READ: The most insane project I have ever attempted...

[ArcticFox]

OK, hopefully I caught y'all in a snare with my snazzy subject line, so here's what I plan to do.

It's 1 AM PST, the time where I usually think up stuff I shouldn't, and this time I remembered about this dude:

http://www.maximumpc.com/features/fe...002-09-24.html

and his project. Only 37 operating systems? Bah! I think I can get more. This is world-record stuff here.

OK, so here's what I need from all the people at TechIMO: First thing, go right ahead and ridicule me at my insanity and the difficulties of this project. Second, I need a good hardware config (no overclocked AthlonXP's/P4's and such, were talking P2's and SDRAM) that you think would work with just about all the OS's out their. If you know some technical detail about why such OS doesn't work with such cards because their voltage is to great or whatever, tell me. I'll see if, when I'm ready, I can get ahold of the hardware to build a rig that wouldn't have many compatibility issues. Oh, and if you happen to have a copy of an obscure OS you think I may be able to use, like Windows 1.0 (?), please let me know at:

fire_keeseATsofthomeDOTNET or homeworldATcounter-strikeDOTORG (sorry, I don't want to get viruses, their evil).

Interesting project, arcticfox.

How about you list what OSes ya have access to first, so we not what you don't need.

Be prepared to spend many, many frustrating days trying to get all these OSes to play nice. But, if ya got plenty of time on your hands, I'd say go for it!

Cheers
Mick

[ArcticFox]

Well, I have Win2k, XP Pro, 98se, and.... every version of Linux out their, obviously . The first three I have CD's for, I have a window open that is the download page for MINIX (Mini Unix), but that's it.

One thing is for sure, I'll be spending a lot of time at Google when working on this project, as my homepage is now their OS section of the Directory.

When I first decided to do this, I thought about doing two projects: One would be this one, with just a few Linux distro's. The other would be a machine with every single freaking version of Linux I could get my hands on, which is saying alot as I have DSL which means 100% access to them. So, first is this project, I want to see if I can surpass that guys 37 operating systems. Like get 40 or whatnot. Right now I'm trying to get ahold of MaximumPC magazing to get the email address of the guy that did this originally, because theirs still some questions to be answered.

[Telexen]

*idea*

vmware...load an OS in vmware, load vmware on it to install an os, that has vmware on it with an os installed with vmware that has an os with vmware installed...

you get the point

[ArcticFox]

Hmm....

Well, my plan is to use XOSL because it scales well and uses a tidy 1024x768 resolution. It doesn't work on laptop's though, but I don't plan on doing this kind of a thing on a laptop.

[Omardeth]

good luck man . far better geek than i am that much i can say

[nukes]

XOSL is good for the job. I've used it before, and in this situation, you will need to hide some partitions.
Remember that guy just had a pile of different Linux distros. IMO that doesn't count.
A P2-400 with a soundblaster and some 'true' SVGA card would do the trick. Get ISA hardware if you can. It works better with older software and means you are more likely to find drivers for it that won't need pnp etc.
Also bear in mind that you will probably have problems using big hard disks in older machines. Firstly there was the LBA issue, then a few more BIOS problems that limited some systems to 18, 32, 40, 60gb drives.
get an IDE cdrom, don't use one hooked to the sound card.
That's about all I can think of right now.

[sm8000]

If you wanna truly be a hardcore geek, you need to load Solaris x86

[ArcticFox]

LOL...

Well, the three Mandrake ISO's are sitting on my laptop's HD awaiting transfer to a PC that has a burner. Once I get that and XOSL running, I can see what else I can do.

Edit: I have a machine that may work for this task: 466 Celery 160mb and 2 HD's, 4gb and 10gb. I need more space obviously, but I think I'll start with a couple *nix distros and see what happens next.

[Gait_Keeper]

you da man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

get that record, make us all proud!!!!!!!!!!

and do lst the names of everyone who helps in the credits

if you don't get the record you don't have to list us in the credits LOL