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Red Hat 1.1 Mother’s Day + 0.1 on 86Box with Socket 8 [1995]

Red Hat 1.1 Mother’s Day + 0.1 is a bug fix version of the original Red Hat 1.0 Mother’s Day release that was unveiled on May 1995. This improved version of Red Hat, which was released three months later, brings bug fixes to various packages. ACC Bookstores bought out Red Hat Software Inc. when the beta program was still ongoing.

Our focus in this article is testing Red Hat 1.1 on an 86Box emulated machine with a Socket 8 [1995] motherboard. You can download it from here. We have also extracted the required floppy disk files, which you can download here.

We’ve configured the virtual machine as follows:

We’ve configured a virtual machine to run with:

• Machine type: [1996] Socket 8
• Machine: [i440FX] Intel AP440FX (Apollo)
• CPU: Intel Pentium II OverDrive @ 100 MHz
• Memory: 32 MB
• Video: [PCI] Cirrus Logic GD5434
• Keyboard: AT Keyboard
• Mouse: PS/2 Mouse
• Sound card: [ISA16] Sound Blaster 16 PnP
• Floppy disk controller: Internal device
• Hard disk controller 1: Internal device
• New hard disk: RHS01.vhd
  • C/H/S: 2078/16/63
  • Size: 1023 MB
  • Bus: IDE
  • Channel: 0:0
• CD-ROM drive 1: HITACHI CDR-8130 0020 (16x)

Once everything is configured as above, we can now start the virtual machine. First, insert both the boot floppy disk to the drive and the Red Hat 1.1 ISO file to the CD-ROM reader.

After that, let it boot to the Red Hat 1.1 installer, inserting the root floppy disk in the process. Passing hdb=cdrom is necessary so that the kernel detects the CD-ROM drive.

After that, we’re asked to insert the boot floppy again so that the kernel can be installed to the new installation.

After that, we’ll get out from Express Install, which will take us to a menu that lets us choose steps more clearly.

The first thing we’ll do is to mount the RHS 1.1 CD-ROM. We’ll select CD-ROM as the installation method. The installer should find /dev/hdb as the CD-ROM disk that contains the necessary files.

Now, we’ll go through the partitioning stage. Verify that /dev/hda appears before you start partitioning the disk.

Now, let’s create partitions for the Red Hat installation. We’ve selected /dev/hda as the disk drive, which is the first drive on primary IDE controller. Afterwards, we’ve created two partitions:

• /dev/hda1: Linux, 980.44 MB, bootable
• /dev/hda2: Linux Swap, 43.32 MB

Finally, we’ve written the partition tables so that the installer can recognize our newly created partitions, which we will format to be usable in the installation.

Reboot the virtual machine, and repeat the process until you get to the partitioning stage. When it tells you to select the partitioning program, just scroll down to Done, then highlight Continue and press ENTER.

Now, we will initialize and activate the swap partition, which will be used by Red Hat 1.1. After the swap partition has been activated, we’re told to select a partition to initialize the EXT2 file system. We’ve chosen the Linux partition, which is the only partition that we’ve set up on this disk.

At this point, none of the disks have been touched yet. We’ll select a few package series, including the XFree86 ones and the base ones. Because we’ve selected the XFree86 series to be installed, we were told to select an appropriate server for a graphics card. Since we’ve installed the Cirrus Logic GD5434 graphics card, we’ll go with the SVGA server.

Then, we’re told to provide a hostname.

At this point, the actual installation starts… We’ll format the disk, install the base system, install the selected series, and install the kernel. Ignore the error about an XFree86 server being installed already.

Now, let’s jump to the XFree86 configuration. First, we get asked to provide a mouse type. Since we’ve installed a PS/2 mouse, we’ve selected the ps2-bus mouse type.

Now, we are at the stage where we get asked if we need to run the prober. Let it run the probe.

You’ll get an error indicating that the server has failed to start. Press ENTER, then change the chipset of the graphics card to the one that Cirrus Logic GD5434 uses.

Next, we’ll provide the correct amount of video memory in kilobytes (4096 KB in this case) and accept the probed clocks.

Next, select the Generic Multisync monitor and choose all resolutions, then select the 640×480 @ 60 Hz as the primary resolution for the X server to start with.

Answer No to the below question about no_2mb_banksel, then accept the defaults.

The video card configuration is now done! Let the X server recognize that there are two buttons.

The X server configuration is now complete!

Next comes the networking and the modem setup. Disable both of them, since we don’t intend to have networking installed to this system. Then, choose your keyboard layout and your timezone.

