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My favorite Slackware memory was how the version I downloaded disksets of (on a 14.4k modem, yeah) had a broken bootloader. Not sure of the Slackware release, b
by rconti 3y ago
My favorite Slackware memory was how the version I downloaded disksets of (on a 14.4k modem, yeah) had a broken bootloader. Not sure of the Slackware release, but it was kernel 1.2.8, before the ELF transition. Anyway, every time I reinstalled, the bootloader hung on `LI` because the config was just broken, and I had to remember how to fix it.. every time.
So many hours recompiling kernels. My 4MB-equipped 486 took about 8 hours per. I only realized many years later after somehow finding the $400 for a memory upgrade, that it was only slow due to swapping. Going from 8 hours to 10 minutes was eye-opening.
X11 failed to run, for the same 4MB reason. I mean, it would launch, but I want to say it took 20 or 30 minutes.
- akoster 3y agoGreat story and thanks for sharing! $400 is a lot for a RAM upgrade! Did that upgrade double your ram to 8MB or something greater perhaps?
- rconti 3y agoI think I had 4 slots with 4x1MB so $400 would have been 4x4MB for 16MB. I made do for a few more years though, I didn't have anywhere near that much cash for "just" memory. That 486/DX33 ended up being upgraded to a Cyrix 5x86/120 (?) and I think I went to 16MB at that point. Memory prices were cratering around this time (99?) so in the end I think that whole upgrade was cheaper than the 16MB would have been a few years earlier.
- pjmlp 3y agoKernel 1.0.9 was the first with ELF support, and I remember it quite well, because it is written on the CD from Slackware 2.0 ("now with ELF support").
- rconti 3y agoMan. Talk about a terrible time for me to have installed :D