LINUX on Windows 98

[Mike McMullin]

On Wed, 2008-07-23 at 19:22 +0100, catalina wrote:
> I have a Toshiba 220cds(1997) with Windows 98.
> Is it possible for me to install a LINUX Ops System?
> Please help...I am inexperienced in this issue.

  Having sussed through the replies, I'd like to chime in.
Quite probably, as mentioned by one person the amount of ram may very
well be an issue.  If you have 256Meg (or possibly even 128Meg) of Ram
you ought to be able to do it.
Apparently the thing shipped with 16 Meg, but can handle up to 144Meg,
this will impact your GUI.
okay, let's look at some issues: 
 - how much empty drive space do you have left?  4 gigs would be nice,
or are you intending on dumping Win98 altogether?  The shipping spec is
a 1.35 gig hard drive, has this been upgraded to something larger?
 - if you are limited to the original specs you'll want to consider a
small footprint distribution, like DamnSmallLinux or Puppy (my vote).
 - getting an image to install will depend on your bandwidth and your
ability to burn an .iso image.  You can deal with this in a few ways
including ordering a disk from The Linux Store, using another system
(even having a friend/etc.) download and burn you a disk, or contacting
your local user group ( a good idea of you are new to linux as they can
help you get this system setup in an evening and offer good support as
you go about learning the new OS).  Sometimes Magazines offer install
disks with them, but for me they've been very hit or miss and mostly
miss.
 - if you are keeping Windows, you will need the hard drive space, and
you will need to defrag Windows from inside windows first, moving the
files forward on the drive (don't worry about the ones marked
immovable).
 - do not use ext2, just don't waste your time on it, prefer ext3
instead as it is more robust.

  I hope that some of this helps.

  Take Care,

  Mike