X on 16MB RAM laptop?

[cflee]

I am trying to run X11 on a laptop with 16MB RAM and a 128MB swap file, but whenever I start KNOPPIX, /etc/init.d/xsession says that I need at least 16MB of RAM to run X Windows. When Knoppix starts, it says that there is 13384KB of ram detected, but when the system is starting up the BIOS says that there is 16000KB of ram. I'm guessing that the difference is taken up by SYSLINUX and the various programs etc, so is there a way to transfer the infomation in ram to the swap file, so I can run X?

[OErjan]

it is possible to run X but not KDE (the default) , try twm or icewm. they imay run on that system, slo o oo oo o o oo o ow l y but...

[TyphoonMentat]

You might want to look at Feather Linux (http://featherlinux.berlios.de), Damn Small Linux (http://damnsmalllinux.org) or Flonix (http://www.flonix.com) as they're all Knoppix-based and are designed to run on systems with as little RAM as yours.

[OErjan]

yes, why did i not think of that? damn small should work.

[Kumagoro]

I have the same problem except i have 64 Meg of ram....

I am doing the poor mans install with loadlin. This worked for 3.3 and 3.4 when i also had win 98 on it. NOW that i have installed Win ME (from scratch) instead, I cannot get knoppix to boot; 3.3 or 3.4

Using a knoppix boot floppy i can get it to work but I would rather use loadlin from DOS. I am able to get to DOS in ME by applying the real
dos mode patch from.

http://www.dewassoc.com/support/winme/real_dos.htm

If i use loadlin in DOS i get my RAM stated as 13 and a bit MEG (i have 64) so Xsession cannot start and it says i need at least 16. This also happens if I use a ME boot disk to get to DOS.

I was wondering if it is the ME boot disk which is taking up all the RAM and stopping me from using knoppix. Like i said it worked fine with 98 installed. I'm going to try using a win95 boot disk instead to see if the same prob happens.

In windows my ram gets stated as 64 MEG so it seems ok but i will run a mem test when i get back.

Is there another way to get to DOS in ME using F8 at boot? all i need is
the command line so i can execute a batch file to launch knoppix.

I cannot launch 3.4 from a floppy as there is no floppy boot for knoppix 3.4

Also i cant go back to 98 as its a dodgy copy and i cant update it my ME
is OK

[arkaine23]

Make a swap file on a hard drive and then things will be much better. And I'd stick to icewm or fluxbox.