Re: Is my old RedHat computer doomed?

[Will Kemp <will@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Martin Gregorie wrote:
> On Sat, 26 Jul 2008 21:15:38 +0100, Will Kemp wrote:
>
> > Invest in a RAM upgrade. I'd imagine the thing would be able to take at 
> > least 512MB. It probably won't cost all that much if you get it online. 
> > Ebay's probably a good bet for secondhand RAM that will work with it.
> >
> > My laptop before last was built in about 00 and i upgraded that to 512MB 
> > - that was a while ago, but as far as i remember i bought the RAM from 
> > ebay. It will last you for another 8 years if you upgrade the RAM now!
> >
> > Then install the latest Fedora. ;-)
> That may not be possible. The laptop I'm writing this on (Thinkpad 560Z)
> is still running Fedora 1 (the last and only Kernel 2.4 version of Fedora)
> because it can only boot from hdd or floppy (it has external floppy and CD
> drives). The Kernel 2.6 installer boot system won't fit on a floppy, so I
> can't install later versions of Fedora. 

The easy way around that is to pull the hard drive out and put it in a 
machine with a DVD drive. You can get "IDE adapters" for notebook hard 
drives (or at least for those old IDE ones), which allow you to plug 
them into a desktop IDE port. I had to do that several times with my old 
DEC laptop.

It's also worth checking for a network boot image - which allows you to 
do the install via a network connection. I don't know if they'll still 
fit on a floppy though...

> The same may apply to other distros, so the OP should check that he can
> boot from a later distro's installation media before investing in the
> extra RAM.



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