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Linux BSD 386 486 HOW-TO

Below there is a table with different 4.4BSD-based UNIX-like operating systems and their boot/install options and system requirements for x86 computers according to 386/486 compatibility:

OS, version	Boot methods	Installation source	Min CPU/RAM/HDD	Link
NetBSD 3.1.1 (Jul, 2007)	CD/DVD, FDD, DOS, PXE/LAN	CD/DVD, FTP, HTTP, NFS, Floppy, FS	80386SX CPU, 5-16 MB RAM, 72453 KB EIDE HDD ,,**	i386cd-3.1.1.iso
NetBSD 4.0 (Dec, 2007)	CD/DVD, FDD, DOS, PXE/LAN	CD/DVD, FTP, HTTP, NFS, Floppy, FS	80486SX CPU, 12-16 MB RAM, 81260 KB EIDE HDD ,,**	i386cd-4.0.iso
NetBSD 4.0.1 (Jul, 2008)	CD/DVD, FDD, DOS, PXE/LAN	CD/DVD, FTP, HTTP, NFS, Floppy, FS	80486SX CPU, 12-16 MB RAM, 81008 KB EIDE HDD ,,**	i386cd-4.0.1.iso
OpenBSD 4.1 (May, 2007)	PXE/LAN, CD/DVD, FDD	Local, CD/DVD, FS, NFS, FTP, HTTP	80386DX CPU, 16 MB RAM, 147 MB HDD	OpenBSD-4.1-i386.iso
OpenBSD 4.2 (Nov, 2007)	PXE/LAN, CD/DVD, FDD	Local, CD/DVD, FS, NFS, FTP, HTTP	80486DX CPU, 12-16 MB RAM, 143 MB AT-MFM/RLL,ESDI HDD	OpenBSD-4.2-i386.iso
OpenBSD 4.3 (05.01.2008)	PXE/LAN, CD/DVD, FDD	Local, CD/DVD, FS, NFS, FTP, HTTP	80486DX CPU, 24-32 MB RAM, 200 MB HDD	https://mirror.yandex.ru/openbsd/4.3/
FreeBSD 3.5.1 (Jul, 2000)	CD/DVD, FDD, PXE/LAN******	CD/DVD, FTP, HTTP, NFS, FS, Floppy, Tape	80386SX CPU, 6 MB RAM, 77688 KB AT-MFM/RLL,ESDI HDD *****	3.5.1-install.iso
FreeBSD 4.11 (Jan, 2005)	CD/DVD, FDD, PXE/LAN******	CD/DVD, FTP, HTTP, NFS, FS, Floppy, Tape	80386SX CPU, 8 MB RAM, 112 MB ESDI HDD *****	4.11-RELEASE-i386-miniinst.iso
FreeBSD 5.5 (May, 2006)	CD/DVD, FDD, PXE/LAN******	CD/DVD, FTP, HTTP, NFS, FS, Floppy, Tape	80486DX CPU, 16 MB RAM, 136 MB EIDE HDD ****	5.5-RELEASE-i386-disc1.iso
FreeBSD 6.4 (Nov, 2008)	CD/DVD, FDD, PXE/LAN******	CD/DVD, FTP, HTTP, NFS, FS, Floppy, Tape	80486DX CPU, 24 MB RAM, 144 MB EIDE HDD	6.4-RELEASE-i386-disc1.iso

* Note 1: For booting 4 Mb systems you need netbsd-INSTALL_SMALL or netbsd-INSTALL_TYNY kernel and appropriate BOOT kernel nbnoacpi or nblaptop for installed system

** Note 2: For booting IBM PS/2 systems you need netbsd-INSTALL_PS2 kernel and appropriate BOOT kernel for installed system

*** Note 3: You can remove unneeeded devices from kernel reducing its size by recompiling it

**** Note 4: FreeBSD for the i386 requires a 486 or better processor to install and run (although FreeBSD can run on 386 processors with a custom kernel) and at least 24 MB of RAM. You will need at least 150MB of free hard drive space for the most minimal installation.

***** Note 5: FreeBSD for the i386 requires an 80386 or better processor. The sysinstall(8) installation program requires 16MB of RAM; after installation, FreeBSD itself can be run in 4-8MB of RAM with a pared-down kernel. You will need at least 128MB of free hard drive space for the most minimal installation; a more realistic minimum is on the order of 250-350MB.

