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Missing Operating System


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#1
ripped off

ripped off

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Hello,
I just got a free older laptop from someone at work. It is an EPS ARa with Windows 95 floppy disks. There is no CD drive on the computer.
My problem started when I received the computer. At first it would not boot at all. Then it would boot and say something was corrupted.
As I have done on my home computer, I finally managed to get to DOS mode. I typed in fdisk and let it run.
I then put the boot disk and received a message "Missing Operating System"
I downloaded numerous Windows 95 and 98 Emergency Boot Disks. I insert the disk, turn the computer off then on again and receive the same screen.
When I hit F2 on start it gives me a screen that says Main, Security, Power Mgmt and Exit in the blue bar at the top.
Under Main it says System Time, System Date, System Memory, Extended Memory, Primary Cache, Secondary Cache, Floppy Drive, IDE Adapter 0 Master, IDE Adapter 0 Slave, Video System and Advanced Configuration.
Under Security it says Supervisor Password, User Password, Set Supervisor Password, Set User Password, Password on Boot and Diskette Access.
Power Mgmt is just that. It is battery life and hibernation.
The screen above the Missing Operating System says the following
CPU [120 MHz] : Pentium
CoProcessor : Installed
System RAM : 640 Kb
Extended RAM : 7168 Kb
Shadow RAM : 384 Kb
Cache RAM : 256 Kb

Hard Disk 0 : 816 Mb
Hard Disk 1 : None
Hard Disk 2 : None
Hard Disk 3 : None

System ROM : F51D - FFFF
BIOS Date : 08/20/1996
COM Ports : 03F8
LPT Ports : 0378
Display Type : EGA\VGA
PS/2 Mouse : Installed

Diskette A : 1.44 MB, 3 1/2"
Diskette B : None

Please help and let me know if it is even worth fixing.
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#2
Neil Jones

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It'll make a nice doorstop, that's all its realistically good for. Windows 95 isn't going to cut it on the Internet these days, IE5.5 is full of unpatched security holes. Without a CD unit and a 98 CD its useless as it is.
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#3
Titan8990

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About the best you can do with that is install something like freeBSD or slackware linux. It won't be much of a deskop OS but can be educational if you like that kind of thing.
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#4
hfcg

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Try Tinyme it is a very nice, light footprint, Linux based OS.
It is open source.
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#5
Titan8990

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He barely meets the requirements for that. Still worth giving it a shot but IMO it probably shouldn't be anything other than a CLI system.
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#6
hfcg

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My eyes decieved me.
I thought I saw a 1200 MHZ processor, and 640 Mb of RAM.
This is a boat anchore.
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