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286, compaq, kermit, linux, ppp, raspberry pi, retro, serial

Installing Linux into a 286 laptop from the year 1989

June 30, 2021

Ever wondered what useful things you could do with a 32 year old
laptop? Well, this is one option:

[20210630_1]

In this project I added a Raspberry PI Zero to the insides of the
laptop. Both are connected via a serial link and can exchange data
via it. You could use this for several applications:

  * Using the 286 with a terminal emulator as an interface to the
    Linux of the Raspberry PI. This way you can do the typical Linux
    shell stuff on a retro machine. With this you are quite far up on
    the hipster level 
  * Connecting the DOS on the 286 to the Internet
  * Transferring files to the DOS filesystem

Terminal emulator

On the 286 side you need to install MS-DOS Kermit: http://
www.columbia.edu/kermit/mskermit.html

On the Raspberry side there is nothing to do. So this is really easy
to setup.

Connecting DOS to the internet

The setup needed for this is quite nicely described in https://
medium.com/swlh/
connecting-a-286-dos-pc-to-the-internet-through-a-serial-connection-in-2019-b93a422ff094

Transferring files

Transferring files can easily be done using the internet tools
described above. Alternatively, you could also use the Kermit file
transfer for a more direct (and likely faster) transmission of files.

Summary

To summarize, using this machine is quite fun. It is also borderline
useful. But the most funny thing is that you can install a complete
system into the cracks of the original laptop that is ~100x more
powerful than the laptop itself. Crazy times 

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 1. Instalacion de Linux como si fuera 1989 - Govannom
 2. Installing Linux like it's 1989 - AnonBoard
 3. Installing Linux Like It's 1989 - Latest Hacking NEWS
 4. Installing Linux like it's 1989 - Ham Kar Chan
 5. Installing Linux Like It's 1989 | Business, Energy, Science and
    Technology News
 6. Putting in Linux Like It's 1989 - Alexa's Home

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