After having uploaded all the Linux images I could find (Midori 3, Mia4, Workstation), I unluckily had to turn to Win98. The reason is that the Midori images are quite difficult (well, at least for me) to adapt to my needs: my IA-1 doesn't have a US keyboard (it's a "blue" Belgian IA-1) and the cursor looks like a big flickering square on the screen. This could be changed by modifying the XF86Config, but it’s "read only" (because of cramfs compression used) and I haven’t found a way to change that. I’m very much interested in suggestions on how to do that. Furthermore, I couldn’t use a USB Wireless Lan connection. A cabled Ethernet connector works fine though. All attempts to upload a more modern Linux OS (DSL, Puppy, Insert, ...) failed because of the limited 16 Mb RAM amount.
I eventually tried with Win98SE (although I would definitely prefer to work with Linux) and everything worked as expected. This is the way I chose to bring the IA-1 to life:
1. I first formatted a 512 Mb CF-card in FAT16 and made it bootable with HP DriveKey ( http://h18000.www1.hp.com/support/files/serveroptions/us/download/20306.html );
2. I added himem.sys and created a config.sys file containing the following line: "device=himem.sys /testmem:off";
3. I copied the whole win98 subdirectory of the Win98SE CD on the CR-card in a directory called "win98";
4. I plugged the CF-card in the IA-1 and switched it on.
5. The Compaq logo appeared during one minute or so, disappeared and came again (I suppose the IA-1 resets when a CF-card is plugged in). After another 15 second, the DOS prompt appeared and I could start the Win98 install in the win98 subdir with "c:\win98\install /id /p b;v" for the French version or "c:\win98\setup /id /p b;v" for the US and German versions;
6. Installation took quite a while, but went smoothly;
7. I then followed Compunut step-by-step advice (see in the MSN Companion BBS thread):
"The IA-1 will reboot with a WIN98 desktop. (If the reboot hangs, press the power button.)
Step 6) Click on start, click run, type regedit, click OK. Click on the + signs for each: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, Software, Microsoft, Windows, Current Version. Double click on the Detect folder. Click on Edit, New, DWORD Value. Type ACPIOption [enter].
Click Edit, click Modify, type 2, Click OK. Close the window. (This entry eliminates the hanging on power control devices.)" (thanks Compunut!);
8. I added a line in the autoexec.bat : subst a: c:;
9. Now for the drivers!
- The graphic card is a "Cyberblade i7 graphics system AGP". If you don’t mind working with 256 colours, the Trident driver available in the Win98 install files will do the job. If you prefer to work with 16bit colours, you’ll need a more appropriate driver at http://www.soft32.com/download_179049.html
- Sound card is SigmaTel STAC9744. Driver can be found at http://www.opendrivers.com/driver/211176/via-ac97-audio-codec-combo-sound-driver-3.90a-win98se-me-2000-xp-free-download.html
- You will need also the "all in one driver" for the VIA chipset, which can be found at http://www.bios-drivers.com/drivers/122/122177.htm
- The internal modem is a Lucent 56K V.90 Internal WinModem. It requires a driver which can be found here ftp://195.245.122.13/pub/itemnr/REFFIUP01450400/V562-102.exe
10. I installed a USB wireless Lan key and the accompanying driver for win98, a USB mouse, eventually removed internet explorer (with the freeware iErad30) and all the files I didn’t need in order to reduce win98 footprint. I then installed Opera v. 8.5 (the latest v.9.1 wouldn’t work on the IA-1), Total Commander, XMPlay and Screamer... et voilà!
After a sleepless night 
the IA-1 works fine and I can use it for surfing on the internet and listen to the radio (Screamer is great!). The sound, hooked with the stereo jack output on a HiFi set is simply amazing! The whole is quite affordable: the IA-1 cost me 59 euros on Ebay last week, the USB WLan 12 euros and the 512 mb CF-card 9.99 euros.
I heard that someone had succeeded to install Damn Small Linux on the IA-1. I would love to hear how this can be done.
Regards.
