaster on machines with 128 MB of ram, that were originally designed for Windows 98. I do use the Windows 98 "dos" to have the autoexec.bat run a menu, from which I can choose Windows or any of the various windows managers in my remaster, KDE, twm, Fluxbox, and the default IceWM. The one item recommended is the "persistent home directory", a file called "knoppix.img" that is accessed via the loadlin command line in the various 'linux.bat" files that are selected with the menu. Here is an old page of mine describing the msdos menu now being used to multi-boot linux and windows. I do have one box that boots Debian 2.2, Mandrake 8, my remaster, and Windows 98. Only my remaster can run the latest web browsers, Opera 9, Flock, and Firefox.
No problem at all running my remaster on a 200 MMX box, I'm doing that now, using Firefox 2.0 to make this post. The remaster is based on Knoppix 3.4, which uses a 2.4 kernel, so that is why it runs so well on older hardware. I have experimented with livecd linux with 2.6 kernel, and that really slows down on these boxes. Some of those won't run at all. There are some tricks to it all, one of them is to get the isolinux.bin file to test 100% with the "testcd" knoppix cheatcode. Not even the original Knoppix 3.4 can do that. If you get 100% in that test, then the livecd linux will boot on almost all older machines bios'. Damnsmall linux did not figure that out, and I had nearly 3/4 of my older boxes that DSL would not boot on once they went to an isolinux setup. They now have to offer a parallel "syslinux" setup to keep everyone happy. I don't need to do that. I don't need a CDROM drive to "install", just use a backpack cdrom external drive to copy the 492 MB "/knoppix" to the Windows partition, set up the menu with the loadlin batch files, and reboot, choose your OS. Most of the time I do place the/knoppix folder in a ext2 partition, however. Once you get going, you can refine your setup to do that.
I didn't just add some applications to the base Knoppix 3.4, I made a lot of my own, see the Getting Started Guide to see all the details. I have used my livecd linux to boot into XP boxes that would not boot up at all, just a few lines of error message on a black screen. Then I can see what is missing, and have some idea what to do when I use the XP restoration CD to bring Window XP back to life. You can do a virus scan of all of the XP partitions using my livecd linux, if that makes one feel better. I can use QTParted to partition the XP hard drive, and I have set up two separate XP installations on the same box, so each user can really have his/her own Windows XP. You have to reboot to get to the other one via the ntldr screen. My main point here is bringing the latest web browsers to an old Windows 98 box, with my livecd linux. I have a whole row of machines here that all do that, all were originally Windows machines, most with less than 256 MB of ram. There's a Toshiba 4015CDS with 160 MB of RAM, that boots my remaster, without the CD in the tray. Very stable, with Guarddog firewall in place by default.
I came up with the name "rapidweather" for my site(s) because I designed most of the pages in the day when 14.4 dial-up modems were being used. I have weather pages, and got tired of waiting for the TV weatherman to finally appear some 20 minutes or so in the newscast, with that "killer tornado on main street" that he promised to tell us about at the beginning of the show. Most TV weathermen vary the actual time of their appearance onstage, to keep you guessing, and expose the viewer to the maximum amount of useless commercials. The internet came along, and I got busy and made the weather pages you see on rapidweather.com My weather maps page is designed to load quickly, although I went overboard and provided too many weather map links. Idea was to provide maps, and backup maps, etc. Very popular page when something like Katrina comes along. I have watched usatoday.com go from a fast loading page to the one we get now, although it is not really all that bad. One page I provide is this one, designed to give the user a nice selection of decent pages, all tested and approved in their loading speed and usefulness. One might ask why I don't host all of my pages on rapidweather.com. Well, I like to keep some of them right were they are, so the "return visitors" can find them. Also, geocities is reliable, and does provide me with some statistics about the visitors to the pages, and I find that interesting to review from time to time. If I get a page that no one comes to, I might close it, and redirect to something similar in my collection. In my knoppix remaster, (see screenshots link below), I provide a local copy of "web.html" as a built-in start page for all three browsers, Opera, Flock and Firefox. Start up the browser, and that page appears, ready to go to work. The idea behind "web.html" is to keep the user out of a "walled garden" like they get with using msn.com or aol.com for a "home page". I often take a look at what the "webby awards" has chosen, and see if any of those sites will be something I will want to put on "web.html".
Most of the spam blocking systems depend upon IP addresses. Firefox 2.0 can download a list of known "phishing sites", and compare what you are looking at in the browser to that list. It's a big list, and probably will get bigger as time goes on. I wonder how the IPv6 discussion here would relate to that. Will the Firefox 2.0 list get extremely big? They have to manually update the list, and your browser downloads the list. Other choice is to have Google check the site for you, for each site. I don't use either choice by default in my knoppix remaster, the list would take up/ramdisk space, unless the user has a "persistent home directory" set up on a hard drive partition, something very few will do. I use one, however, usually a 2 GB one, so I can have almost unlimited "/ramdisk" space, compared to what would be available on a 128 MB box, for instance. Not many users would want Google to "track" their Firefox 2.0 surfing.
It's not so much the pre-installed OS, one can run a livecd linux easily on the new machines. I see 2 GB of ram on many, for about $1500 for a loaded laptop, with a 256 MB ATI graphics card, and a Intel Centrino Duo, "Core 2 Duo inside" processor. Imagine, turning on the machine with the livecd already in the drive, and missing the Out of Box Experience for today, possibly putting it off until tomorrow. With 2 GB of ram, one can just do "toram" at the boot prompt, and quickly place the OS in ram, then remove the CD from the tray. Stay booted up, and you're good to go. If you like what you see, partition the hard drive with QTParted, and next time, place the OS in a partition with "tohd=/dev/hda6", set up a swap, perhaps a small partition for a "persistent home directory", so you can save new applications, such as Google Earth, between bootups. All this is an alternative, but in the end most purchasers of a PC are going to want to give Windows a try, since they paid for it, and all of the installed hardware is supported, that may not be true in all cases with a livecd linux. I'm not going to claim that an autoconfiguring OS will detect all of the hardware, but it is a good bet that your broadband connection will be up and running, with a firewall, and that you can use Firefox 2.0 to surf the web in an environment that is more secure than Windows.
