Linux on a Compaq Presario 4710

[Usulsuspct]

Is this possible?

I need some info if so...what distro?

system spec's.... P166 24mg ram 2.5gb HD...

I have tried to install Redhat 6 (i think), and Mandrake 7.2, both fail while trying to load vmlinuz....I am trying to boot with a boot disk made with the rawrite utility.

I think it's a problem with the CDROM...I tried goin into the bios....but it's pretty crappy options in the Compaq bios...

Any info would be appreciated.

thanks

[mdwatts]

I've had no problems installing Caldera's eDesktop 2.4 on a large selection of Compaq's starting from Deskpro P166 up to the PIII's and with multiple hardware configurations.

You could probably use more ram for running X though.

[ds801]

Some possibilities:

Did you wipe your hard drive completely before installing? Many Compaq computers have a hidden partitionon the hard drive that's part of the computer's BIOS. If you wiped the drive clean, (or if you got it that way), then you'll need to goto Compaq's web site and download the files to re-create that partition.

Also, make sure you use the version of the boot floppy for the specific distro.

Do you know for sure that all your hardware is working? If you had Windows installed, did it work alright, or were there problems?