Changing BIOS settings

I've got my hands on a really old notebook - probably pentium one or so, 32MB RAM, 350MB HD, can only support 32 colors - pretty crap. But anyway, wanted to put some really lightweight version of Linux on it and use it for web browsing, Skype, probably not much else.

First problem is i can't get into BIOS on startup to put CD before HD in the boot order. I hit F2 and ESC but it just goes straight into Windows 95 right away. I don't see the usual boot screen that says what to do if you want to change BIOS or something.

Also has anyone experimented with lightweight Linux distros? Other than the above and hopefully painless wireless networking, don't need much.

 

Even if you could get to the BIOS, it wouldn't help you. Older computers don't support CD boot. What you need to do is download boot floppies from the distro ftp and use those to boot.

For lightweight Linux, I'd suggest Slackware, FreeBSD and Damn Small Linux (start from this one, it's tiny, has a GUI and is a liveCD). If you're a more advanced user, try some distro that allows you to customize everything (Gentoo?), so that you don't have anything you don't need.

 

I've been booting a Pentium II (233 MHz) IBM PC for the last few hours from CD. I think it's about ten years old. How old are you talking about? I have to confess I've never tried to alter BIOS settings on a Pentium I (..not that I recall anyway), but are you sure about this?

As regards which keyboard-control to use in order to get into BIOS: it varies considerably as far as I know. On the afore-mentioned IBM, it's F1. Do a search for enter bios setup code for the company which manufactured the notebook - it might help.

I'm using Slackware myself, and chose it for the very reason that I heard it was relatively-free of bloat - so I would second Syntax's suggestion to consider it.

I would use a light-weight window manager like Fluxbox or Blackbox as opposed to Gnome or KDE - I like Fluxbox alot!

HTH

 

Pentium II's boot from a CD, most Pentium I's don't. My laptop is a PII and it boots just fine, but I had to use floppies for every one of my P1's. His specs indicate a P1, and not even a good one (could even be a 486, maybe).

Of course. Gnome/KDE would be suicide on such a box.

 

If all else fails, try holding down any key during the boot, and you might get a "keyboard error, press X to enter setup or enter to boot" type message. Removing some of the memory might produce a similar "memory size error" message, with the option of entering the BIOS.

On a desktop machine, unplugging the floppy drive cable works for this, as well....

 

What BRAND is it? If it's a "Toshiba" chances are F2 is correct to access the Bios on startup.