The first thing I thought of when I heard about the cooperation agreement between Microsoft and Novell, was that perhaps "dual boot" boxes might be offered. Windows Vista, and SuSE Linux. Really can't imagine that Microsoft would allow that, the users won't be needing all the virus protection software if they stick to always booting into linux. So, I suppose the dual boot idea appearing at your local Wal*Mart in a HP box is just a pipe dream for all of the joe sixpacks out there, wanting to do without all the extra costs involved in keeping Windows up and running and free of viruses and trojans. I know, it might be a stretch of the imagination having a concerned joe sixpack here, but even he would want to save a little money here and there.
I just installed Fedora Core 6 on three different systems (including one laptop) and the installs all went flawlessly.
Hey Dave, did you dual boot FC 6 with XP? I have tried that, and was not successful. Could be that I have installed FC 6 in a partition such as/dev/hdd6. (yes, everything for "/" in one partition) One one box with a gig-o-ram I could use the FC rescue CD, and get FC 6 up and running. That box has broadband, so I could surf the web with Firefox. But, that is not a dual boot install. On another box with only 256 MB of ram, using the FC rescue CD resulted in a kernel panic when I tried to log in with "root", so I could do "startx". I'm sure that if I started with a fresh hard drive, and let the FC installer partition it, then I would have a running FC box. It's just the dual boot that gets me digging around on Google, and in my XP book, etc. Individuals like me like to tinker as you can see, but the average person that just wants to surf the web and perhaps send email would not be happy getting themselves involved to the degree that I enjoy. I'm going to try again on the dual boot, this time on/dev/hdb. What complicates things is that I have a nice RHL 9 install (using it now), and have tried to add FC 6 to the GRUB bootloader for RHL. Close, but no cigar.
I downloaded the first two disks of FC 6, and am trying to install to dual boot with XP. I already have the partitions set up, having used QTParted in my knoppix remaster, see screenshots below.
I am glad somebody has listed Number 20, "Illegal Fishing".
I do that periodically.
I say properly bait that hook, and you'll catch 'em every time!
Favorites:
Apparently we have a school here that has a shortage of old maid schoolteachers that would babysit this computer lab. If you are going to run Windows, and if the Gates Foundation bought the computers for the school, then that's what you get, then putting some babysitters in there would either secure the place or scare off the downloaders, etc.
Same thing with allowing after hours skateboarding on school sidewalks and stairs, put up a fence and your problem is solved. The school does not have to let these types in the computer lab, or on the sidewalks either. Those computers are put there for students that need them, and don't have parents that can fork out up to two grand for a home system for the kid, that will have to be replaced every three years or so.
Having said all that, aimed at keeping the bad kids out of the lab, it is a shame that trojans, bots, viruses, etc. from all over the world will soon get into these boxes and turn them into a zombie farm or something.
The boxes can be virus scanned using f-prot with a livecd knoppix linux. (See screenshots, below) I find that it can do that just as good as Norton AV.
Boot the machine up with knoppix, and see what hard drive partitions can be accessed.
If they are all ok, then the problem is with FC6. I have emelFM in my knoppix remaster, (see screenshots below), so I am able to take a look around, and easily mount/unmount all the partitions. Had to use it on a Windows XP box a few days ago, that had trouble booting, to copy some important files (to the owner, anyway) to a CD. I have all of the admin tools arranged in a menu so I can get to work quickly. Also, I would let QTParted look at the drives and see if that application can access them ok. I did have a RHL 9 cd set that would not install on anything but a 686 box, so I have it running now on a dual 200 MMX (of all ancient things, mind you) box. RHL 9 can do Mozilla Firefox 2.0 just fine, makes a good combination. Only have a 2 MB graphics card, and on my Gateway EV900 (19") monitor, you wouldn't know the difference. Did have a 32 MB card here, but had to loan it out. Strange thing about RHL9, the installer would not tell you about your computer not being a 686 box until way into the installation!, then you wasted a lot of time, and got no install. This has nothing to do with hard drive partitions, however. Your problem might have to do with the type of linux file system the SuSE install has, that you are overwriting. Perhaps you could completely remove those partitions, and let the FC6 installer set new ones up for you. It sure likes to get creative with those partitions, making new ones for/root,/, all sorts of things. Big change from the installer for RHL 6 (really old Red Hat). You could always set it up like you wanted if you knew how to do it.
Another alternative is tomsrtbt linux. I use it all the time to set up hard drives, partitions, etc. and it does a good job once you get used to using fdisk. You don't get a graphical display of your partitions, but if they are there, then tomsrtbt's fdisk will show them. And you can delete them and set up new ones. (Just have a notepad handy to keep track.) it installs on a single floppy you can carry around from computer to computer. You need to be handy on the command line with tomsrtbt linux, that's all you get, but you can do several consoles, I believe.
Any system that is badly protected enough to get infected is probably already bogging down and in danger of the user getting it fixed
I went to a computer repair shop today, very nice place, with lots of expensive computers for sale. Noticed the price list posted:
Virus Removal $140.00
Labor, Per Hour: $85.00
and so forth.
On the upside, they had a tray of 30 or so Ubuntu Linux CD's sitting on the counter, no sign or notice around them to say what they were for the benefit of the "lowest common denominator" walking through the door. More upside: The friendly repairman _gave_ me a graphics card for free, I am using it now on a box running RHL 9. I came away thinking I saved $65 not having to buy one. That guy is the nicest fellow I have come in contact with all week. I'm going back when I get some bread and buy one of those screamers they had sitting around.
Before putting Firefox 2.0 RC2 in my knoppix remaster, I had to do something about the 4 MB list of phishing sites that Firefox uses to see if the user is looking at a fake website. I can't use it in a livecd linux that is supposed to run satisfactorily on older hardware. I'm using the 2.4 kernel, and can run well on 128 MB ram with PII or AMD K6-2. The list would go in ~/.mozilla, in/ramdisk. Also, Firefox will have to download the list each time it is booted, as I have Firefox delete it's ~/.mozilla when closed. Done for security and privacy reasons. I have Flock 0.7.6 do that also, as it tends to keep a file on your searchs, even if you have it delete private data on close. One might ask, what is the point on a livecd linux, just turn the box off, and everything goes. But if a "persistent home directory" knoppix.img is run on a hard drive partition, then we have something that could bring back the Ghost of Christmas Past, so to speak. I have a bunch of RSS feeds for Firefox, so I get about 240K of download when the browser starts, anyway. Just didn't think the phishing sites item was worth it.
