Hi, All,
Going through stuff on the shelf and I've run across a couple of
486-based fully-integrated LCD/touchscreen machines. One is a SCAN
Corporation SCANtouch Model 3000, the other is a Planar Systems box.
Similarities include limited memory (2x 72-pin SIMM sockets on the
SCANtouch or 4x 30-pin SIMM sockets on the Planar, both with
"double-sided SIMM" support, so 64MB or 32MB max respectively), one
ISA socket (no PCI), onboard NE2000, serial, parallel, 2.5" PATA
disk... these systems will run MS-DOS, of course, and Win95 (the touch
screen on the SCANtouch is old enough that it apparently doesn't work
with Win98 mouse drivers, according to forum posts I dug up). I
really don't care about running DOS or Win95 on a touchscreen/LCD
machine, and the practical alternative is some flavor of Linux or
UNIX. What I'm having difficulty digging up is when the break from
low-mem/pre-Pentium systems happened and what distros are on which
side of the divide. RedHat 7/8/9 require a Pentium and 64MB minimum
from what I can research/remember. The last time I ran
Linux on a
486, it was Yggdrasil (and before that, some early form of Slackware
on a 386).
So... anyone have a "go-to" Linux distro for sticking on a 486? I
know RedHat 5.2 will work - that's what's on my PS/2-E (w/486SLC and
12MB of free mem I was recently discussing). Any other choices? At
one time, when a Dell P-133 Latitude laptop was my main machine, I ran
Solaris 7 on it (because it was a better choice than Linux at the
time) even though it still had some issues (and workarounds) with the
NeoMagic video chipset and the 3Com 3C589 PCMCIA NIC. I suspect this
is likely to have similar "challenges". I've dug up full specs on the
Scantouch 3000 innards - PCM-4890 integrated CPU board, NE2000
(Realtek RTL8019) Ethernet, C&T 65545 video chipset w/800x600 max LCD
resolution, Sharp LM10V33 VGA (640x480) 10.4" color LCD, VIA VT82C496G
chipset, , PC104 sockets... so I have little concern about getting
*something* working with it.
Getting 10-year-old RedHat working on a Pentium-class machine isn't a
real challenge, but it's been long enough since I've really fiddled
with 486s that specific memories of system configuration are getting a
bit fuzzy. At one time, over 15 years ago, it was a daily thing
knowing the ins and outs of what the 486 could and couldn't do, before
CPUs and memory and clock speeds took off like a rocket, and when 4MB
was ordinary, but more than 16MB was uncomfortably expensive for hobby
gear.
Helpful suggestions wanted.
Thanks,
-ethan