linux notetaker

[Doug]

It is possible to boot linux on 386SL with 6MB RAM.
It is also possible to fit a small linux distribution
in well under 80MB (text only, no x-windows). This
guy says he runs linux on a 386SL with 4MB RAM and
80MB hard drive:

"The laptop I use when I'm out and about has a 386SL,
4Mb RAM, and an 80Mb HD, and I manage quite nicely
on it, thank you!"
http://dunne.dyn.dhs.org/~paul/articles/exe-linux

So I think it will work, but you'd want as much RAM
as possible (ideally the max 20MB), and this is a
slow processor (25Mhz), so it won't be lighting
fast. I have no idea about the braille components,
I would imagine that some work would be needed to
get those working. Perhaps some existing code like
brltty could be adapted to work with it.

If you want to try linux on a small machine like
this, look at some of the mini linux distributions
like pocket linux and such (there are many to choose
from). You can use tools like busybox to keep the
executables small.

-- Doug