I like RC2, now I guess I'll have to put Firefox 2.0 RC3 in there! I'm impressed with the claim that it will use less memory than Opera 9, which I also have in the CD.
This box that I am on right now is a dual 200 MMX with 256 MB of RAM, and three hard drives. I use Windows 98 "DOS" to make batch files to run loadlin with a nice menu to boot either Windows 98 (not very often), or a selection of window managers in my knoppix remaster (see screenshots). I can use a "knoppix.img" file for ~/, or just do without that, and boot into the default IceWM. Next choice is Fluxbox, then KDE, then twm. The Windows 98 desktop has icons for all of that also, and the menu too. So, can jump from Windows 98 back to the menu, and on to linux. Additional menu items are scandisk for '98 partition, MSDOS Edit, allowing a fix of any of the batch files. (mostly used to set the system up). So, I do not have to use the knoppix CD to boot, I just turn the box on. Oh, wait! I do get GRUB, with a choice of RHL 9 or Windows 98, that times out to '98, which brings the menu up via autoexec.bat right away. So, I can get into '98 either via GRUB, or wait till the menu appears, and choose '98 there. I have had boxes with system commander, and a bunch of OS's, '98, SuSE, Debian, Slackware, etc. and used the MSDOS menu on '98 there to get into something like knoppix. I look forward to the day when I can try Vista, and see if I can add a HDD, and put linux on it, and let Vista dual boot it, using some sort of third party software. That would be cool. Right now, I can run my knoppix remaster on an XP box, usually with a generous "knoppix.img" for ~/. Also I use emelFM to look in all the partitions to see what's there. Usually wind up playing all the songs that were downloaded using XP.
Looks like this is for Windows XP, perhaps. I have a P4 HT with a GB of RAM that would run it and come up with results in a reasonable amount of time, I suppose. Very nice setup for students to work with. I like the idea of "turning the sun down", to do something like simulating a volcanic ash event all around the earth.
I used to go up into Books-A-Million, with a scratch pad in a pocket, and sit down, and copy stuff from all sorts of computer books. They didn't care. Once in a while I would find a book that really hit the spot, so I would forgo the copying, and just head to the checkout stand, and buy it. One book I got at Borders was Knoppix Hacks by Kyle Rankin.
First thing I did when I got home, was remaster the CD to get rid of that pocket knife background for KDE in the Knoppix 3.4 CD that came with the book.
This is an update to my post above. I am now running RC2 as a temporary install, and it seems just fine. (This is a livecd linux)
For those knoppix fans, you have to leave out your "home=scan" in your boot cheatcodes to be able to tar -xvf the Firefox downloaded file. Then, after you get a ~/firefox (not the ~/.mozilla) just copy it to a spare hard drive partition, and then reboot, now using your "knoppix.img" with "home=scan". Next, copy the ~/firefox to ~/ so it will be included in your knoppix.img. You may change the owner/group to knoppix.knoppix for all of ~/firefox. Last, make a menu entry or desktop icon for RC2 in place of the Mozilla Firefox that you had. Mine is:
There are some screenshots below showing a prior Firefox running in IceWM, here is one that shows the toolbar. Now, when you set up the browser the way you want, the "persistent home directory" knoppix.img will keep your changes from bootup to bootup. I put the bookmarks with the 9 RSS feeds in ~/firefox so RC2 has them also.
This has been a description of how to temporarily install RC2, when a "knoppix.img" is being used. (This box has a 200 MB one., so about 53% of that is being used for the new Firefox, and Google Earth, both temporary "installs".)
Now I am going to enjoy using Mozilla Firefox 2.0 RC2 for the rest of the evening.
I'm using RC1 now on Rapidweather Remaster of Knoppix Linux on a dual 200 mmx box with 256 MB of RAM. Seems ok to me, I'll get over to my cable modem box today and download RC2 and give it a try. I use a "persistent home directory" knoppix.img for ~/, and on this box it's 500 MB, so my RAM does not change, it's at 556 K, (1%) according to "df". The knoppix.img is on/dev/hdb7, and the OS itself is on/dev/hdd7. I don't have to use the CD to boot, have a loadlin setup using a MSDOS menu. My remaster uses the 2.4 kernel, so it runs well on older boxes. I have loaded my remaster up with fonts, so the web pages look better than they do in Opera or Firefox running on Windows XP, on the same machine. The "oem" knoppix 3.4 had so-so fonts, not acceptable to me. I symlink to the ~/.fonts.cache-1, so it does not use any ~/ ram to speak of. It's 304.70 KB, so you can see why I would want to symlink it. I can run the remaster directly off the CD, with no real problems, it is just a little slower to start up applications, as they have to decompress off the CD first in typical knoppix style. 7200 RPM hard drives offer a boost, and since they are there, why not use them.
I don't see any reason why I can't put RC2 in the CD, unless they have somehow fowled something up, over RC1, which I doubt. I do have Opera 9.02, and Flock, which is based on the stable Mozilla Firefox 1.5.0.6. I pre-configure all three browsers in the CD, mainly pointing them to a built-in home page like this one. The users wind up in less of a "walled garden" with a page like that, or at least I have tried to make it so.
I do have RC1 running the NoScript extension, does give one the impression, at least, that you are keeping the bad javascripts out, but it winds up being a nuisance sometimes, having to enable js on sites.
With the knoppix.img setup for ~/ I can easily add something like Google Earth, which I run on a P4 HT with 1GB RAM.
About "top", I have been up nearly an hour, and I have zero swap used, and 26484KB free. (This is a 256 MB box) It's probably the 2.4 kernel that allows me to have these numbers. Some of the 2.2 kernel machines I have do even better, but, they will not run the new browsers, either.
