Slackware Linux on a 386sx40

#slackware #xwindows #xfree86 #retro #linux #vintage

In this video I'm going to install Slackware 1.1.2 on an old 386SX40 using floppies. The goal is to get the base linux installed, along with networking and X support.

It's one thing to install linux on a virtual machine, but to install it on a 30 year old computer is another. So join me on this journey back in the past, to the beginning of 1994 when Slackware 1.1.2 was released, and the entire kernel source tree could still fit on a single 1.44MB 3.5 inch floppy.

I'll be going over the hardware of the PC (Soundblaster Pro, Mitsumi CDROM, 3Com networking card and a Trident video card). I'll cover the actual installation and configuration of the components.

In a second part we will be tackling sound, software, mitsumi cdrom IRQ hell and a lot more.

#linux #slackware #retro

[cajintexas]

Wow this brings back memories. Spending all night downloading the distro to a stack of floppies over a slow dial-up connection, trying to figure out all the options (and almost always choosing the default), making a custom kernel, waiting hours to compile it--I loved Slackware.

[piecaruso]

This is the kind of linux content i want

[fiveable]

This was exactly my computing life in the early 90’s. I had a home built 386 dx 40 running Slackware. This was before kernel modules so I was constantly reconfiguring and recompiling kernel. Kernel compiles took all night!

[philcooper]

Seeing that old PC case made me regret not taking as many of the surplus school computers as I could back in 1999

They were giving them away!

[BollingHolt]

0:19 Holy crap! An old Mitsumi single-speed CD-ROM drive! That was the first CD-ROM drive I ever purchased, in 1993, as a sixth-grader for my 486! Man, I thought I was the king of the world with that thing. I've never seen anyone else have one just like it.

[Bitwise]

Oh, the memories. A 386SX16 was my first PC, coming from the Commodore64 and Apple II Plus. All the hardware you've got there was the de-facto standard for DOS gaming back then. Thanks for sharing!

[Jerkwad]

Amazing how little the Slackware setup program has changed.

[retrogaminga]

I had installed slackware in April 1994 on a 386 dx 40 Mhz.. This was my very first Linux installation .. Beautiful memories..

[keimahane]

Slackware 1.1.2 was my first exposure to Linux, my buddy and I had picked up a copy while in HK. We were both HP-UX sysads and thought it would be fun to play with. Getting the GUI to work was always a challenge in those days, but really turned us all into hardcore geeks :) Been using some type of Linux ever since. Thanks for taking me back, many very fond memories from those days.

[MegaManNeo]

I am actually amazed the most by that weird top loader CD-ROM drive.
Seeing vintage computers, Windows 3.x and early Linux versions is fun but this thing really was my personal highlight.
Even more so than you guiding us through the setup of X

[greatquux]

Wow this was a trip down memory lane! Retro computing is alive and well great job!

[Lee_Adamson_OCF]

Ahh this brings back memories! In high school I had an IBM PC, upgraded with a no-name 386sx40 motherboard in it, with 4 megs of RAM and a 40 meg hard drive. I too ran Slackware on the machine, installed from floppies. Coming from a System 7 Mac, it was refreshing to have protected memory! I'd been learning C on the Mac, and bad pointers would often just crash the whole machine. Not so with Linux! :D

[justDIY]

Ooh this brings back memories. So much time spent at the local college, downloading and writing slackware disks for the various software groups, only to come back home and find one didn't work for some reason and waiting for the next visit to the computer lab to try again.

[jclosed]

That brings back many memories. I still can remember that I downloaded those floppy images using our dial-in connection (I was working as electronic engineer with 17 man personnel at a recycle company that repaired discarded consumer electronics and resold that stuff as second hand). It was my first experience with Linux.

Funny side note: By using Linux I got used to more non-Windows environments (well - I used RiscOS on the Acorn Archimedes before using Windows, but that's a whole other story), that was helpful when I learned Novell Netware. I have worked as installer and administrator for Novell Netware (from version 3.11 to 5.1) for a while, before jumping to a UNIX/Windows environment. Good old times!

After getting tired of grabbing stuff together and long downloads I switched to in-box distributions. Red hat was a bit too expensive, so I opted for S.u.S.E 4.2 (now openSUSE) and the later versions after that. When I got a demo of Mandrake Linux, I got blown away by the (by that time) great installer and desktop and started using that distribution until it "faded out". Nowadays I am using Linux Mint (LTS version) with the Cinnamon desktop.

[orbitalair]

I installed Slackware on floppies like that MANY, many, times. Thanks for the flashbacks.

[gilbertnf]

AH! Linux! Here we go! 4 years after, back in 1997, I installed my first Linux distribution, Slackware 3.2.... And then Debian, and Mandrake Linux, and RedHat Linux.... Nowadays, I use Ubuntu Linux... Pretty happy with this penguim!

[Megatog]

26:52 it's a good thing you're starting now because by the time the next video comes out it'll be done!

[FirstLast-wecb]

Great vid and brings back memories. I ran Slackware 2.something, NT 4.0, and Win 95 all on my 850 MB Pentium 100 in 1997. A total hit with the ladies.

[hooya]

lol! "darkstar" - yeah, that brings back the memories. Slackware was my gateway to EMACS, and all the joy it brings. If I remember, there was EMACS for the terminal, and EMACS for xwindow; you had to make a floppy set for each to do the install to get both.

[piecaruso]

xeyes is a must for every x11 or xwindow users