The next step is to configure the bootloader so that it gets installed to the MBR of /dev/hda, with this Red Hat installation being the default partition. Make sure that hdb=cdrom is specified as a kernel configuration.

Afterwards, create a new user account and its home directory, and provide a root password.

After that, we restart the machine after ejecting the boot floppy from the floppy drive, since we don’t intend to create a “boot floppy”.

We logged in as root, and we have a fully functioning shell!

Type startx…

Awesome! The X server has started in 640×480 @ 60 Hz with a bigger virtual desktop resolution. We can verify that it’s running Linux 1.2.11!

Here are some demonstration pictures of Red Hat 1.1.

To install extra RPP (not RPM) packages, you’ll have to mount /dev/hdb to /mnt/cdrom with the iso9660 type. You have to specify the type, or else mounting won’t work. You can do that using mount -t iso9660 /dev/hdb /mnt/cdrom as root. Then, open the RHS Linux Installation Manager, select a series you want to install packages from, then look for binary or source packages to install. Then, select a package, click Install, then click Engage to initiate the installation process.

For a little extra fun, open the RHS Linux Installation Manager, click on LIM, then click on About. It shows you a red hat. With the cursor on the red hat, You can make it spin indefinitely by clicking on the left mouse button, make it stop spinning by clicking on the right mouse button, and make it spin like a pendulum by clicking on both the left and the right mouse buttons.

Clockwise spin: left click on the red hat

Pendulum spin: right and left click on the red hat

If you make the red hat spin, you can make it spin faster by clicking on the hat more than once.

Sounds fun, isn’t it?

We have tested Debian 1.1.4 on 86Box with Socket 7 (Dual Voltage) [1996]!

#Debian #Linux #Retrocomputing #DebianBuzz #Computers #Laptops #TechNews #TechUpdates #ComputerHistory

https://officialaptivi.wordpress.com/2026/06/15/debian-1-1-4-on-86box-with-socket-7-dual-voltage-1996/

We have tested Debian 1.1.4 on 86Box with Socket 7 (Dual Voltage) [1996]!

#Debian #Linux #Retrocomputing #DebianBuzz #Computers #Laptops #TechNews #TechUpdates #ComputerHistory

https://officialaptivi.wordpress.com/2026/06/15/debian-1-1-4-on-86box-with-socket-7-dual-voltage-1996/

Debian 1.1.4 on 86Box with Socket 7 (Dual Voltage) [1996]

Debian 1.1.4 is the first stable version of this Linux distribution that was released on June 17th, 1996, under the codename “Buzz”. This version of Debian uses Linux version 2.0, and it provides you with a minimal X11 server (XFree86).

Our focus in this article is testing Debian 1.1.4 on an 86Box emulated machine with a Socket 7 (Dual Voltage) [1996] motherboard. You can download it from here. We have also extracted the required floppy disk files, which you can download here.

We’ve configured the virtual machine as follows:

We’ve configured a virtual machine to run with:

• Machine type: [1996] Socket 7 (Dual Voltage)
• Machine: [i430VX] Azza PT-5IV
• CPU: Intel Pentium @ 166 MHz
• Memory: 128 MB
• Video: [PCI] S3 Trio64 (Phoenix)
• Keyboard: AT Keyboard
• Mouse: Microsoft Serial Mouse (COM1)
• Sound card: [ISA16] Gravis Ultrasound
• Floppy disk controller: Internal device
• Hard disk controller 1: Internal device
• New hard disk: RH5.vhd
  • C/H/S: 2080/16/63
  • Size: 1024 MB
  • Bus: IDE
  • Channel: 0:0
• CD-ROM drive 1: MATSHITA CD-ROM CR-583 1.07 (8x)

Once everything is configured as above, we can now start the virtual machine. First, insert both the boot floppy disk to the drive and the Debian 1.1.4 ISO to the CD-ROM reader, then set the BIOS to recognize the floppy disk.

After that, let it boot to the Debian 1.1 installer, inserting the root floppy disk in the process.

After that, we’re asked to create partitions for the Debian installation. We’ve selected /dev/hda as the disk drive, which is the first drive on primary IDE controller. Afterwards, we’ve created two partitions:

• /dev/hda1: Linux, 980.44 MB, bootable
• /dev/hda2: Linux Swap, 43.32 MB

Finally, we’ve written the partition tables so that the installer can recognize our newly created partitions, which we will format to be usable in the installation.