****** Note 6: FreeBSD need special configured FreeBSD server to perform PXE/LAN installation.

Debian 5.0 (Lenny) , ... 8.0 Installation Tips

1. Installation source:

CD/DVD/BD -ROM.
Mount installation ISO:
```
mount -t iso9660 image.iso /cdrom -o loop
```
Attach content to apt database:
```
# apt-cdrom add
```
DOS partition:
```
loadlin.exe linux initrd=initrd.gz
```

PXE.

kernel boot/debian/linux
append raw initrd=boot/debian/initrd.gz

kernel memdisk
append raw iso initrd=boot/debian/mini.iso

2. Additional install sources

Add "contrib" and "non-free" components to /etc/apt/sources.list

deb http://backports.debian.org/debian-backports distname-backports main contrib non-free

deb http://archive.debian.org/debian/ distname main contrib non-free
deb http://archive.debian.org/debian/ distname-lts main contrib non-free
deb http://archive.debian.org/debian/ distname-backports main contrib non-free
deb http://archive.debian.org/debian/ distname-proposed-updates main contrib non-free
deb http://archive.debian.org/debian/ distname-updates main contrib non-free
deb http://archive.debian.org/backports.org/ distname-backports main contrib non-free
deb http://archive.debian.org/debian-backports distname-backports main contrib non-free
deb http://archive.debian.org/debian-security distname/updates main contrib non-free

deb-src http://archive.debian.org/debian/ distname main contrib non-free
deb-src http://archive.debian.org/debian-security distname/updates main contrib non-free

deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu distname main multiverse restricted universe
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu distname-backports main multiverse restricted universe
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu distname-proposed main multiverse restricted universe
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu distname-security main multiverse restricted universe
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu distname-updates main multiverse restricted universe

deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu distname main multiverse restricted universe
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu distname-backports main multiverse restricted universe
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu distname-proposed main multiverse restricted universe
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu distname-security main multiverse restricted universe
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu distname-updates main multiverse restricted universe

* * *

deb http://mirror/debian distname
deb http://mirror/debian distname-backports
deb http://mirror/debian distname-proposed-updates
deb http://mirror/debian distname-updates
deb http://mirror/debian-backports distname-backports main contrib non-free
deb http://mirror/debian-security distname main contrib non-free
deb http://mirror/debian-security distname-security main contrib non-free

deb http://mirror/debian-archive/debian distname main contrib non-free
deb http://mirror/debian-archive/debian distname-lts main contrib non-free
deb http://mirror/debian-archive/debian distname-backports main contrib non-free
deb http://mirror/debian-archive/debian distname-proposed-updates main contrib non-free
deb http://mirror/debian-archive/debian distname-updates main contrib non-free
deb http://mirror/debian-archive/backports.org distname-backports main contrib non-free
deb http://mirror/debian-archive/debian-backports distname-backports main contrib non-free
deb http://mirror/debian-archive/debian-security distname/updates main contrib non-free

where distname can be one of:

#for Debian 3.0 woody (2002-2005)
#for Debian 3.1 sarge (2005-2008)
#for Debian 4 etch (2007-2010)
#for Debian 5 lenny (2009-2012)
#for Debian 6 squeeze (2011-2015) + squeeze-lts (up to 2016)
#for Debian 7 wheezy (2013-2020)
#for Debian 8 jessie (2015-2022)
#for Debian 9 stretch (2017-2022)

3. Localization (KOI8-R, CP1251, UTF8):

# dpkg-reconfigure locales
# dpkg-reconfigure console-tools
# aptitude install console-cyrillic
# dpkg-reconfigure console-cyrillic
# dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration

To test different console fonts, run:

# consolechars -f fontname.psf (prf?)

4. Packet commands:

# aptitude install packetname
# apt-get install packetname
# apt-get remove packetname
# apt-get autoclean
# apt-get autoremove
# apt-get clean
# apt-get purge
# apt-get -o Acquire::Check-Valid-Until=false update
# apt-get -o Acquire::Check-Valid-Until=false upgrade

# base

mc unzip zip samba apt-file htop neofetch console-setup
pciutils hwinfo lshw dmidecode laptop-mode-tools memtest86 memtest86+
amd64-microcode intel-microcode
firmware-linux firmware-linux-nonfree firmware-linux-free
firmware-atheros firmware-realtek firmware-amd-graphics firmware-intel-sound
firmware-intelwimax firmware-misc-nonfree

