lewtron Posted February 3, 2003 Share Posted February 3, 2003 I just acquired a 286 Laptop, lovely condition. I only really want it to practise C and C++ on, and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions as for an OS I could put on it. DOS would be the obvious choice, but I'm looking for something a little more interesting. I understand Linux is out of the question since it was built using 32bit code. Thanks! Lew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougkinzinger Posted February 3, 2003 Share Posted February 3, 2003 Dude, pitch the dumb thing and hop on eBay and buy a 486 or early Pentium laptop for $150. If not, the only thing that 286 is useful for is to have migrant workers take the lead out of it. Dos 3.3 and Windows 3.0 will run, but that's all g. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smoke Posted February 4, 2003 Share Posted February 4, 2003 You'd probably be able to get a bash prompt working on that. But I don't think it'd have enough resources for xfree, unless you use the most basic window manager or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdkaneda Posted February 4, 2003 Share Posted February 4, 2003 you're gonna find that thing painfully incompatible. most of the current x86 software out there today can only be run on a 386 or higher -- even so, anyone out thre wanna try running winxp on a 386SX 16MHz? :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vidar Posted February 4, 2003 Share Posted February 4, 2003 Digital Research DOS 6.22 with the "Viewmax" gui is still available as abandon/freeware. I have it on 5.25 floppies - Teehee! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eSouL Posted February 4, 2003 Share Posted February 4, 2003 DOS 6.22 + windows 3.1 will run fine =) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zombie9920 Posted February 4, 2003 Share Posted February 4, 2003 MS made Windows 1.0 for the 8086 and 8088 and higher machines Windows 286 was for 80286 and higher machines Windows 3.0, 3.1 and 3.11 was for 80386 and higher machines Windows 95 was for 80486 and higher machines etc. Windows 3.1 may run on that laptop but I dunno how well. You are probably best off finding a copy of Windows 286 and the version of DOS it runs on(It may run on Dos 6.22 but I dunno). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PsyCX Posted February 4, 2003 Share Posted February 4, 2003 Windows 3.x will run on the laptop, but only in Real Mode - so don't press Ctrl-Alt-Del ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idbuythatforadollar Posted February 4, 2003 Share Posted February 4, 2003 you're gonna find that thing painfully incompatible. most of the current x86 software out there today can only be run on a 386 or higher -- even so, anyone out thre wanna try running winxp on a 386SX 16MHz? :D lol i installed 3.1 on my 1.2gHz machine a couple of weeks back.. it booted in 2s! :) :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewtron Posted February 4, 2003 Author Share Posted February 4, 2003 Thanks for all the replies guys, I got WFW 3.11 working on it, but was kinda hoping someone could suggest some small OS I'd never even heard of that might be a bit of fun. I have numerous machines, including a far better laptop, I just hate seeing good technology going to waste. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrunkenMaster Posted February 4, 2003 Share Posted February 4, 2003 As long as you have 8+ megs of ram you'll be able to install. The kernel panics w/ less. You can easily get shell acess w/ the laptop. If you're inclined you can use vi to compose text documents with it quite easily. You could also use it to learn the BASH shell really well and get to know how linux kernel works without having to worry about trashing your desktop computer. I don't see why he should get rid of it if he uses it for either purpose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FearMeAll Posted February 4, 2003 Share Posted February 4, 2003 I had a 286 back in the day with 4megs ram and windows 3.1- ran like a dream...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spyder Veteran Posted February 4, 2003 Veteran Share Posted February 4, 2003 you could put a c64 emulator on it and run old c64 games! :woot: :whistle: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Dorr Veteran Posted February 4, 2003 Veteran Share Posted February 4, 2003 OS/2!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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