I once had the idea that any OS that one installs on a PC needs to more or less match the time the PC was put on the market so as to provide drivers for the hardware, etc. A Pentium II equals Windows 98.
I have had lots of problems getting linux 2.6 kernel OS's to run fast enough on Pentium II's, for instance. If that meant putting SuSE 6.3 on one of those, then that's what I did.
From the get-go Microsoft said that Vista would require a lot more in the way of memory, graphics, processor speed than previous products. I think they have backed off somewhat on that, with a tiered setup, allowing for some older boxes. I know XP has been factory-installed on machines with only 128 MB of RAM, with the result running way too slow. Getting that price way down, apparently.
I stick with a 2.4 kernel for my knoppix remaster Rapidweather Remaster of Knoppix Linux and I am able to get the latest web browsers, Firefox 2.0, Opera 9, Flock (based on Mozilla 1.5.0.7) to run on Pentium II and AMD K6-2 with 128 MB of RAM. The on-chip cache seems to make a big difference, those processors with only 64 K cache run slower than those with 512K, some almost unacceptable if running only 266 MHZ. I get good results with AMD running 400 MHZ/ 128MB RAM, and excellent results with 256MB RAM.
The SuSE 6.3 installs won't run the latest web browsers, and it takes a lot of time to configure. I usually dd the install to a new HDD to save time. Generally too much trouble compared to the livecd linux.
I'd like to install this trial Vista, but don't have a spare box of sufficient power, and I know this OS will time out soon, and most likely won't give the protection against viruses, trojans, etc. than I have already with my remaster.
I'm able to run Google Earth using my remaster, with a "knoppix.img" for the ~/ on a spare HDD partition. Google Earth runs just fine, although I have discovered, like others, that the maps are old. This box I'm using now has a P4 HT, with 1 GB RAM, 128MB ATI, plenty for Vista, but installing the Vista RC would probably hose my XP Pro install here. I rarely use it, but did pay for it in the beginning. Had to fix it a lot, one time had to reinstall. Too much trouble overall, and wouldn't expect Vista to be any different over a few years use.
Main thing I like about running my remaster using a "fromhd=/dev/hda3" setup, with a "knoppix.img" is that the hard drive activity is way down, compared to running XP. The drive stays really quiet, much easier on the box as a whole. I have 320GB of HDD space, and I would imagine that Vista would work those drives over pretty good, compared to what I have right now.
I know I am missing a wonderful "out of box experience" with the Vista install, but I like to get results quicker than that, so that's why I use a livecd linux.
My cellphone has "two screens", but is left "on" all the time. There is a main screen under the flip, and a small screen on the outside of the flip, than can display battery charge, time, signal strength, incoming calls, missed calls.
I am always amazed when I pull the phone out of it's case to look at the outside screen, and find that the backlight is on. Some sort of motion sensor, I suppose.
So, I am not suprised that a laptop manufacturer would provide two screens, but I must say that I thought we were talking about "dual displays" here, but apparently not. I suppose there will be software to set up what is displayed on the outside screen, not everyone wants "flight departure information"
Really would have been something to watch when Katrina came through, with 70 MPH winds for what seemed like many many hours. All the powerlines came down with the trees, so our neighborhood had nothing but lots and lots of firewood, no electricity, no internet. Hooked a car battery up to a scanner, and found out that some people had tried to climb onto their roofs to patch holes, and got swept off when the next big wind came. Katrina came in "pulses", and sometimes it would rev up quite a bit, and scare everyone. So, a Windmill might have generated a lot of power, if it was securely anchored in the ground, and did not have any trees near to fall on it. Also, would need a brake of some sort to prevent it from going too fast. Would need lots of batteries to charge, but those are expensive, and extra batteries would not be needed normally, on non-hurricane days.
Or, you could just go here for one of my favorites.
System requirements? 128 MB RAM, 200 MMX or better processor, Already have a Windows 98 installation at/dev/hda1, so we can use QTParted to partition the hdd, and set up a swap, and a partition for a/knoppix, so we can just run from the hard drive, and free up the CDROM drive for other uses.
Plenty of older boxes qualify, that's what I use every day.
We will have to wait 90 years to learn whether or not some lifeform was listening
I would think it would be a lot longer than that. If they were listening, perhaps they would not reply. Also, have we not broadcast into space a lot more than this item? Since we have not been indundated with replies, especially resulting from the charming "Star Trek" series of TV shows, I for one am not going to be holding my breath in 90 years. Assuredly, I doubt I will have a breath to hold then.
Try using walnut. Downside, very hard on the saw blades when cutting, but will hold it's shape for decades. probably have to be a good woodworker to begin with, and have a table saw, dremel rotary tool with all the woodworking attachments, a variable speed drill, plenty of screws, and dowels. You'll probably have to join several pieces together with dowels to make the sides, using clamps to hold them together while the glue dries.
You would have to get some walnut scraps from a cabinet maker company, and see what you can come up with. Walnut sands good, so you will have a good time getting everything smooth, at least on the outside where you will apply a finish of some sort. Here, a power sander might be useful. The only problem with wood is that it is thick, so that's why they use plastic or metal in PC cases to begin with. You might be able to plane the wood down to a certain thickness, but here again, walnut will be hard on the saw blades. I can imagine using the dremel tool to sculpt the areas for the power buttons, and other access areas required for a PC. It surely will be unique when you get finished with it. You'll want to run linux on the PC. (See Screenshots, below) Then, you'll have a nice comfortable OS to match your custom-made case.
I made a grandfather clock with walnut, for about $6.50 in wood cost, using scraps from a cabinet maker. It's thirty years old now, and still looks new. The area inside where the clock mechanism screws down is all walnut, custom made to fit. Here, walnut is superior to pine, which you would not want to use.
I run Firefox with the NoScript extension, within my livecd linux. (See Screenshots, below). Sometimes I do run my ~/ with a "persistent home directory", a knoppix.img, but I am using a control script for Firefox that deletes any ~/.mozilla found on browser startup, and then removes it when Firefox is closed by the user. So, I can do some online banking, then close Firefox, and switch to Flock, or just restart Firefox. This is on top of the normal preferences one can set for Firefox, to clear all private data on closing, or during the Firefox session, if desired. Good idea to do that as we exit the online banking, and then do more surfing. NoScript, as mentioned, and Guarddog Firewall are in place as well.
