Finding a good distro for a 486

[lmerg]

My ultimate plan is to use an old 486 as an Apache server to learn cgi scripting on. I'd also like to set up a samba server.

I am running TurboLinux with a 2.2.14 kernel. I can't compile the module that comes with my NIC (It was written for the 2.3 kernel and the kernel headers I have won't compile correctly). I followed the directions in the source file and on Mr. Becker's website as best I could.

Should I get a newer distro? - I downloaded the RH 7.2 iso's but they won't burn onto cd correctly, I had wanted to try their non-graphical server install.

The computer won't untar (tar -x <filename> ) the new kernel I downloaded, so I can't install a new kernel. I let it try for about a day.

Should I double check how I was trying to compile the source file? - I tried to follow the file path, but I'm not sure where the kern_compat.h file should go. It occured to me that gcc was rejecting the kernel headers (with pointer warnings) because they were edited by Turbolinux and thus incompatible.

So I'm kinda lost. I just need some advice or direction. Any thoughts?

[bdg1983]

Usually the kernel source is a gzipped tar, so you would use

tar zxvf filename.tar.gz

Is that the filetype you are trying?

[Kerey]

I have an apache server on a 486. The speed is decent for static html, but I just want to warn you that cgi runs very slowly. It is running debian by the way.

[lmerg]

I gunziped the kernel file just fine. But it won't untar.

I know it will be slow, it is only going to be on a small LAN, for my own amusement.

[lmerg]

- bump

[thedexman]

I can't compile the module that comes with my NIC (It was written for the 2.3 kernel and the kernel headers I have won't compile correctly). I followed the directions in the source file and on Mr. Becker's website as best I could.
What were the errors?

The computer won't untar (tar -x <filename> ) the new kernel I downloaded, so I can't install a new kernel.
The computer isn't untaring the kernel because you are not using the proper syntax for tar. You must include -f in the paramaters to have it untar a file (otherwise it is expecting the data to come from stdin). Try 'tar xf filename'. BTW you can do the whole gunzip/tar thing in one line with 'tar xzf filename'.

[thor420]

Im not sure whats going on with your iso's, but in response to the other question about distros on a 486:

If its got less than 32 MB RAM, which one of my 486's does, RH 7.1 whines about not enough before you even have a chance. Try slackware 8.0, minimal server install.

[ph34r]

I run Slack 8 on a 486sx33 laptop with 4mb of ram. Gotta change the shell to ash instead of bash, but it can run ssh and connect me to my real box.

With a 8mb upgrade (12mb now!) everything works fine in command line only mode.

[lmerg]

Is there a way to check the MD5SUMS (I think I'm using the right term) on a windows machine before I try and burn the slackware iso onto a cd?

[Lorithar]

the command is tar -xf filename...
the f points to the File you want to untar.

[X_console]

md5sum for Windows: http://etree.org/md5com.html

[lmerg]

cool, thanks. I have Slackware downloaded now. I'm getting the md5sum program now. So hopefully I should be running soon.