Now, we will initialize and activate the swap partition, which will be used by Debian 1.1.4. After the swap partition has been activated, we’re told to select a partition to initialize the EXT2 file system. We’ve chosen the Linux partition, which is the only partition that we’ve set up on this disk.

After the file system was created, we’ve mounted the root filesystem so that the installer will be able to install the minimal base system from the three base floppy disks.

Now, we’ll install the base system from the three floppy disks (base14-1.bin through base14-3.bin) inserted to the first floppy drive, /dev/fd0.

After that, we’ll install the kernel to the new system. Insert the boot floppy disk, then proceed.

Now, you’ll be asked if you need some additional modules. Since we don’t have any extra hardware that requires the use of the available modules, just press ENTER when you see the below screen.

After that, you’ll be asked to provide both the keyboard layout (which we’ve answered Yes here) and the timezone.

The hostname and the network setup comes next. We’ve selected the appropriate hostname, and this system is intentionally set up not to connect to a network, so we’ve answered No to the network connection question.

Afterwards, the bootloader installation comes next. We’ve set up the LILO bootloader so that it installs to the master boot record of /dev/sda, which is the disk that has our newly-installed system, along with making /dev/sda1 the default boot entry.

After that, we restart the machine after ejecting the boot floppy from the floppy drive, since we don’t intend to create a “boot floppy”.

The new installation booted up to the prompt where we’re asked to provide both the root password and info for a new user that will be created. The password must be at least 6 characters long for it to be accepted.

Package installation comes next, but we’ll have to set up dselect so that it reads the Debian 1.1.4 CD-ROM and the packages contained within. The kernel boot messages that we’ve seen indicates that /dev/hdb is the CD-ROM reader, which we will use.

We will go to “Access”, then provide the above path to the block device that points to the CD-ROM reader. Afterwards, we let it detect the packages for both the stable and the contrib sections from /debian/stable/binary-i386 and /debian/contrib/binary-i386, respectively. However, since this CD-ROM doesn’t contain non-free and local sections, we leave them blank.

Now, go to “Update”, and see it recognize the package list.

Now, we’ll go to “Select”, which lets us select packages that we want to install or remove. We have marked all LaTeX-related packages as removed by pressing the minus sign on our keyboard when those packages are highlighted. To find them, press the slash key, then write latex or tex, and remove all related packages. This saves the installation time and disk space.

After that, we’ll install XFree86 3.1.2 and its S3 server, FVWM2, GWM, and various X11-related packages by pressing + on the keyboard.

After that, press ENTER, and remove the remaining LaTeX packages that are dependencies. Keep pressing ENTER and marking dependent packages until pressing ENTER takes you to the main menu, with “Install” highlighted. Now, we’ll install packages.

When setting up packages, you’ll be prompted to set up a variety of packages yourself, such as the mail server. Occasionally, you may see the “file modified” prompts, which you’ll have to answer N. As for the mail server, press 5 then ENTER. Keep answering with defaults until you get to the XFree86 configuration.

Now, we are in the XFree86 configuration, with the mouse setup being the first section. Since we have selected Microsoft Mouse (2 buttons, COM1) during the virtual machine configuration, we’ve selected 1, then disabled ChordMiddle (for old Logitech mice using Microsoft Mouse protocol) and enabled Emulate3Buttons (press LEFT and RIGHT mouse buttons to emit MIDDLE click event). After that, we’ve specified /dev/cua0 as the mouse block device, which corresponds to COM1 that the mouse was connected to.

After that, we will configure the monitor sync frequencies. Since we’re on a virtual machine, selecting the monitor sync frequencies didn’t matter, as long as they grant us access to higher resolutions, like 1024×768 that we’ll set up.

After that, the video card configuration comes. We have installed the S3 Trio64 graphics card to this machine, so we will have to browse the video card database until we found the S3-Trio64 (generic) entry. After that, we’ve specified 123 as the graphics card ID, and it says that the XFree86 S3 server will be used.

Select the accelerated XFree86 S3 server by pressing 5, then specify the video RAM that is installed to the graphics card. For instance, we’ve selected 4096 KB because the card was configured to use this amount of video RAM.

The configuration program then asks you if you want to extract the probed clock information. Since this isn’t required, we just answer n to the question, which means that clock information won’t be parsed. Change all modes (256 colors, 16-bit colors, and 24-bit colors) so that 1024×768 will only be used.

Let the configuration program write the configuration file, but don’t test the X server yet. Ignore the package configuration error that appears, and answer N or O to the question that says that the Xserver file has been modified, since answering Y or I can invalidate your X server configuration. Enable xdm, but don’t start it yet.

