Hello together,

I am new here.
I have following Setup and difficulties:
(1) Hardware 1: ThinkPad 600x, PIII-650, ~600MB, 160GB HDD, mini-PCI-WLAN
--> antiX 16.2 works fully and installed nicely on /dev/sda8 somewhere near the end of the HDD, Partition size ~ 5 GB.
(2) Hardware 2: ThinkPad 600 (no x), PII-400, 382MB, 16GB CF-to-IDE-"SSD"
--> antiX boots nicely, BUT:
(3) does not install on /dev/sda8 (3.8 GB at the end of the CF-Card --> why? Does the TP600 Bios not allow Systems behind cylinder 1024? But why does the 600x (see (1))? Or is 3.8 GB too small? Or does antiX refuse CF Cards all together? Or what?
"Does not install" means: the installer does not offer any installable Partition. Not even the 4GB DOS-Partition in the beginning of the"HDD" (/sda2)...- strange!
(4) I use an external TP WN-422g, V2 USB-WLAN stick. works fine under W2K and puppy Linux 550 (but later does also not install/boot on the CF Card). Under antiX it is recognized but does not scan (find any Network). Is anything known why? Is the atheros wlan module somehow blocked/interfered with by any other newer kernel module?

(5) - Oh, since there are alway question about why and what etc.: The TP600 has the best ever ever Keyboard I ever had to work with. I say"Wow" every evening when I can work with it. And my other Computers (work etc.)  are not cheap either! Plus the Speakers are better than on most newer machines. Thus, I like to use the old boxes (600, 600x) as"Basement"-terminals: some web Radio, some reading of datasheets when doing some electronics or other Projects, also Controlling model railroad, reading out car fault codes etc.. (they both have still good (2-3h!) batteries and COM-ports ;-) - in all: I'd like to stick to these computers.
Now - W2K(600) and XP(600x) are"over" but the only satisfactory performing systems (OS/2 would be great, but no WLAN working...). Thus I'd like to get a not too old, but small and performing Linux on these machines. On the 600x it works so far, Multiboot from DOS via OS/2 to antiX is doing etc... - on the 600 I have trouble to solve (and I see this as"alternate" computer game - just try to reach the next Level...

(6) And just in case: Anyone getting Sound to work on the TP600? (Mine does under W2K but seems to be blocked"the well known way" under all other systems - but Iam still at the beginning to work around that...)

Thanks for all tips in advance!

Torsten

Or does antiX refuse CF Cards all together? Or what?

Could be a lot of" or what's" . Howdy and Welcome. There are members running AntiX on old gear like yours. SamK comes to mind.
Anyways:

Did you md5sum your AntiX 16.2 iso after a download?
Are you using a ide to cf card adapter and have it plugged into the hard drive bay?
Because that is how I ran my IBM 390E with a 8 gig micro drive , AntiX 7 or so, before I sold it to kid so he could have street cred with his peer group.
Are we talking full, base, or core iso?
Did you try the F keys at boot screen and apply some cheat codes?
Did you try the command line install option since running weak specs?
Do you know about this yet? Lot's and lot's and lot's and lot's of good info there , < give likes freely >


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That is all I can think of for now. AntiX minimal requirements ? You are on the razors edge. So more effort is required on your part to bring this gear out of the Windows 2000 era, < I got a server 2000  cd collecting dust in a bottom drawer >.

Thanks for all tips in advance!

Click on the red link in my signature is all I can suggest. My IBM T23 has exotic graphics chips that are non supported by modern distros because of it's age and non universal usage across the planet on a daily basis by a gazillion users.

Good Luck. Have a ball. Rok

I know what you mean. My oldy Panasonic CF-48 with AntiX 16.2 installed is a backup motorcycle shop streaming radio player in case my wireless Dell Desktop disintegrates doing rough duty out in the Desert weather in my shop.

I even bothered to install a used LCD cable between the inverter and LCD screen. To take it off of external LCD.


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Hey Rok,

thanks for your answers!
Let see...
- no, didn't check MD5 since no download error messages and the CD boots, runs, installs on the TP600x.
- Yes, CF-card in CF-to-IDE adapter. Works for all systems so far in terms of access. A bit tricky to avoid"dead-writing" the flash under Windows...
- Its a full antiX 16.2 CD.
- I did reread the boot options several times and did not find the CLI-installer.... - but a couple other nice settings. And then booted into the wrong WM and finally ended at a text screen login - ...and now the CLI copies the CD to /dev/sda8."...may take a while..." Lets see whether it finally boots at the end... - will give feedback here later

Greetings to the desert (where?)

Torsten

West Texas on the Mexican Border.

You can get a duff .iso even if your computer doesn't throw up an error, especially if using http instead of ftp to grab it.
From the 'live', you can set up your partitioning before starting the cli-installer, This should allow you to install into a partition smaller than 4gb, but you will need at least 3gb for a full install.

