* * * * *
It's a bit sluggish, but it works
I was able to use the Gentoo [1] installation disk to boot the laptop, get
the dying harddrive mounted (had to turn off DMA (Direct Memory Access)
operation in the IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) device driver to keep the
kernel from crashing) and rsync all the important files to my main server.
But that still left me with a dead laptop, and now a D&D (Dungeons and
Dragons) game that pretty much requires a laptop (since Bob is doing the
whole online thing, as Bob is now using kLoOge.Werks [2] to help run the
game).
It was then I realized I had a copy of Knoppix [3] lying around. A live CD
(Compact Disc) distribution of Linux. I popped in the CD and in a few minutes
was greeted with a live Linux system, running X [4] and already on the
network. Not too bad. The default windowing manager of KDE (K Desktop
Environment) [5] is a bit sluggish (then again, running of a CD isn't exactly
a speedy experience either) but there are other options. TWM (Tom's Window
Manager) [6] is very lightweight (not as lightweight as 9wm [7] but more
usable than said 9wm) and IceWM [8] is also fairly lightweight (well,
compared to something like Enlightenment [9] or KDE (K Desktop Environment)).
Knoppix makes the system usable, until I can get a replacement harddrive for
the system.
Now, only if I can stop playing solitare on the darned thing …
[1]
http://www.gentoo.org/
[2]
http://www.kloogeinc.com/werks/index.htm
[3]
http://www.knoppix.org/
[4]
http://www.x.org/
[5]
http://www.plig.org/xwinman/kde.html
[6]
http://www.plig.org/xwinman/vtwm.html
[7]
http://www.plig.org/xwinman/archive/9wm/
[8]
http://www.plig.org/xwinman/icewm.html
[9]
http://www.plig.org/xwinman/enlightenment.html
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