Welcome to BasicLinux
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This compact version of Linux is based on Slackware 3.5 and Busybox 0.60.  
It uses the complete bash shell, an easy-to-use editor and a variety of 
useful utilities.  It can do TCP/IP networking via ethernet, parallel port 
(plip), serial port (slattach) or modem.  BasicLinux includes several 
network clients (ftp, telnet, links, mail) and it can be used as a router/
firewall (ipfwadm).  

Minimum requirements
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
386 computer with 8meg RAM
DOS -or- Windows 95/98 

Starting BasicLinux 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unzip baslin18.zip to a convenient directory on your harddrive.
Windows users should shutdown Windows and restart in DOS mode.
Go to the BasicLinux directory, type BOOT and press the ENTER key.
BasicLinux will automatically transfer itself to a 4meg ramdisk.
BasicLinux then runs entirely in the ramdisk (not on your harddrive).

Networking
~~~~~~~~~~
BasicLinux has powerful networking capabilities.  To make network
configuration easier, a netsetup file has been included.  It contains
the basic commands for laplink, ethernet and IP masquerading (NAT).  
Just edit netsetup to match your situation and run it.  

If you have a suitable modem, you can run pppsetup to configure a connection
to your Internet Service Provider.  However, unfortunately, many of the 
modems in Windows computers are designed to work only with Windows.  They 
do not work with BasicLinux. 

Add-ons
~~~~~~~
There is 750kb available in the BasicLinux filesystem for modules and other 
add-ons.  These can be downloaded from a Slackware 3.5 site:
--------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.volny.cz/basiclinux/slack35.html                         
http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/baslinux/slack35.html 
--------------------------------------------------------------------
The 'zimage' kernel which comes with BasicLinux is designed for IDE drives. 
If you have a SCSI drive (or other unusual hardware), you can select a more 
appropriate kernel from the /kernels directory of a Slackware 3.5 site.

Making a portable version of BasicLinux
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BasicLinux can be copied to two (1.44meg) floppies and booted from any 
386/486/Pentium computer with 8meg RAM or more.  The first step is to 
format two DOS floppies:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
DISK 1   format a:/u/s    <-- the /s makes this floppy bootable 
  
DISK 2   format a:/u      <-- do not use the /s 
-----------------------------------------------------------------  
The second step is to execute  make_fd.bat


Disclaimer
~~~~~~~~~~
BasicLinux is free software.  I have done my best to make it error-free, 
but there is no guarantee regarding its fitness for any purpose.  You use 
it at your own risk.  

If you find any bugs, please send them to ichi@ihug.co.nz

