I have an old W95 era Dell Laptop that I still find useful. I managed to install Linux Etch in it by installing w/o Xwindows, then adding that later so I could control what all that was installed. I use either Ratpoison or Fluxbox for my windows manager.
I have Freedos installed two ways on the Laptop. I can run it in dosemu, or I have the option to boot to it directly for any apps that won't run in dosemu. Booting directly to Freedos lets me be up and running very quickly, and I can get to the Freedos directory later from Linux, so I have access to work from either platform. If I only knew how to get networking to work with Freedos via my pcmcia network wirless card, I'd likely boot to Freedos more often than to Linux. But for now, I only know how to get the wireless working through Linux. I'm not a gamer, so I don't really have need for any version of Windows. I do use a USB Quickcam Express webcam for astrophotography, and for a time the only package I knew that drove the webcam was the Windows software it came with. Now I can use Linux and a program called camstream. Even better would be some dos compatible webcam program, but I must learn to be happy with the nice things Freedos does supply, making an old laptop still a valuable asset. --- On Sun, 6/21/09, Eric Auer <e.a...@jpberlin.de> wrote: > From: Eric Auer <e.a...@jpberlin.de> > Subject: Re: [Freedos-user] "Peace and Quiet"! > To: freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net > Date: Sunday, June 21, 2009, 9:32 AM > > Hi! > > > needed to support some. If Dos based Windows is > > used, Freedos is possibly being run on a computer > > that has 128+ megs of RAM. There are a LOT of > > old computers that have this much RAM. > > And several operating systems that can run there ;-) > > > Freedos can ask, "Are you on a Pentium, 486, 386, > 286, > > or 8088," at install time. Based off of that > info... > > You typically install from CD today, so you can assume > a 386 or better, often Pentium or better CPU. Many apps > run on 8086, but to have decent memory management, you > typically want HIMEMX and a 386. Several drivers also > require that. There are also floppy distros for 8086. > I would not put too much extra 8086 fiddling inside a > CD distro installer if you ask me. Almost no apps need > a more modern CPU than 386, or would gain from a FPU. > Well, probably Arachne would... I also think FreeBASIC > had issues with 486sx and older CPU which lack a FPU. > > > is possible to decide whether or not certain programs > > like Firefox for example make any sense. I > seriously > > doubt that anyone wants to run Arachne on anything > less > > than a 486 with at least 2 megs of RAM for example. > > On any PC which is too old to run NT or Linux, you > probably want Dillo and not Firefox anyway... ;-) > > Interestingly, Firefox depends mostly on GTK, Python > and Cairo. Python 2.4 already exists for DOS DJGPP. > Cairo has backends for GTK and Win32, but Nokia did > help with some QPainter backend for QT. It makes me > wonder how hard writing a VESA framebuffer backend > for DOS might be. On the other hand, I really wonder > how far HX is from running older Firefox for Win32. > > Note that while DOS runs on modern hardware, it > does not necessarily make use of it. There is > no surround sound, multi-core, more-than-4-GB- > of-RAM or similar support, but it does not hurt > to have that hardware while running DOS either. > > > of Linux that installs to a FAT directory and > > exits to Freedos when you are done would be fine > > On the other hand, switching THAT way would not > be much faster than rebooting to DOS either ;-) > > > In short, the state of Freedos's Arachne poses a > > security problem for anyone who needs to make sure > > that a graphical web browser has a local filter > > You cannot install censorship in any DOS browser > because in DOS, every user always is the admin. > > > Sure you might filter at the router to the net > > That would be morer secure indeed. > > Eric > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Are you an open source citizen? Join us for the Open Source > Bridge conference! > Portland, OR, June 17-19. Two days of sessions, one day of > unconference: $250. > Need another reason to go? 24-hour hacker lounge. Register > today! > http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;215844324;13503038;v?http://opensourcebridge.org > _______________________________________________ > Freedos-user mailing list > Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Are you an open source citizen? Join us for the Open Source Bridge conference! Portland, OR, June 17-19. Two days of sessions, one day of unconference: $250. Need another reason to go? 24-hour hacker lounge. Register today! http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;215844324;13503038;v?http://opensourcebridge.org _______________________________________________ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