I can just run linux without the knoppix.img, as I use a menu at startup, to choose between them. CD not needed in the drive, using loadlin.
Slashdot Mirror
Take a look at the screenshots in the signature below.
/knoppix folder in a ext2 partition, however. Once you get going, you can refine your setup to do that.
I run this knoppix remaster on machines with 128 MB of ram, that were originally designed for Windows 98.
I do use the Windows 98 "dos" to have the autoexec.bat run a menu, from which I can choose Windows or any of the various windows managers in my remaster, KDE, twm, Fluxbox, and the default IceWM. The one item recommended is the "persistent home directory", a file called "knoppix.img" that is accessed via the loadlin command line in the various 'linux.bat" files that are selected with the menu. Here is an old page of mine describing the msdos menu now being used to multi-boot linux and windows. I do have one box that boots Debian 2.2, Mandrake 8, my remaster, and Windows 98. Only my remaster can run the latest web browsers, Opera 9, Flock, and Firefox.
No problem at all running my remaster on a 200 MMX box, I'm doing that now, using Firefox 2.0 to make this post.
The remaster is based on Knoppix 3.4, which uses a 2.4 kernel, so that is why it runs so well on older hardware.
I have experimented with livecd linux with 2.6 kernel, and that really slows down on these boxes. Some of those won't run at all.
There are some tricks to it all, one of them is to get the isolinux.bin file to test 100% with the "testcd" knoppix cheatcode. Not even the original Knoppix 3.4 can do that. If you get 100% in that test, then the livecd linux will boot on almost all older machines bios'. Damnsmall linux did not figure that out, and I had nearly 3/4 of my older boxes that DSL would not boot on once they went to an isolinux setup. They now have to offer a parallel "syslinux" setup to keep everyone happy. I don't need to do that.
I don't need a CDROM drive to "install", just use a backpack cdrom external drive to copy the 492 MB "/knoppix" to the Windows partition, set up the menu with the loadlin batch files, and reboot, choose your OS.
Most of the time I do place the
I didn't just add some applications to the base Knoppix 3.4, I made a lot of my own, see the Getting Started Guide to see all the details.
I have used my livecd linux to boot into XP boxes that would not boot up at all, just a few lines of error message on a black screen. Then I can see what is missing, and have some idea what to do when I use the XP restoration CD to bring Window XP back to life. You can do a virus scan of all of the XP partitions using my livecd linux, if that makes one feel better.
I can use QTParted to partition the XP hard drive, and I have set up two separate XP installations on the same box, so each user can really have his/her own Windows XP. You have to reboot to get to the other one via the ntldr screen.
My main point here is bringing the latest web browsers to an old Windows 98 box, with my livecd linux.
I have a whole row of machines here that all do that, all were originally Windows machines, most with less than 256 MB of ram. There's a Toshiba 4015CDS with 160 MB of RAM, that boots my remaster, without the CD in the tray.
Very stable, with Guarddog firewall in place by default.
--Rapidweather
I came up with the name "rapidweather" for my site(s) because I designed most of the pages in the day when 14.4 dial-up modems were being used. I have weather pages, and got tired of waiting for the TV weatherman to finally appear some 20 minutes or so in the newscast, with that "killer tornado on main street" that he promised to tell us about at the beginning of the show. Most TV weathermen vary the actual time of their appearance onstage, to keep you guessing, and expose the viewer to the maximum amount of useless commercials.
The internet came along, and I got busy and made the weather pages you see on rapidweather.com
My weather maps page is designed to load quickly, although I went overboard and provided too many weather map links. Idea was to provide maps, and backup maps, etc.
Very popular page when something like Katrina comes along.
I have watched usatoday.com go from a fast loading page to the one we get now, although it is not really all that bad. One page I provide is this one, designed to give the user a nice selection of decent pages, all tested and approved in their loading speed and usefulness. One might ask why I don't host all of my pages on rapidweather.com. Well, I like to keep some of them right were they are, so the "return visitors" can find them. Also, geocities is reliable, and does provide me with some statistics about the visitors to the pages, and I find that interesting to review from time to time. If I get a page that no one comes to, I might close it, and redirect to something similar in my collection.
In my knoppix remaster, (see screenshots link below), I provide a local copy of "web.html" as a built-in start page for all three browsers, Opera, Flock and Firefox. Start up the browser, and that page appears, ready to go to work. The idea behind "web.html" is to keep the user out of a "walled garden" like they get with using msn.com or aol.com for a "home page". I often take a look at what the "webby awards" has chosen, and see if any of those sites will be something I will want to put on "web.html".
-- Rapidweather
Most of the spam blocking systems depend upon IP addresses. /ramdisk space, unless the user has a "persistent home directory" set up on a hard drive partition, something very few will do. I use one, however, usually a 2 GB one, so I can have almost unlimited "/ramdisk" space, compared to what would be available on a 128 MB box, for instance. Not many users would want Google to "track" their Firefox 2.0 surfing.
Firefox 2.0 can download a list of known "phishing sites", and compare what you are looking at in the browser to that list. It's a big list, and probably will get bigger as time goes on. I wonder how the IPv6 discussion here would relate to that. Will the Firefox 2.0 list get extremely big? They have to manually update the list, and your browser downloads the list. Other choice is to have Google check the site for you, for each site.
I don't use either choice by default in my knoppix remaster, the list would take up
-- Rapidweather
It's not so much the pre-installed OS, one can run a livecd linux easily on the new machines. I see 2 GB of ram on many, for about $1500 for a loaded laptop, with a 256 MB ATI graphics card, and a Intel Centrino Duo, "Core 2 Duo inside" processor. Imagine, turning on the machine with the livecd already in the drive, and missing the Out of Box Experience for today, possibly putting it off until tomorrow. With 2 GB of ram, one can just do "toram" at the boot prompt, and quickly place the OS in ram, then remove the CD from the tray. Stay booted up, and you're good to go. If you like what you see, partition the hard drive with QTParted, and next time, place the OS in a partition with "tohd=/dev/hda6", set up a swap, perhaps a small partition for a "persistent home directory", so you can save new applications, such as Google Earth, between bootups.
