Blitzmax on Damn Small Linux

Anyone manage to get BlitzMax running on DSL?

Ubuntu was having some problems with the computer I installed it on at school, and before I try another distro, I'd like to see if it's even possible.

DSL is debian based and very expandable, so it should be possible.

You will need to enable apt-get for starters :P (i seem to remember it being under the system menu somewhere)

I dont know if you will be able to get the video cards openGL direct working on it though :/

Whats the problem with the ubuntu? If the live CD is faiing try the alternate installer (the oldskool text based one). It usually works more often than not when the live CD fails.

I tried the alternate installer, managed to actually boot to Ubuntu, and the computer still crawls.

I'll give DSL a try, I suppose... Even if it won't run well at all, as long as it compiles I'd be somewhat happy. Are there any other distros that are lightweight and would be compatible with BlitzMax?

Thanks!

You could try fedora.

If ubuntu crawling check you have a proper swap partition and that its working (system monitor). If its blitzmax thats crawling then its probably the direct open GL rendering not working. Although max is 2D it apparently uses 3D hardware to do it?! :/

What happens when you do a:
glxinfo |grep direct ?

If it says no then its a driver config issue or you might have "xserver-xgl" installed, (which everyone is rushing to install to get them bloody desktop FX going when their card or driver cannot handle composite properly. A mistake! The desktop FX are not worth installing XGL, it kills your machines efficiency!!!).
You can remove xgl with "sudo apt-get remove xserver-xgl", but if you are relying on it for compiz etc, then turn them off first.

If your card is an ATI or NVIDIA then make sure you install envy: http://albertomilone.com/nvidia_scripts1.html
which will set up your card with a choice of drivers to install and it will process your config correctly too.
Try each starting with the newest until you get direct rendering (best to reboot after changing drivers if you dont know how to do it the other way).
If your card is older INTEL crap 828xx then i dont think they even support OGL.

"Are there any other distros that are lightweight"

Check out http://www.linux.org/ for a list of minimalist linux distro's

Thanks dawlane, I'll check those out.

D4M4N: It's the memory that's the problem... I thought the computer had 256MB, but in reality it only has 128MB. I didn't even manage to get BlitzMax installed, unfortunately.

try Xubuntu, its a lightweight version of ubuntu that uses far less reources.

If Ubuntu and/or Kubuntu are crawling, it could be a display driver problem. Either that or as mentioned, swapping (or lack thereof).

Tried Xubuntu? It's Ubuntu for skimpy hardware. Uses a very lightweight window manager.

i reckon its the 128 megs that makes it crawl. Xubuntu should be ok with this.

Think of full size ubuntu needing XP specs, (XP running on 128 is horrendous too!) but think 512 as 'minimum recommended level' for the "full" distros, even though they will "work" with much less.