[SunRescue] SparcstationIPC

[Mike Hebel]

>>The problem I have is that Debian likes to run amok with packages and

Only if you let it.  A custom install will allow you to select just the
packages you want although I think a 200meg drive might be a little tight
for Debian.  I upgraded to a 500meg for free, had one at work, and installed
fine on that.

>>NetBSD just plain old won't fit a base install on a 200Mb disk!

*tongue firmly in cheek* Bullsh*t.  NetBSD will fit on a toaster!  ;-P  I've
personally installed 1.42 on a 200meg drive without a problem.  Are you
wanting to install X on this system?  If not then removing that as a choice
should give you more than enough space.

>>Can anyone tell me where I can find Slackware/sparc boot floppys (if any
>>exist, I couldn't find them!) or suggest another OS to run?

I don't have a link for Slackware SPARC at the moment, sorry.  OpenBSD Sparc
might be another option but again that might not run in the space allowed.
YMMV.  I've also heard people talk about Plan9 (?) but have never installed
that myself.

>>Alternatively I could probably get hold of a bigger scsi drive, does
>>anyone know what size drive an IPC can support?

Anything that will fit in the cakebox.  The catch is that the / partition
must be in the first 2gig of the drive or the machine will not boot from it.
If I were to put in a large drive I'd usually make a 2gig / and the rest
/usr - minus swap of course.  Although you'll find that people will argue
partitioning almost as much as they argue which distro to use. ;-)

>>BTW, One of my flatmates works for a rather large carrier and couldn't get
>>his head around it being 200mb and not 200gb :P

I've had people aghast that I was running a system on a 200meg drive.  "You
can't do that!"  I show them the machine and they are astounded that I can
make a machine "useful" from such old/small/unpowerful/discarded parts. ;-)

Mike Hebel