I came across an old computer from around 1999-ish with the following specs:
Motherboard: Abit AB-ZM6
CPU: Intel Celeron 300A
RAM: 192MB PC-100 SDRAM
Graphics card: Matrox Millennium G400
Sound card: Creative SoundBlaster PCI128
Network card: 3com something 10mbit
Storage: 1.44MB FDD, 48x CD-ROM and 50GB HDD (configured to 32GB)
It had a 2GB hard drive and 128MB RAM, but found a larger drive and an extra stick with 64MB that I put in. The chipset also has upgraded cooling with a fan, so was obviously used for overclocking back in the day. PSU is good and no capacitors are bulging. Nice!
So I got the brilliant idea that I want to install Linux on this computer. To make this a bit more of a challenge, I wanted something from around the same time period. Plus track down and install games, because why not while I’m at it.
I’m still a bit of a Linux novice, switched over to Fedora from Windows 10 this year. I did try out Red Hat back in the day, before it became Fedora, so for nostalgic reasons I chose this as my starting point.
I found some CDs with Red Hat 7.2, but ran into an issue fairly early on. I created a floppy boot disk since it can’t boot from CD, but when booting the installer I get a kernel panic that I’m stuck at. See attatched picture below.
Thought it maybe was because of some read errors, so burned a new disc at a slower speed, but get the same result. Tried a generic boot disk instead of the one supplied with the system, still get the same error.
Anyone got some suggestions? Perhaps try a different release, or some hardware incompatibility I’m not aware of?
try a recent (32bit) boot medium, hopefully at least get more clear error messages
test the hardware with an OS you’re more familiar
Question: does it not boot from that CD, specificially, or is the BIOS simply unable to boot from CD? Might be that the CD drive has passed away, or it needs some cleaning, in the former case.
Either way, of all components failures I’ve experienced over the years optical media are near the top, if not at the top, of the list.
You can try something like Knoppix to see if you can boot to a livecd distro. If it does not boot on Knnopix, then there is something wrong. From there, I would recommend using a modern distro with 32bit support like Debian, if this is just going to be a retro box.
Burned a copy of Knoppix, created a generic boot disk for CDs (the BIOS does not support boot from CD), but got a kernel panic there as well.
I booted up and attempted to install Windows 98SE. The install would always throw a blue screen or other errors at the part where it detects hardware and install drivers.
Pulled out the modem, network and sound card, still no go. I plugged back in the drive it came with, which had a WinXP SP1 install on it, and it would also throw errors when booting. It did work when I got it.
After scratching my head for a bit, I recalled that extra 64MB RAM stick I put in. Removed that one and everything magically started working again. Even Linux.
Either the stick was bad or it was some misconfiguration. I’ll look into that later, at least everything is working just fine now.
Red Hat 7.2 installed successfully. It detected all the hardware and everything, which is nice.
After thinking about it, I think it is a better choice to dual boot Windows and Linux on this computer. Windows 98SE has a lot more software available to make the computer more useful. Linux appear to work just fine, but the options are much more limited.
I did find a CD in my pile of old software that appear to contain a linux version of Quake 3. Could be interesting to try.
Dont Know if this is the right thread for this. Thought I would share. I have been working on patches (not by me) but enhancements to some retro gaming. Very interesting ( well to me anyway)
here are two screenshots I took. I cant wait to play the game again.
Using the dhewm3 engine
I took two screenshots. The Cyberdemon is crashing with the enhancments. but still looks good non the less.
I was more the Duke Nukem 3D guy…A friend and me made a lot of maps back then and I learned quite a bit doing LANs and all the networking necessary. I could probably still run IPX/SPX with Netware under DOS with coaxial cables and 10Mbit
This was more Quake2 era though…I remember playing Quake3 along Counter Strike beta (HL mod) on a LAN. I sucked at FPS even at the peak of my physical abilities
LOL. I know I wasnt the best either. I have received a number of whoopins in my day. that was 20 years ago. I am a lot older now ( and slower). still fascinates me in regards to ID Tech Engines
It was really a landslide compared to other stuff in this time. And later with 3dfx and stuff kickstarting everything into a new age.
I still have Wolfenstein and Doom2 on most of my devices…you can port and run id games everywhere. And modern IoT devices just need a display to let us play doom and quake on our toaster.
Doom3 and Unreal were always good for benchmarks no matter if you like to play them or not.
