Getting Red Hat Linux 5.2 up and running on 86Box

A somewhat oddly rendered Feb 2024 google.com in Netscape 4 on Red Hat Linux 5.2. I suppose we’re lucky a 26 old browser can access google at all..!

Introduction

One of my longer-running goals for Period Sites in Period Browsers was to include a good number of non-Windows hosted web browsers and the first stage in that is the creation of a functioning instance of the operating system hosted within an easily managed virtual machine. Unfortunately, whenever I’ve tried to install premillennial versions of linux within QEMU, I have categorically failed.

And, given the lack of guides on the internet, I’m not the only one.

In this guide we’re going to install and configure a working (albeit non-perfect) version of 1998’s Red Hat Linux 5.2. By the end of this guide we will produce a Red Hat Linux 5.2 install with a working network connection and functioning XWindows/Desktop environment.

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cat /proc/cpuinfo for a Raspberry Pi 5 8GB Model B Rev 1.0

cat /proc/cpuinfo for a Raspberry Pi 5 8GB Model B Rev 1.0 running Raspberry Pi OS. It feels oddly sparse when compared to my NUC7PJYH NUC (Pentium Silver J5005) though I suppose that’s a RISC verses CISC thing…

cat /proc/cpuinfo 
processor	: 0
BogoMIPS	: 108.00
Features	: fp asimd evtstrm aes pmull sha1 sha2 crc32 atomics fphp asimdhp cpuid asimdrdm lrcpc dcpop asimddp
CPU implementer	: 0x41
CPU architecture: 8
CPU variant	: 0x4
CPU part	: 0xd0b
CPU revision	: 1

processor	: 1
BogoMIPS	: 108.00
Features	: fp asimd evtstrm aes pmull sha1 sha2 crc32 atomics fphp asimdhp cpuid asimdrdm lrcpc dcpop asimddp
CPU implementer	: 0x41
CPU architecture: 8
CPU variant	: 0x4
CPU part	: 0xd0b
CPU revision	: 1

processor	: 2
BogoMIPS	: 108.00
Features	: fp asimd evtstrm aes pmull sha1 sha2 crc32 atomics fphp asimdhp cpuid asimdrdm lrcpc dcpop asimddp
CPU implementer	: 0x41
CPU architecture: 8
CPU variant	: 0x4
CPU part	: 0xd0b
CPU revision	: 1

processor	: 3
BogoMIPS	: 108.00
Features	: fp asimd evtstrm aes pmull sha1 sha2 crc32 atomics fphp asimdhp cpuid asimdrdm lrcpc dcpop asimddp
CPU implementer	: 0x41
CPU architecture: 8
CPU variant	: 0x4
CPU part	: 0xd0b
CPU revision	: 1

Hardware	: BCM2835
Revision	: d04170
Serial		: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Model		: Raspberry Pi 5 Model B Rev 1.0

Next goal is to find time to try and get ESXi onto it…

86Box config for RedHat 4.X

Recently I’ve been playing around in 86Box (build 3.7.1 for MacOS to be precise!) with 1997’s Red Hat Linux 4.2. After a little fiddling I seem to have got it mostly working – with one major caveat; I have had real issues with getting X/FVWM to work with any other display resolution than 640*480. Should I come up with a solution I shall, of course, update this page.

Linux Kernel 2.0.30? Gosh!
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Headless RDP for Fun and Profit

This solution has been checked on Windows 2019 fully patched as-of spring 2022. Other Windows variations may require tweaks. Those on *nix-based platforms looking to create a headless connection to a Windows host should skip the Windows related initial instructions.

Why?

Some applications are just not suited to running as a Windows Services – indeed some applications, such as those which require a full Windows desktop context, cannot be run as a plain Windows Service. One of the possible ways to get around this limitation is to run them under a fully scripted remote desktop instance – the remote user receiving a standard Windows Desktop experience with all the pros and cons this entails – however the default client available on Windows does not allow such a headless connect. Fortunately, newer releases of Windows – including Windows 2019 and Windows 10 – are able to run several versions of Linux as applications.

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