4mb Laptop HOWTO by Bruce Richardson (i am malala young readers edition txt) 📕

will ruin your pcmcia networking.

Wait until you’ve rebooted and then edit /etcpcmcianetwork.opts

 

� This is the point where you should install a kernel. For a laptop

the bareapm kernel is best, for a desktop simply the bare one.

 

5.4.6. Exit

 

The set-up process is finished but you are not. Do not reboot yet!

There is another vital step to complete.

 

5.5. Pre-reboot Configuration

 

On a normal machine you would simply reboot once the installation is

complete. If you do that here you may have to wait 6 or 8 hours for a

login prompt to appear and another half hour to get to the command

prompt. Before rebooting you need to change or remove the elements

that cause this slowdown. This involves editing config files so you

need to be familiar with vi, ed or sed.

 

At this stage your future root partition is still mounted as /mnt so

remember to at that to the paths given here.

 

etcpasswd

Edit this to change root’s login shell to ash. ash really is the

only practical login shell for 4mb RAM.

 

etcrc.d/rc.modules

Comment out the line ‘depmod -a’. You only need to update module

dependencies if you have changed your module configuration

(recompiled or added new ones, for example). On a standard

system it only takes a second or two and so it doesn’t matter

that it’s needlessly performed each time. On a 4mb laptop it can

take as much as 8 hours. When you do change your module set-up

you can simply uncomment this line and reboot. Alternatively,

change this part of the script so that it will only run if you

pass a parameter at the boot-prompt. For example:

–—

if [ “NEWMODULES” == “1” ] ; then

depmod -a

fi

–—

etcrc.d/rc.inet2

This script starts network services like nfs. You probably

don’t need these and certainly not at startup. Rename this

script to something like RC.inet2 - that will stop it from being

run at boot and you can run it manually when you need it.

 

etcrc.d/rc.pcmcia

On the Aero you should also rename this script, otherwise you’ll

lose the use of your floppy drive on startup. It’s worth

considering for any other small laptop as well - you can always

run it manually before inserting a card.

 

Once these changes have been made, you are ready to reboot.

 

5.6. Post-reboot Configuration.

 

If you made the changes recommended in section “Pre-reboot

configuration” then the boot process will only take a few minutes, as

opposed to several hours. Login as root and check that everything is

functioning properly.

 

5.6.1. Re-use the temporary root.

 

Once you are sure the installation is solid you can reclaim the

partition you used as the temporary root. Don’t just delete the

contents, reformat the filesystem. Remember, the mke2fs that came with

the mini-Linux is out of date.

 

If you intend to re-use this partition as /home, remember not to

create any user accounts until you have completed this step.

 

5.6.2. Other configuration tweaks.

 

In such a small RAM space, every little helps. Go through SlackWare’s

BSD-style init scripts in etcrc.d/ and comment out anything you

don’t need. Have a look at Todd Burgess’ Small Memory mini-HOWTO

http://eddie.cis.uoguelph.ca/~tburgess/ for more ideas.

6. Conclusion

That’s it all done. You now have a laptop with the core utilities in

place and 50 to 70mb spare for whichever extras you need. Don’t mess

it up because it’s a lot easier to modify an existing installation on

such cramped old machines than it is to start from scratch again.

 

7. Appendix A:

 

This appendix lists which packages (if any) from each category might

be included in the installation and gives my reasons for including or

omitting them. I made no attempt to install X so those categories are

ignored.

 

Although this appendix refers specifically to the Slackware

distribution it can be used as a guide with any of the major

distributions.

 

7.1. A - Base Linux System

 

Most of the packages in this category are essential, even those that

aren’t listed as required by the Slackware set-up program. Because of

this, I’ve listed those packages that I felt could reasonably be left

out rather than all the non-compulsory packages that I installed.

 

7.1.0.1. Packages considered for omission:

 

kernels (ide, scsi etc.)

There’s no need to install any of these, you get a chance to

select a kernel at the very end of the installation process.

 

aoutlibs

This is only needed if you intend to run executables compiled in

the old a.out format. Omitting it saves a lot of space. Omitted.

 

bash1

Bash2 (simply called bash in the Slackware package list) is

required for the Slackware configuration scripts but there are a

lot of scripts that need bash1. I included it.

 

getty

agetty is Slackware’s default getty, this package contains getty

and uugetty as alternatives. Only include it if you need their

extra functionality. Omitted.

 

gpm

Personally, I find this very useful at the console (and the

Aero’s trackball is very handy) but it’s not essential.

Included.

 

icbs2

Not needed. Omitted.

 

isapnp

No use here. Omitted.

 

loadlin

Not needed with the setup described here - unless your old

laptop has some peculiarity that requires a DOS driver to

initialise some of its devices. Omitted.

 

lpr

You could argue that you can do your printing from whichever

desktop is nearest but I always find it useful to be have

printing capabilities on a laptop. Included.

 

minicom

Not a compulsory include but I want the laptop to do dial-up

connection. Very handy. Included.

 

pciutils

Not needed on these old laptops. Omitted.

 

quota

Not vital but it can be used to set limits that stop you from

overflowing the limited space available in these laptops.

Included.

 

tcsh

I recommend using ash as your login shell. Only include this if

you need it for scripts. Omitted.

 

umsprogs

You can leave this out and still be able to access UMSDOS

floppies. Omitted.

 

scsimods

No use on these laptops. Omitted.

 

sysklogd

This can interfere with apmd but it does provide essential

information. Included.