All this is an alternative, but in the end most purchasers of a PC are going to want to give Windows a try, since they paid for it, and all of the installed hardware is supported, that may not be true in all cases with a livecd linux. I'm not going to claim that an autoconfiguring OS will detect all of the hardware, but it is a good bet that your broadband connection will be up and running, with a firewall, and that you can use Firefox 2.0 to surf the web in an environment that is more secure than Windows.
-- Rapidweather
I don't want to update machines only to later discover they've been tainted by M$ code.
Will be interesting to see what code is used for some of the common tasks in getting a box up and running.
Will they be using GRUB?
The first thing I thought of when I heard about the cooperation agreement between Microsoft and Novell, was that perhaps "dual boot" boxes might be offered.
Windows Vista, and SuSE Linux.
Really can't imagine that Microsoft would allow that, the users won't be needing all the virus protection software if they stick to always booting into linux. So, I suppose the dual boot idea appearing at your local Wal*Mart in a HP box is just a pipe dream for all of the joe sixpacks out there, wanting to do without all the extra costs involved in keeping Windows up and running and free of viruses and trojans. I know, it might be a stretch of the imagination having a concerned joe sixpack here, but even he would want to save a little money here and there.
I just installed Fedora Core 6 on three different systems (including one laptop) and the installs all went flawlessly.
/dev/hdd6. (yes, everything for "/" in one partition) /dev/hdb. What complicates things is that I have a nice RHL 9 install (using it now), and have tried to add FC 6 to the GRUB bootloader for RHL. Close, but no cigar.
Hey Dave, did you dual boot FC 6 with XP? I have tried that, and was not successful. Could be that I have installed FC 6 in a partition such as
One one box with a gig-o-ram I could use the FC rescue CD, and get FC 6 up and running. That box has broadband, so I could surf the web with Firefox. But, that is not a dual boot install. On another box with only 256 MB of ram, using the FC rescue CD resulted in a kernel panic when I tried to log in with "root", so I could do "startx".
I'm sure that if I started with a fresh hard drive, and let the FC installer partition it, then I would have a running FC box. It's just the dual boot that gets me digging around on Google, and in my XP book, etc.
Individuals like me like to tinker as you can see, but the average person that just wants to surf the web and perhaps send email would not be happy getting themselves involved to the degree that I enjoy.
I'm going to try again on the dual boot, this time on
-- Rapidweather
I downloaded the first two disks of FC 6, and am trying to install to dual boot with XP.
I already have the partitions set up, having used QTParted in my knoppix remaster, see screenshots below.
-- Rapidweather
I do that periodically.
I say properly bait that hook, and you'll catch 'em every time!
Favorites:
Having said all that, aimed at keeping the bad kids out of the lab, it is a shame that trojans, bots, viruses, etc. from all over the world will soon get into these boxes and turn them into a zombie farm or something.
The boxes can be virus scanned using f-prot with a livecd knoppix linux. (See screenshots, below)
I find that it can do that just as good as Norton AV.
Boot the machine up with knoppix, and see what hard drive partitions can be accessed.
If they are all ok, then the problem is with FC6.
I have emelFM in my knoppix remaster, (see screenshots below), so I am able to take a look around, and easily mount/unmount all the partitions. Had to use it on a Windows XP box a few days ago, that had trouble booting, to copy some important files (to the owner, anyway) to a CD. I have all of the admin tools arranged in a menu so I can get to work quickly. Also, I would let QTParted look at the drives and see if that application can access them ok.
I did have a RHL 9 cd set that would not install on anything but a 686 box, so I have it running now on a dual 200 MMX (of all ancient things, mind you) box. RHL 9 can do Mozilla Firefox 2.0 just fine, makes a good combination. Only have a 2 MB graphics card, and on my Gateway EV900 (19") monitor, you wouldn't know the difference. Did have a 32 MB card here, but had to loan it out.
Strange thing about RHL9, the installer would not tell you about your computer not being a 686 box until way into the installation!, then you wasted a lot of time, and got no install. This has nothing to do with hard drive partitions, however. Your problem might have to do with the type of linux file system the SuSE install has, that you are overwriting. Perhaps you could completely remove those partitions, and let the FC6 installer set new ones up for you. It sure likes to get creative with those partitions, making new ones for
Another alternative is tomsrtbt linux. I use it all the time to set up hard drives, partitions, etc. and it does a good job once you get used to using fdisk. You don't get a graphical display of your partitions, but if they are there, then tomsrtbt's fdisk will show them. And you can delete them and set up new ones. (Just have a notepad handy to keep track.)
it installs on a single floppy you can carry around from computer to computer.
You need to be handy on the command line with tomsrtbt linux, that's all you get, but you can do several consoles, I believe.
Hope this helps.
-- Rapidweather
New Zealand. Isn't that where Lord of the Rings was filmed?
Near an ozone hole...solar radiation...mutations...Hobbits?
I went to a computer repair shop today, very nice place, with lots of expensive computers for sale.
Noticed the price list posted:
Virus Removal $140.00
Labor, Per Hour: $85.00
and so forth.
On the upside, they had a tray of 30 or so Ubuntu Linux CD's sitting on the counter, no sign or notice around them to say what they were for the benefit of the "lowest common denominator" walking through the door.
More upside: The friendly repairman _gave_ me a graphics card for free, I am using it now on a box running RHL 9. I came away thinking I saved $65 not having to buy one. That guy is the nicest fellow I have come in contact with all week.
I'm going back when I get some bread and buy one of those screamers they had sitting around.
-- Rapidweather
Before putting Firefox 2.0 RC2 in my knoppix remaster, I had to do something about the 4 MB list of phishing sites that Firefox uses to see if the user is looking at a fake website. /ramdisk.
