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Linux BSD 386 486 HOW-TO

Below there is a table with different 4.4BSD-based UNIX-like operating systems and their boot/install options and system requirements for x86 computers according to 386/486 compatibility:

OS, version	Boot methods	Installation source	Min CPU/RAM/HDD	Link
NetBSD 3.1.1 (07.01.2007)	PXE/LAN, CD/DVD, FDD, DOS	Local, CD/DVD, FS, NFS, FTP	80386SX CPU, 8(4) MB RAM, ? MB HDD ,,**	ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-3.1.1
NetBSD 4.0.0 (12.16.2007)	PXE/LAN, CD/DVD, FDD, DOS	Local, CD/DVD, FS, NFS, FTP	80386SX CPU, 8(4) MB RAM, ? MB HDD ***	ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-4.0.0
OpenBSD 4.1 (05.01.2007)	PXE/LAN, CD/DVD, FDD	Local, CD/DVD, FS, NFS, FTP, HTTP	80386SX CPU, ? MB RAM, ? MB HDD	ftp://ftp.openbsd.org
OpenBSD 4.2 (11.01.2007)	PXE/LAN, CD/DVD, FDD	Local, CD/DVD, FS, NFS, FTP, HTTP	80486DX CPU, ? MB RAM, ? MB HDD	ftp://ftp.openbsd.org
OpenBSD 4.3 (05.01.2008)	PXE/LAN, CD/DVD, FDD	Local, CD/DVD, FS, NFS, FTP, HTTP	80486DX CPU, ? MB RAM, ? MB HDD	ftp://ftp.openbsd.org
FreeBSD 4.11 (Jan, 2005)	PXE/LAN, CD/DVD, FDD ******	Local, CD/DVD, FS, NFS, FTP	80386 CPU, 24 MB RAM, 100MB HDD *****	http://www.freebsd.org
FreeBSD 5.5 (May 2006)	PXE/LAN, CD/DVD, FDD ******	Local, CD/DVD, FS, NFS, FTP	80486DX CPU, 24 MB RAM, 150MB HDD ****	http://www.freebsd.org
FreeBSD 6.2 (January 2007)	PXE/LAN, CD/DVD, FDD ******	Local, CD/DVD, FS, NFS, FTP	80486DX CPU, 24 MB RAM, 150MB HDD	http://www.freebsd.org
FreeBSD 6.3 (January 2008) ******	PXE/LAN, CD/DVD, FDD ******	Local, CD/DVD, FS, NFS, FTP	80486DX CPU, 24 MB RAM, 150MB HDD	http://www.freebsd.org

* Installation note 1: For booting 4 Mb systems you need netbsd-INSTALL_SMALL or netbsd-INSTALL_TYNY kernel and appropriate BOOT kernel for installed system

** Installation note 2: For booting IBM PS/2 systems you need netbsd-INSTALL_PS2 kernel and appropriate BOOT kernel for installed system

*** Installation note 3: You can remove unneeeded devices from kernel reducing its size by recompiling it

**** Installation note 4: FreeBSD for the i386 requires a 486 or better processor to install and run (although FreeBSD can run on 386 processors with a custom kernel) and at least 24 MB of RAM. You will need at least 150MB of free hard drive space for the most minimal installation.

***** Installation note 5: FreeBSD for the i386 requires an 80386 or better processor. The sysinstall(8) installation program requires 16MB of RAM; after installation, FreeBSD itself can be run in 4-8MB of RAM with a pared-down kernel. You will need at least 100MB of free hard drive space for the most minimal installation; a more realistic minimum is on the order of 250-350MB.

****** Installation note 6: FreeBSD need special configured FreeBSD server to perform PXE/LAN installation.

Debian 5.0 (Lenny) , ... 8.0 Installation Tips

1. Installation source:

CD/DVD/BD -ROM.
Mount installation ISO:

mount -t iso9660 image.iso /cdrom -o loop

Attach content:

# apt-cdrom add

DOS partition:
```
loadlin.exe linux initrd=initrd.gz
```

PXE.

kernel boot/debian/linux
append raw initrd=boot/debian/initrd.gz

or

kernel memdisk
append raw iso initrd=boot/debian/mini.iso

2. Additional install sources

Add "contrib" and "non-free" components to /etc/apt/sources.list
#for Debian 3.1
deb http://archive.debian.org/debian/ sarge contrib main non-free
#for Debian 4.0
deb http://archive.debian.org/debian/ etch contrib main non-free
#for Debian 5.0
deb http://archive.debian.org/debian/ lenny contrib main non-free

3. Localization (KOI8-R, CP1251, UTF8):

# dpkg-reconfigure locales
# dpkg-reconfigure console-tools
# aptitude install console-cyrillic
# dpkg-reconfigure console-cyrillic

To check, run:

# consolechars fontname.prf

4. Packet installation:

# aptitude install packetname
# apt-get install packetname
# apt-get autoremove
# apt-get clean

# base

mc unzip pciutils firmware-linux-nonfree

# network

ftpd ntp tftpd-hpa ssh telnet telnetd links elinks mknbi (NBI boot)
rdesktop tightvncserver xrdp xtightvncviewer

# programming

gcc mtools perl libc-dev nasm bcc make syslinux
x-window-system ( or xorg ? )
lxde xfce4 icewm xdm ( xdm is optional )
mplayer smplayer vlc
wine
qemu

5. Additional packages

$ wget -c deb.opera.com/opera/pool/non-free/o/opera/opera_12.16.1860_i386.deb
$ sudo dpkg -i opera_12.16.1860_i386.deb

$ wget -c deb.opera.com/opera/pool/non-free/o/opera/opera_12.16.1860_amd64.deb
$ sudo dpkg -i opera_12.16.1860_amd64.deb

$ sudo apt-get install -f

Copy libflashplayer.so to the plugins directory.

6. Mount physical hdd in VirtualBox (also possible in MS VirtualPC 2004)

VBoxManage internalcommands createrawvmdk -filename PHYSHDD.vmdk -rawdisk \\.\PhysicalDrive0

7. configure static lan with additional ip's

/etc/network/interfaces

 iface eth0 inet static
        address ...
        netmask ...
        gateway ...

iface eth0:0 inet static
        address ...
        netmask ...
        gateway ...

8. Disable UTC time

/etc/default/rcS: set UTC=no
or
/etc/adjtime: change UTC to LOCAL

9. NTP synchronization

apt-get install ntp
and
/etc/ntp.conf: change 'server'

10. NE2000 ISA non-pnp

sbin/modprobe ne io=0x300 irq=10
then
module is included in /etc/rc.d/rc.modules

11. Disable graphical console boot
/etc/default/grub:

GRUB_TERMINAL=console
GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=text

Adding this to /etc/default/grub gets rid of part of it (thanks to TAFKA):

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="vga=normal nomodeset"

12. make xorg.conf

# Xorg -configure

.....
Section "InputDevice" 
Identifier "Generic Keyboard" 
Driver "keyboard" 
Option "CoreKeyboard" 
Option "XkbRules" "xfree86" 
Option "XkbModel" "pc102" 
Option "XkbLayout" "us,ru(winkeys)" 
Option "XkbOptions" "grp:alt_shift_toggle,grp_led:scroll"
EndSection
.....
Section "Device" 
Identifier "Generic Video Card"
Driver "vesa"
.....
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen" 
Device "Generic Video Card" 
Monitor "Generic Monitor" 
DefaultDepth 16 SubSection
"Display" Depth 24 
Modes "1024x768" "1280x1024"
EndSubSection 
SubSection "Display" 
.....

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