[plug] Old Linux within new linux

[Dion]

I certainly don't have any experience in doing this, however you could 
try using vmware or similar.
Sure there may be a performance hit, but with your new machine you may 
still be faster than your old laptop.

Vmware lets (when I looked, ages ago) you select the hardware levels to 
emulate.  You select the processor, virtual hard drive size, network 
card and so on.  If you put those at the equivalent to the hardware in 
your old laptop, your old distro should install within it

That way you should be able to build your software exactly as you used to.

Changing the kernel on your old distro might get it running, however 
then you have a development system that is not the same as the 
production machine.  The significance of that difference would be tricky 
to estimate.

Good Luck.
D.


Paul Arch wrote:

> Hi,
>
> this might seem like an odd request, but here goes.
>
> I am helping support some software which was designed and implemented 
> under SuSE 8.1, along with whatever kernel, gcc, mysql libs etc that 
> were default with its installation.  Previously, I simply had my 
> laptop run a version of SuSE 8.1, and maintained any software changes 
> under this environment.  Unfortunately, this laptop died, and I got a 
> new one :)  But I am having trouble setting up SuSE linux 8.1 on this 
> machine ( I am thinking its because of the HDD size, sometimes it 
> reads the partition table and detects /dev/hda, usually it fails ).
>
> What I was hoping was run something a bit more recent ( SuSE 9.3 eg ), 
> but still be able to access a development environment which is of the 
> likes of SuSE 8.1 - all I need to do under this environment is compile 
> code.
> Anyone have suggestions ? Maybe something like a virtual linux host ?  
> Maybe tool-chain/cross compile ?  Could I just use a newer kernel for 
> SuSE 8.1 ?
>
> Of course the right thing to do would be to bring the system I am 
> supporting to a more recent version of software so its easier - 
> unfortunately this system is in operation and we can't risk making 
> major changes and disrupting it.
>
> Cheers
>
> Paul Arch
> _______________________________________________
> PLUG discussion list: plug at plug.org.au
> http://www.plug.org.au/mailman/listinfo/plug
> Committee e-mail: committee at plug.linux.org.au
>


-- 
"Never ascribe to malice that which may adequately be explained by incompetence." - Napoleon Bonaparte