# network

ftp ftpd ntpdate ssh telnet telnetd links elinks
gdebi debian-archive-keyring synaptic leafpad mousepad
rdesktop tightvncserver x11vnc xrdp xtightvncviewer
iperf ethtool iftop nload bmon net-tools 
firmware-iwlwifi wireless-tools network-manager-kde network-manager-gnome wicd
hdparm smartmontools cdck wodim xorriso qpxtool gparted
mknbi (NBI boot)

# programming

gcc g++ mtools perl libc-dev nasm bcc make syslinux
mesa-common-dev libglu1-mesa-dev freeglut3-dev libglfw3-dev libgles2-mesa-dev
libgl-dev

# gui, multimedia, www

x-window-system xorg driconf libglide2 libglide3 fglrx-driver nvidia-driver
x-window-manager lightdm gdm xdm ( optional )
apt-transport-https lxde icewm xfce4 xfce4-goodies gnome kde
netsurf midori iceweasel iceape firefox firefox-esr chromium chromium-browser opera
alsa alsa-base alsa-oss alsa-utils pulseaudio pavucontrol
mpg123 mplayer mpv smplayer vlc youtube-dl
mesa-utils qemu
wine ttf-mscorefonts-installer wine-doc

# gaming

prboom vavoom freedoom xbill amoebax supertuxkart

5. Additional packages

https://get.geo.opera.com/pub/opera/desktop/
https://get.geo.opera.com/pub/opera/linux/

$ wget -c deb.opera.com/opera/pool/non-free/o/opera/opera_12.16.1860_i386.deb
$ sudo dpkg -i opera_12.16.1860_i386.deb

$ wget -c deb.opera.com/opera/pool/non-free/o/opera/opera_12.16.1860_amd64.deb
$ sudo dpkg -i opera_12.16.1860_amd64.deb

$ sudo apt-get install -f

Copy libflashplayer.so to the plugins directory.

wget -q -O - https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub | sudo apt-key add -
deb http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main
apt-get install --yes google-chrome-stable

6. Mount physical hdd in VirtualBox (also possible in MS VirtualPC 2004)

VBoxManage internalcommands createrawvmdk -filename PHYSHDD.vmdk -rawdisk \\.\PhysicalDrive0

7. configure static lan with additional ip's

/etc/network/interfaces

allow-hotplug eth0
auto eth0

iface eth0 inet static
        address ...
        netmask ...
        gateway ...

iface eth0:0 inet static
        address ...
        netmask ...
        gateway ...

dhcp

ifconfig eth0 up
dhclient

where eth0...1...2...n stored?

/etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules

8. Disable UTC time

/etc/default/rcS: set UTC=no
or
/etc/adjtime: change UTC to LOCAL

9. NTP synchronization

apt-get install ntp
and
/etc/ntp.conf: change 'server'

10. NE2000 ISA non-pnp

sbin/modprobe ne io=0x300 irq=10
then
module is included in /etc/rc.d/rc.modules or /etc/modules

11. Disable graphical console boot
/etc/default/grub:

GRUB_TERMINAL=console
GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=keep or GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=text
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="vga=normal nomodeset"
GRUB_GFXMODE=640x480 or GRUB_GFXMODE=text

and then use

update-grub

12. Disable mail

apt-get remove exim4* default-mta

13. make xorg.conf

# Xorg -configure

.....
Section "InputDevice" 
Identifier "Generic Keyboard" 
Driver "keyboard" 
Option "CoreKeyboard" 
Option "XkbRules" "xfree86" 
Option "XkbModel" "pc102" 
Option "XkbLayout" "us,ru(winkeys)" 
Option "XkbOptions" "grp:alt_shift_toggle,grp_led:scroll"
EndSection
.....
Section "Device" 
Identifier "Generic Video Card"
Driver "vesa"
.....
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen" 
Device "Generic Video Card" 
Monitor "Generic Monitor" 
DefaultDepth 16 SubSection
"Display" Depth 24 
Modes "1024x768" # up to
EndSubSection 
SubSection "Display" 
.....
Section "dri"
Mode 0666
EndSection
.....

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