Update: CLI has installed and the Installation (multi)boots. -> next Level.
Also the WLAN did see Networks for a while and allowed to make profiles - but did not actually connect due to a mistake in the profiles. And then suddenly WPA-supplicant took 100% CPU and did not respond anymore. And then it was bed-time.
So: more to be seen the Weekend: WLAN and Sound (did reconfigure via DOS-config-tool, but still neither OS/2 nor DOS nor antiX see the Card, only Win2K does...)

Torsten

There used to be a problem with Windows, if you mute sound in Windows, another O/S can not unmute it, so make sure it isn't muted in Windows. ;)

Hello fatmac,

yes, that is known -"fast boot" Needs be disabled and the IBM-DOS-tool needs to be questioned for port numbers and irq and so on.
But it seems more difficult here: I can not find the snd-4236 Driver module in anitX's Alsa Installation. Seems I have to get sources and recompile?
And over the Weekend antiX almost killed itself: kernel.log, Messages and a third file in /var/log were at 460MB each - at 1.3GB or so dirve space after Installation that is bad ;-( - the last Messages seemed to be related to the Network (Atheros module)... - which ic my other Problem: I was able to see networks (so the hardware driver should work) and once it even said"connected" but did not get an DHCP-IP. - whatever, Network also does not work yet and tends to block teh System with 100%CPU (which top does not see) and/or writing full all drive space with messages (not error Messages thou!)
The log files I now limited via logrotate - but still writing so many Messages does cost ressources...

So: again Need tips: old Sound Card and unwilling Wifi stack.

Torsten

...ok, just searched a bit more...

Sound Problem seems even more trouble (there iis a thread from last year from techseptic):
- alsa-recompile failed due to missing kernel header file
- Rok suggested an older kernel which still has cs4236 Support built-in
- the old link to Google drive is now expired
-> I guess I need to get an old kernel (or all together an old antiX?) - and I am rather new to that part of Linux...

So: please give me some hints what kernel (version numbers, what distro model, ...) to search for or what antiX Version to download.

Torsten

An older version that worked well for most people was 13.2, might be worth a look, not too old a version, & 15, if I remember was pretty good as well.

I guess that the truly old hardware support is"falling off the map quickly", even in our distribution, which has handled pretty old hardware for a long time.

I didn't realize just how long it has been, but I used to frequently use both Dell and IBM (now Lenovo Thinkpad) models.  Both used to work really well with most distributions, but apparently the kernels and utilities that worked well with them have changed significantly.

To facmac's point, there are fairly recent versions of antiX that can work with these older systems if nothing else works.  I know for sure that the really old ones, like antiX 8.5 - and fatmac mentioned a couple of newer ones, that definitely have worked in years past.

I'll say this much: our distribution will probably be one of the few remaining ones capable of running and supporting such old hardware.  Some old versions of Puppy and perhaps even Slackware (running with simple window managers rather than a desktop, such as Slackware with fvwm, Fluxbox, or IceWM) may also provide some success, but it'll probably be similar in the respect that it may require using an older version with older kernels and utilities.

I may want to keep my old CDs, DVDs, and my oldest USB flash drives in order for some of the old stuff to work.  I already know that my two remaining 32-bit systems are working with fewer and fewer distributions, but so far, MX and antiX still work (I say without having used them much over the past 1-2 months).

Kernel-Newbie-Question:

I just checked my kitchen-tablet (Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, kernel 4.4.0-97 generic) and even the latest update (yesterday) knows of the CS42xx module under .../sound/isa. Cross checked with antiX: no, not there. - mybe because the antiX-ISO-builders decided it is too old and only wastes space?
What does the antiX kernel 4.4.10 mean - somwhat newer branch than my Ubuntu? So - should I be able to
(1) recompile ALSA for antiX kernel and get all (including cs423x) drivers? If so: why did techseptic fail last year? or
(2) get somewhere a kernel&driver package (lets say an 16.1-live CD or 15.x or something) and get everything copied from there (how is that done, i.e. what parts do I need and how to tell grub...Ubuntu uses a script which I do not know) or
(3) just play stupid and try to copy the 4.4.0.97 drivers and see what happens -will do that now.

Sorry, I am tooo new to the Kernel Architecture Logic to understand, what drivers I can copy as binary and what not (and why)......

Torsten

You could just try installing the Debian kernel version for antiX-16 - 3.16 IIRC. It should be in the meta-package installer app in the control centre.

And then suddenly WPA-supplicant took 100% CPU

Yeah. Ceni has done this to me on my Atom Netbooks for what ever reason. If that was what you are using. Might try wicd-cli instead or wicd-gtk if you got to a desktop. Like JWM, Fluxbox, or Icewm.