Afterwards, go to “Config” and “Remove”, and let them perform remaining configuration and clean-up operations, then exit the dselect program.

You should see the login screen like below.

Since the serial port doesn’t seem to configure properly during system boot, we’ll have to manually run the below command, which causes the serial port to be recognized. Ensure that the serial port works by using cat /dev/cua0, then moving the mouse. If everything works, press CTRL + C, then execute reset in case garbled characters appear when you’re writing commands.

The command you’ll have to execute to configure the serial port is setserial -b /dev/cua0 auto_irq autoconfig session_lockout. If xdm works after a reboot but you can’t move the mouse, press ALT + F3, use this command, verify that the mouse works, then go back to the X server using ALT + F1.

Once the mouse works, now we can start the X server using startx. The X server works!

We can verify that xlock’s modes work, such as xlock -mode flag. It shows a waving “LINUX” word in a nice color hue gradient.

To run GWM, exit the X server by pressing CTRL + ALT + Backspace, then edit the /etc/X11/window-managers file using vi to point to the GWM binary path (/usr/X11R6/bin/gwm).

Then, start the X server again. Below shows a demo of the GWM window manager.

Debian 1.1.4 on 86Box with Socket 7 (Dual Voltage) [1996]

Debian 1.1.4 is the first stable version of this Linux distribution that was released on June 17th, 1996, under the codename “Buzz”. This version of Debian uses Linux version 2.0, and it provides you with a minimal X11 server (XFree86).

Our focus in this article is testing Debian 1.1.4 on an 86Box emulated machine with a Socket 7 (Dual Voltage) [1996] motherboard. You can download it from here. We have also extracted the required floppy disk files, which you can download here.

We’ve configured the virtual machine as follows:

We’ve configured a virtual machine to run with:

• Machine type: [1996] Socket 7 (Dual Voltage)
• Machine: [i430VX] Azza PT-5IV
• CPU: Intel Pentium @ 166 MHz
• Memory: 128 MB
• Video: [PCI] S3 Trio64 (Phoenix)
• Keyboard: AT Keyboard
• Mouse: Microsoft Serial Mouse (COM1)
• Sound card: [ISA16] Gravis Ultrasound
• Floppy disk controller: Internal device
• Hard disk controller 1: Internal device
• New hard disk: RH5.vhd
  • C/H/S: 2080/16/63
  • Size: 1024 MB
  • Bus: IDE
  • Channel: 0:0
• CD-ROM drive 1: MATSHITA CD-ROM CR-583 1.07 (8x)

Once everything is configured as above, we can now start the virtual machine. First, insert both the boot floppy disk to the drive and the Debian 1.1.4 ISO to the CD-ROM reader, then set the BIOS to recognize the floppy disk.

After that, let it boot to the Debian 1.1 installer, inserting the root floppy disk in the process.

After that, we’re asked to create partitions for the Debian installation. We’ve selected /dev/hda as the disk drive, which is the first drive on primary IDE controller. Afterwards, we’ve created two partitions:

• /dev/hda1: Linux, 980.44 MB, bootable
• /dev/hda2: Linux Swap, 43.32 MB

Finally, we’ve written the partition tables so that the installer can recognize our newly created partitions, which we will format to be usable in the installation.

Now, we will initialize and activate the swap partition, which will be used by Debian 1.1.4. After the swap partition has been activated, we’re told to select a partition to initialize the EXT2 file system. We’ve chosen the Linux partition, which is the only partition that we’ve set up on this disk.

After the file system was created, we’ve mounted the root filesystem so that the installer will be able to install the minimal base system from the three base floppy disks.

Now, we’ll install the base system from the three floppy disks (base14-1.bin through base14-3.bin) inserted to the first floppy drive, /dev/fd0.

After that, we’ll install the kernel to the new system. Insert the boot floppy disk, then proceed.

Now, you’ll be asked if you need some additional modules. Since we don’t have any extra hardware that requires the use of the available modules, just press ENTER when you see the below screen.

After that, you’ll be asked to provide both the keyboard layout (which we’ve answered Yes here) and the timezone.

The hostname and the network setup comes next. We’ve selected the appropriate hostname, and this system is intentionally set up not to connect to a network, so we’ve answered No to the network connection question.

Afterwards, the bootloader installation comes next. We’ve set up the LILO bootloader so that it installs to the master boot record of /dev/sda, which is the disk that has our newly-installed system, along with making /dev/sda1 the default boot entry.