 

7.1.0.2. Packages installed:

 

aaa-base, bash, bash1, bin, bzip2, cpio, cxxlibs, devs, e2fsprog,

elflibs, elvis, etc, fileutils, find, floppy, fsmods, glibcso, gpm,

grep, gzip, hdsetup, infozip, kbd, ldso, less, lilo, man, modules,

modutils, pcmcia, sh-utils, shadow, sudo, sysklogd, sysvinit, tar,

txtutils, util, zoneinfo

 

Combined size: 33.4

 

7.2. AP - Non-X Applications

 

None of these packages are, strictly speaking, essential - although

ash is really required for sensible operation in 4mb. Leaving them all

out could save the vital space for you to squeeze in your favourite

app. I selected a minimal set of tools that I don’t like to do

without.

 

7.2.0.1. Packages considered for inclusion:

 

apsfilter

Not much point having printing if you can only print text files.

Included.

 

ash

This is the shell for low-memory machines, only taking up 60k.

Use it as the default login shell unless you like waiting 10

seconds for the command prompt to reappear each time. Included.

 

editors (jed, joe jove vim)

elvis is the default Slackware editor and a required part of the

installation. If, like me, you are a vi fan then that’s all you

need: installing vim would be wasteful duplication given the

space restrictions. If you can’t stand vi and need a more DOS-style editor then joe is small. Emacs fans with some self-discipline might consider jed or jove rather than pigging out on

the full-size beast. Omitted.

 

enscript

If you already have apsfilter you don’t really need this.

Omitted.

 

ghostscript

Including the fonts this comes to about 7.5mb. One to leave

until after the core installation, then consider if you need it.

Omitted.

 

groff

Needed for the man pages. Included.

 

ispell

Not an essential butvery useful to the overenthusiastic touch-typist. included.

 

manpages

Included!

 

mc Slackware offers a lightweight compilation of mc but I’m happier

at the command prompt. Omitted.

 

quota

Not necessary on what is not a multi-user machine but you

may,like me, find it handy to stop you from forgetfully wasting

the little space you have. Included.

 

rpm

Don’t bother. If you do have an rpm that you would like to

squeeze in, use rpm2tgz on a desktop machine to turn it into a

tgz package - then you can use the standard Slackware

installation tools. Omitted.

 

sc A useful little spreadsheet packed very small. Included.

 

sudo

Not essential but I find it useful here: it’s a cramped

environment and an awkward reinstall if you mess things up -

sudo helps create user profiles with the power to do the things

you need without carelessly wiping your disk. Included.

 

texinfo

Info documentation. Included.

 

zsh

Leave this out unless you’re addicted to it or have scripts that

must use it. Omitted.

 

7.2.0.2. Packages installed:

 

apsfilter,ash, diff, groff, ispell, manpages, quota, sc, sudo, texinfo

 

Combined size: 8.1 mb

 

7.3. D - Development Tools

 

You could fit C or C++ into this space but the glibc library package

is too big, so some pruning would be needed. Do the main installation

first and then try it.

 

There is room for Perl and Python.

 

7.3.0.1. Packages installed:

 

None

 

7.4. E - Emacs

 

I don’t use Emacs and so saved myself some space. On the other hand,

if you are an Emacs fan then you probably use it for e-mail, news and

coding so you’ll claim some of that space back by omitting other

packages.

 

If you do want Emacs it might be an idea to leave this out while doing

the core installation. Once the laptop is up you can try fitting in

what you want/need at your leisure.

 

7.4.0.1. Packages installed:

 

None.

 

7.5. F - FAQs and HOWTOs

 

If you know it all you don’t need these. I installed the lot.

 

7.5.0.1. Packages installed:

 

howto, manyfaqs, mini

 

Combined size: 12.4 mb

 

7.6. K - Kernel Source

 

You can just squeeze it in. If all you want to do is read the source,

go ahead.

 

7.6.0.1. Packages Installed:

 

None

 

7.7. N - Networking Tools and Apps

 

These packages were selected to provide core networking tools, dial-up

capability, e-mail, web and news.

 

7.7.0.1. Packages installed:

 

dip, elm, fetchmail, mailx, lynx, netmods, netpipes, ppp, procmail,

trn, tcpip1, tcpip2, uucp, wget

 

Combined size: 15.1 mb

 

7.8. Tetex

 

Another set that will barely squeeze in. I can’t say how it would run

in the space available.

 

7.8.0.1. Packages installed:

 

None

 

7.9. Y - BSD Games Collection

 

I’m addicted to several of these. If I really need that last 5mb they

can go.

 

7.9.0.1. Packages installed:

 

bsdgames

 

Combined size: 5.4 mb

 

7.10. End result

 

In total the installed packages plus kernel took up about 75mb of disk

space of which 19.5mb was in the root partition and 55.5 in /usr. On

the Aero that left 39mb in /usr, 74mb on the T1910.

 

8. Appendix B: Resources relevant to this HOWTO

 

Linux Laptop HOWTO

http://www.snafu.de/~wehe/Laptop-HOWTO.html

 

Small Memory mini-HOWTO

http://eddie.cis.uoguelph.ca/~tburgess/

 

Linux on Laptops

http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/kharker/linux-laptop/ HOWTOs and

installation FAQs for a wide range of machines.

 

Linux T1910 FAQ

http://members.tripod.com/~Cyberpvnk/linux.htm

 

Linux Contura Aero FAQ

http://domen.uninett.no/~hta/linux/aero-faq.html

 

Contura Aero FAQ

http://www.reed.edu/~pwilk/aero/aero.faq Comprehensive FAQ on

all aspects of the Contura Aero compiled by the moderators of

the Aero mailing list. Good Linux section .