Arch Linux

resu

Member

Registered: 2017-08-09

Posts: 6

Pentium M

Hi *,

first of all: Thanks! (I wanted to install archlinux on some old 32-bit system and was a little disappointed to see that official archlinux stopped 32-bit support. After a short search I came here and was (and am) really glad, that this great community exists!)

Now my problem:
I have an old laptop with an Pentium M processor (can look up more details later) which does not want to boot from the live usb-sticks.

First (probably easy) question:
Which .iso do I want to flash on the usb-stick? i686 or dual? (Tried both without success.)
I assumed that I needed the i686 but this wiki page (TP X41 with Pentium M seems to instruct to use dual.

There seem to be general PAE-related problems (https://forum.manjaro.org/t/cpu-pentium … t43p/16868).
(Maybe this is useful, too.)

What can I do in order to boot a live sick/install arch?

Should I build an image myself?
Where do I find the respective kernel option? (If that even solves the problem?)

I would really like to contribute. The problem is that I said that to too many projects in the past and now I'm trying to contribute in many places. (Which has the consequence that the contributions are tiny.) But maybe there is an easy, smooth way?

And again: Thanks a lot! (For this forum, providing images, ... the whole project!)

eugen-b

Member

Registered: 2017-07-09

Posts: 56

Re: Pentium M

You should use the i686 ISO. You can try to boot it from the disk directly if you have something with Grub2 installed on that machine. I can give you the Grub2 code if you want.

resu

Member

Registered: 2017-08-09

Posts: 6

Re: Pentium M

Currently there is only a windows on the system. So no GRUB2.

How do I use the GRUB2 code?

Also I tried some other i686 versions of other distros.
Only Lubuntu alternate 16.04 was able to boot into something (install menu).
Trying to run the memory check gives:

WARNING: PAE disabled. Use parameter 'forcepae' to enable at your own risk!
This kernel requires the following features not present on the CPU:
pae
Unable to boot - please use a kernel appropriate for your CPU.

Last edited by resu (2017-08-09 23:06:03)

eugen-b

Member

Registered: 2017-07-09

Posts: 56

Re: Pentium M

Have you tried antiX? It has both PAE and non-PAE kernel on the ISO. I would try to isntall it to have Grub2 on the machine. Then in antiX (or any other Linux which you are able to install) edit the file /etc/grub.d/40_custom and put this code there

menuentry "Arch Linux 32 ISO" {
  insmod part_msdos
  set isofile="/<put_the_path_to_the_ISO_here!!>/archlinux-2017.08.01-i686.iso"
  search --no-floppy -f --set=root $isofile
  probe -u $root --set=abc
  set idev="/dev/disk/by-uuid/$abc"
  loopback loop $isofile
  probe -l (loop) --set=archlabel
  linux  (loop)/arch/boot/i686/vmlinuz  img_dev=$idev img_loop=$isofile  archisobasedir=arch archisolabel=ARCH_201708 copytoram
  initrd  (loop)/arch/boot/intel_ucode.img 
  initrd  (loop)/arch/boot/i686/archiso.img
}

Then run sudo update-grub.

Edit: The boot parameter copytoram is not neccessary.

Last edited by eugen-b (2017-08-10 09:51:07)

resu

Member

Registered: 2017-08-09

Posts: 6

Re: Pentium M

Nice. I will try (tomorrow).

Thank you very much already!

resu

Member

Registered: 2017-08-09

Posts: 6

Re: Pentium M

Sadly antiX (antiX-16.2_386-full.iso) did not boot.

eugen-b

Member

Registered: 2017-07-09

Posts: 56

Re: Pentium M

Might be worth to register on antiX forum. There are many users and experts with older hardware.

resu

Member

Registered: 2017-08-09

Posts: 6

Re: Pentium M

Will do.

Is there some information that would be nice to get back here?

resu

Member

Registered: 2017-08-09

Posts: 6

Re: Pentium M

Ok after playing a little bit around I discovered that it's simply the BIOS that is quite misleading:

Three main entries: Removable, CD-ROM and harddisk. The whole time I thought the BIOS referred to USB-sticks as removable media, but no, USB-sticks are harddisks, obviously. The USB-stick was in a (almost hidden) sub-menu under harddisk and I had to change its order there.

Thanks again for your help. arch32 is now booting fine (at least from stick).

tyzoid

Administrator

From: Ann Arbor, MI

Registered: 2017-06-17

Posts: 86

Re: Pentium M

Sweet, glad it's working for you.

charwhee

Member

Registered: 2018-01-08

Posts: 5

Re: Pentium M

I am also using a Thinkpad X40. I'm just having trouble getting X working again. Shoot.