Welcome to BasicLinux 3.5
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BL3 is a mini-Linux designed specifically for old PCs. It provides a slim
2.2.26 kernel, a user-friendly shell and a good assortment of utilities.
BL3 includes a web browser, comm program, mail client, telnet client, wget,
DHCP and dial-up PPP. It also has a small-footprint GUI and some graphical
applications, including the MagicPoint presentation tool.
This version of BasicLinux boots from two floppies and runs in a ramdisk.
It has an option to install itself onto a Linux harddrive partition.
Minimum requirements for the floppy version
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Intel 386 or compatible
12mb RAM
two blank floppies (DOS format)
How to put BasicLinux on the floppies
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the zip file, you will find disk1.img and disk2.tgz. Floppy 2 is easy.
Simply copy disk2.tgz to an empty DOS floppy and label it floppy 2.
Floppy 1 is more complicated -- a simple copy is not enough. You have to
write the raw image (disk1.img) to the floppy.
In Linux, this is done with the dd command:
---------------------------
dd if=disk1.img of=/dev/fd0
---------------------------
In DOS, you use rawrite.exe or fdimage.exe to write raw images.
The BL3 zip file includes fdimage.exe. Here is the command:
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fdimage disk1.img a:
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WARNING: The floppy used for disk 1 must be perfect (no bad sectors).
The routines for writing raw images are not error-tolerant.
Starting BasicLinux
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Insert floppy 1 and reboot the system. Floppy 1 will boot Linux and tell
you when to insert floppy 2. When floppy 2 has finished loading, remove it.
PCMCIA
~~~~~~
BL3 is able to use older PCMCIA cards (serial, IDE and PCnet). To activate
a card, insert it in the PCMCIA slot and then execute: /etc/pcmcia/start
Networking
~~~~~~~~~~
BasicLinux has good networking capabilities. To help you configure your
network interface, BasicLinux includes a file called "netsetup", which
outlines the steps to follow. Just edit "netsetup" to match your situation
and execute it.
If you have a suitable modem, you can run pppsetup to configure a connection
to your Internet Service Provider. Note: many of the modems in Windows
computers are designed to work only with Windows -- they do not work with
BasicLinux.
Installing BasicLinux to harddisk
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From inside BL3, use fdisk and mke2fs to create a Linux partition on your
harddisk. Mount that partition at /hd and execute install-to-hd.
Disclaimer
~~~~~~~~~~
BasicLinux is free software. I have done my best to make it error-free,
but there is no guarantee regarding its fitness for any purpose. You use
it at your own risk.
BasicLinux 3 is designed for old PCs with limited RAM. It is not suitable
for mission-critical systems and should not be used on systems containing
irreplaceable data.
