I've made a small amount of progress. I downloaded the T2 linux install image for 586 (K6-2 is not 686?) and I can boot this in a DVD drive. I also finally found a PCI SATA card that is recognized. I can then boot the DVD, and install linux to the SATA drive. But then I can't get to the SATA drive again. I can boot the DVD and mount/access the SATA drive that way (as if I were installing all over again), but the BIOS can't boot the SATA drive directly.

So I think I need a mini-linux install on a CF card or something that the BIOS can boot, which in turn can boot the SATA drive. I think there is only a single thread here on this forum about linux, so does anyone know where I can go to find this sort of info?

If you install a MII cyrix you might get 686 stuff to work everything else on socket 7 is pretty much 586.

Technically MII is 5.5x86 it doesn't have all of the 686 stuff.

these CF cards are awesome

this sata card works really well on most of my socket 7 stuff

Thanks for the reply. So can you boot from those PCI cards? What do you set in the BIOS as the boot device, just "C" or something?

nickles rust wrote on 2025-08-20, 16:56:

Thanks for the reply. So can you boot from those PCI cards? What do you set in the BIOS as the boot device, just "C" or something?

... or something))) like SCSI/C/A in Award BIOS

nickles rust wrote on 2025-08-20, 16:56:

Thanks for the reply. So can you boot from those PCI cards? What do you set in the BIOS as the boot device, just "C" or something?

Yeah. I boot from them all the time.

Yeah, most mobos seem to like hd0 or C or whatever.