After that, we restart the machine after ejecting the boot floppy from the floppy drive, since we don’t intend to create a “boot floppy”.

The new installation booted up to the prompt where we’re asked to provide both the root password and info for a new user that will be created. The password must be at least 6 characters long for it to be accepted.

Package installation comes next, but we’ll have to set up dselect so that it reads the Debian 1.1.4 CD-ROM and the packages contained within. The kernel boot messages that we’ve seen indicates that /dev/hdb is the CD-ROM reader, which we will use.

We will go to “Access”, then provide the above path to the block device that points to the CD-ROM reader. Afterwards, we let it detect the packages for both the stable and the contrib sections from /debian/stable/binary-i386 and /debian/contrib/binary-i386, respectively. However, since this CD-ROM doesn’t contain non-free and local sections, we leave them blank.

Now, go to “Update”, and see it recognize the package list.

Now, we’ll go to “Select”, which lets us select packages that we want to install or remove. We have marked all LaTeX-related packages as removed by pressing the minus sign on our keyboard when those packages are highlighted. To find them, press the slash key, then write latex or tex, and remove all related packages. This saves the installation time and disk space.

After that, we’ll install XFree86 3.1.2 and its S3 server, FVWM2, GWM, and various X11-related packages by pressing + on the keyboard.

After that, press ENTER, and remove the remaining LaTeX packages that are dependencies. Keep pressing ENTER and marking dependent packages until pressing ENTER takes you to the main menu, with “Install” highlighted. Now, we’ll install packages.

When setting up packages, you’ll be prompted to set up a variety of packages yourself, such as the mail server. Occasionally, you may see the “file modified” prompts, which you’ll have to answer N. As for the mail server, press 5 then ENTER. Keep answering with defaults until you get to the XFree86 configuration.

Now, we are in the XFree86 configuration, with the mouse setup being the first section. Since we have selected Microsoft Mouse (2 buttons, COM1) during the virtual machine configuration, we’ve selected 1, then disabled ChordMiddle (for old Logitech mice using Microsoft Mouse protocol) and enabled Emulate3Buttons (press LEFT and RIGHT mouse buttons to emit MIDDLE click event). After that, we’ve specified /dev/cua0 as the mouse block device, which corresponds to COM1 that the mouse was connected to.

After that, we will configure the monitor sync frequencies. Since we’re on a virtual machine, selecting the monitor sync frequencies didn’t matter, as long as they grant us access to higher resolutions, like 1024×768 that we’ll set up.

After that, the video card configuration comes. We have installed the S3 Trio64 graphics card to this machine, so we will have to browse the video card database until we found the S3-Trio64 (generic) entry. After that, we’ve specified 123 as the graphics card ID, and it says that the XFree86 S3 server will be used.

Select the accelerated XFree86 S3 server by pressing 5, then specify the video RAM that is installed to the graphics card. For instance, we’ve selected 4096 KB because the card was configured to use this amount of video RAM.

The configuration program then asks you if you want to extract the probed clock information. Since this isn’t required, we just answer n to the question, which means that clock information won’t be parsed. Change all modes (256 colors, 16-bit colors, and 24-bit colors) so that 1024×768 will only be used.

Let the configuration program write the configuration file, but don’t test the X server yet. Ignore the package configuration error that appears, and answer N or O to the question that says that the Xserver file has been modified, since answering Y or I can invalidate your X server configuration. Enable xdm, but don’t start it yet.

Afterwards, go to “Config” and “Remove”, and let them perform remaining configuration and clean-up operations, then exit the dselect program.

You should see the login screen like below.

Since the serial port doesn’t seem to configure properly during system boot, we’ll have to manually run the below command, which causes the serial port to be recognized. Ensure that the serial port works by using cat /dev/cua0, then moving the mouse. If everything works, press CTRL + C, then execute reset in case garbled characters appear when you’re writing commands.

The command you’ll have to execute to configure the serial port is setserial -b /dev/cua0 auto_irq autoconfig session_lockout. If xdm works after a reboot but you can’t move the mouse, press ALT + F3, use this command, verify that the mouse works, then go back to the X server using ALT + F1.

Once the mouse works, now we can start the X server using startx. The X server works!

We can verify that xlock’s modes work, such as xlock -mode flag. It shows a waving “LINUX” word in a nice color hue gradient.

To run GWM, exit the X server by pressing CTRL + ALT + Backspace, then edit the /etc/X11/window-managers file using vi to point to the GWM binary path (/usr/X11R6/bin/gwm).

Then, start the X server again. Below shows a demo of the GWM window manager.