I can't use it in a livecd linux that is supposed to run satisfactorily on older hardware. I'm using the 2.4 kernel, and can run well on 128 MB ram with PII or AMD K6-2. The list would go in ~/.mozilla, in
Also, Firefox will have to download the list each time it is booted, as I have Firefox delete it's ~/.mozilla when closed. Done for security and privacy reasons. I have Flock 0.7.6 do that also, as it tends to keep a file on your searchs, even if you have it delete private data on close. One might ask, what is the point on a livecd linux, just turn the box off, and everything goes. But if a "persistent home directory" knoppix.img is run on a hard drive partition, then we have something that could bring back the Ghost of Christmas Past, so to speak. I have a bunch of RSS feeds for Firefox, so I get about 240K of download when the browser starts, anyway. Just didn't think the phishing sites item was worth it.
I like RC2, now I guess I'll have to put Firefox 2.0 RC3 in there!
I'm impressed with the claim that it will use less memory than Opera 9, which I also have in the CD.
-- Rapidweather
This box that I am on right now is a dual 200 MMX with 256 MB of RAM, and three hard drives.
I use Windows 98 "DOS" to make batch files to run loadlin with a nice menu to boot either Windows 98 (not very often), or a selection of window managers in my knoppix remaster (see screenshots). I can use a "knoppix.img" file for ~/, or just do without that, and boot into the default IceWM. Next choice is Fluxbox, then KDE, then twm.
The Windows 98 desktop has icons for all of that also, and the menu too. So, can jump from Windows 98 back to the menu, and on to linux. Additional menu items are scandisk for '98 partition, MSDOS Edit, allowing a fix of any of the batch files. (mostly used to set the system up). So, I do not have to use the knoppix CD to boot, I just turn the box on.
Oh, wait! I do get GRUB, with a choice of RHL 9 or Windows 98, that times out to '98, which brings the menu up via autoexec.bat right away. So, I can get into '98 either via GRUB, or wait till the menu appears, and choose '98 there.
I have had boxes with system commander, and a bunch of OS's, '98, SuSE, Debian, Slackware, etc. and used the MSDOS menu on '98 there to get into something like knoppix.
I look forward to the day when I can try Vista, and see if I can add a HDD, and put linux on it, and let Vista dual boot it, using some sort of third party software. That would be cool. Right now, I can run my knoppix remaster on an XP box, usually with a generous "knoppix.img" for ~/. Also I use emelFM to look in all the partitions to see what's there. Usually wind up playing all the songs that were downloaded using XP.
-- Rapidweather
Looks like this is for Windows XP, perhaps.
I have a P4 HT with a GB of RAM that would run it and come up with results in a reasonable amount of time, I suppose. Very nice setup for students to work with.
I like the idea of "turning the sun down", to do something like simulating a volcanic ash event all around the earth.
One book I got at Borders was Knoppix Hacks by Kyle Rankin.
First thing I did when I got home, was remaster the CD to get rid of that pocket knife background for KDE in the Knoppix 3.4 CD that came with the book.
-- Rapidweather
For those knoppix fans, you have to leave out your "home=scan" in your boot cheatcodes to be able to tar -xvf the Firefox downloaded file. Then, after you get a ~/firefox (not the ~/.mozilla) just copy it to a spare hard drive partition, and then reboot, now using your "knoppix.img" with "home=scan".
Next, copy the ~/firefox to ~/ so it will be included in your knoppix.img. You may change the owner/group to knoppix.knoppix for all of ~/firefox.
Last, make a menu entry or desktop icon for RC2 in place of the Mozilla Firefox that you had.
Mine is:
prog "Mozilla Firefox 2.0 RC2"
That is for the IceWM toolbar icon in Rapidweather Remaster of Knoppix Linux.
There are some screenshots below showing a prior Firefox running in IceWM, here is one that shows the toolbar.
Now, when you set up the browser the way you want, the "persistent home directory" knoppix.img will keep your changes from bootup to bootup.
I put the bookmarks with the 9 RSS feeds in ~/firefox so RC2 has them also.
This has been a description of how to temporarily install RC2, when a "knoppix.img" is being used. (This box has a 200 MB one., so about 53% of that is being used for the new Firefox, and Google Earth, both temporary "installs".)
Now I am going to enjoy using Mozilla Firefox 2.0 RC2 for the rest of the evening.
-- Rapidweather
I'm using RC1 now on Rapidweather Remaster of Knoppix Linux on a dual 200 mmx box with 256 MB of RAM. Seems ok to me, I'll get over to my cable modem box today and download RC2 and give it a try. /dev/hdb7, and the OS itself is on /dev/hdd7.
I use a "persistent home directory" knoppix.img for ~/, and on this box it's 500 MB, so my RAM does not change, it's at 556 K, (1%) according to "df". The knoppix.img is on
I don't have to use the CD to boot, have a loadlin setup using a MSDOS menu. My remaster uses the 2.4 kernel, so it runs well on older boxes. I have loaded my remaster up with fonts, so the web pages look better than they do in Opera or Firefox running on Windows XP, on the same machine. The "oem" knoppix 3.4 had so-so fonts, not acceptable to me. I symlink to the ~/.fonts.cache-1, so it does not use any ~/ ram to speak of. It's 304.70 KB, so you can see why I would want to symlink it.
I can run the remaster directly off the CD, with no real problems, it is just a little slower to start up applications, as they have to decompress off the CD first in typical knoppix style. 7200 RPM hard drives offer a boost, and since they are there, why not use them.
I don't see any reason why I can't put RC2 in the CD, unless they have somehow fowled something up, over RC1, which I doubt. I do have Opera 9.02, and Flock, which is based on the stable Mozilla Firefox 1.5.0.6.
I pre-configure all three browsers in the CD, mainly pointing them to a built-in home page like this one. The users wind up in less of a "walled garden" with a page like that, or at least I have tried to make it so.
I do have RC1 running the NoScript extension, does give one the impression, at least, that you are keeping the bad javascripts out, but it winds up being a nuisance sometimes, having to enable js on sites.
With the knoppix.img setup for ~/ I can easily add something like Google Earth, which I run on a P4 HT with 1GB RAM.
About "top", I have been up nearly an hour, and I have zero swap used, and 26484KB free. (This is a 256 MB box)
It's probably the 2.4 kernel that allows me to have these numbers. Some of the 2.2 kernel machines I have do even better, but, they will not run the new browsers, either.
