installation problems on laptops (RAM )

[Charles Blair <ceblair@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>]

   As I described in a previous message, I was unable to install
debian in a 486 laptop, using either novice or custom mode.  The laptop
supposedly has 4 MB of RAM, but I got messages suggesting RAM was used
up.

   I have heard from two other people who had the same experience.
One was able to overcome the problem by getting the shell to run
and editing a file /etc/init.d/boot so as to put a swapon command at an
earlier stage in the file.  The other person apparently added more
RAM to his machine.

    I would really like to use debian, but both options in the
previous paragraph frighten me a bit.  I installed and used mcc-interim 
linux, but really do not understand commands like fsck, swapon, etc at
all.  

    Is there a painless way to get debian running on a machine that
already has mcc-interim linux installed?  It seems a lot of the
installation steps are similar, and maybe that would be a way around
the memory problem.  

   Of course, if the laptop does not have the full 4MB of Ram it is supposed
to, there may be problems running programs later.

   I would suggest that the FAQ, at the point where it says that 4MB of 
RAM is the minimal requirement, include some caution about laptops.