-- Rapidweather
I once had the idea that any OS that one installs on a PC needs to more or less match the time the PC was put on the market so as to provide drivers for the hardware, etc. A Pentium II equals Windows 98.
I have had lots of problems getting linux 2.6 kernel OS's to run fast enough on Pentium II's, for instance.
If that meant putting SuSE 6.3 on one of those, then that's what I did.
From the get-go Microsoft said that Vista would require a lot more in the way of memory, graphics, processor speed than previous products. I think they have backed off somewhat on that, with a tiered setup, allowing for some older boxes. I know XP has been factory-installed on machines with only 128 MB of RAM, with the result running way too slow. Getting that price way down, apparently.
I stick with a 2.4 kernel for my knoppix remaster Rapidweather Remaster of Knoppix Linux and I am able to get the latest web browsers, Firefox 2.0, Opera 9, Flock (based on Mozilla 1.5.0.7) to run on Pentium II and AMD K6-2 with 128 MB of RAM. The on-chip cache seems to make a big difference, those processors with only 64 K cache run slower than those with 512K, some almost unacceptable if running only 266 MHZ.
I get good results with AMD running 400 MHZ/ 128MB RAM, and excellent results with 256MB RAM.
The SuSE 6.3 installs won't run the latest web browsers, and it takes a lot of time to configure. I usually dd the install to a new HDD to save time. Generally too much trouble compared to the livecd linux.
I'd like to install this trial Vista, but don't have a spare box of sufficient power, and I know this OS will time out soon, and most likely won't give the protection against viruses, trojans, etc. than I have already with my remaster.
I'm able to run Google Earth using my remaster, with a "knoppix.img" for the ~/ on a spare HDD partition.
Google Earth runs just fine, although I have discovered, like others, that the maps are old.
This box I'm using now has a P4 HT, with 1 GB RAM, 128MB ATI, plenty for Vista, but installing the Vista RC would probably hose my XP Pro install here. I rarely use it, but did pay for it in the beginning. Had to fix it a lot, one time had to reinstall. Too much trouble overall, and wouldn't expect Vista to be any different over a few years use.
Main thing I like about running my remaster using a "fromhd=/dev/hda3" setup, with a "knoppix.img" is that the hard drive activity is way down, compared to running XP. The drive stays really quiet, much easier on the box as a whole. I have 320GB of HDD space, and I would imagine that Vista would work those drives over pretty good, compared to what I have right now.
I know I am missing a wonderful "out of box experience" with the Vista install, but I like to get results quicker than that, so that's why I use a livecd linux.
-- Rapidweather
The phone is a Motorola PEBL.
So, I am not suprised that a laptop manufacturer would provide two screens, but I must say that I thought we were talking about "dual displays" here, but apparently not. I suppose there will be software to set up what is displayed on the outside screen, not everyone wants "flight departure information"
I would want weather information.
-- Rapidweather
A Windmill, huh?
Really would have been something to watch when Katrina came through, with 70 MPH winds for what seemed like many many hours. All the powerlines came down with the trees, so our neighborhood had nothing but lots and lots of firewood, no electricity, no internet. Hooked a car battery up to a scanner, and found out that some people had tried to climb onto their roofs to patch holes, and got swept off when the next big wind came. Katrina came in "pulses", and sometimes it would rev up quite a bit, and scare everyone.
So, a Windmill might have generated a lot of power, if it was securely anchored in the ground, and did not have any trees near to fall on it. Also, would need a brake of some sort to prevent it from going too fast.
Would need lots of batteries to charge, but those are expensive, and extra batteries would not be needed normally, on non-hurricane days.
-- Rapidweather
I needed a good laugh today, and when I saw the hour limit on the web browser, etc. that did it.
/dev/hda1, so we can use QTParted to partition the hdd, and set up a swap, and a partition for a /knoppix, so we can just run from the hard drive, and free up the CDROM drive for other uses.
I couldn't help but note the I *despise* Linux on the desktop item in prior post.
All I can offer there are the screenshots, below, for my linux livecd system.
Or, you could just go here for one of my favorites.
System requirements? 128 MB RAM, 200 MMX or better processor, Already have a Windows 98 installation at
Plenty of older boxes qualify, that's what I use every day.
-- Rapidweather
I would think it would be a lot longer than that. If they were listening, perhaps they would not reply. Also, have we not broadcast into space a lot more than this item? Since we have not been indundated with replies, especially resulting from the charming "Star Trek" series of TV shows, I for one am not going to be holding my breath in 90 years. Assuredly, I doubt I will have a breath to hold then.
You would have to get some walnut scraps from a cabinet maker company, and see what you can come up with. Walnut sands good, so you will have a good time getting everything smooth, at least on the outside where you will apply a finish of some sort. Here, a power sander might be useful. The only problem with wood is that it is thick, so that's why they use plastic or metal in PC cases to begin with. You might be able to plane the wood down to a certain thickness, but here again, walnut will be hard on the saw blades. I can imagine using the dremel tool to sculpt the areas for the power buttons, and other access areas required for a PC. It surely will be unique when you get finished with it. You'll want to run linux on the PC. (See Screenshots, below) Then, you'll have a nice comfortable OS to match your custom-made case.
I made a grandfather clock with walnut, for about $6.50 in wood cost, using scraps from a cabinet maker. It's thirty years old now, and still looks new. The area inside where the clock mechanism screws down is all walnut, custom made to fit. Here, walnut is superior to pine, which you would not want to use.
-- Rapidweather
I run Firefox with the NoScript extension, within my livecd linux. (See Screenshots, below).
Sometimes I do run my ~/ with a "persistent home directory", a knoppix.img, but I am using a control script for Firefox that deletes any ~/.mozilla found on browser startup, and then removes it when Firefox is closed by the user. So, I can do some online banking, then close Firefox, and switch to Flock, or just restart Firefox. This is on top of the normal preferences one can set for Firefox, to clear all private data on closing, or during the Firefox session, if desired. Good idea to do that as we exit the online banking, and then do more surfing. NoScript, as mentioned, and Guarddog Firewall are in place as well.
I can just run linux without the knoppix.img, as I use a menu at startup, to choose between them. CD not needed in the drive, using loadlin.
-- Rapidweather