Andrewski Posted July 21, 2003 Report Share Posted July 21, 2003 OK, I have the specs for an old computer on which I'd like to put Mandrake. I'm not really sure which version I should try. And I heard it may be better to try for a version of RH, but I don't know why that would make a difference. Here are the specs: Pentium 200 32MB RAM (I'm expecting to double that) 2GB hard drive 8x CD-ROM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyme Posted July 21, 2003 Report Share Posted July 21, 2003 personally, I'd slap 9.1 on there, and use a light WM such as fluxbox. just go through and try to get rid of packages you won't be using. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gowator Posted July 21, 2003 Report Share Posted July 21, 2003 Hey I just did exactly that. The package selection is a nightmare but I only had 1Gb first time. Got it working and then decided what the heck and chucked in an old 6GB. Anyway, forget KDE ... I ended up with fluxbox (:wink: tyme) but i gotta warn you still felt slow. Eventually i just used it as a dumb terminal and logged used it as a xclient for another box (Celeron 533) It was only browsing and Im sure with a bit of time i could have slimmed it down but ..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtweidmann Posted July 22, 2003 Report Share Posted July 22, 2003 You might be better off using an older verison of MDK (eg 8.0) or a different distro. MDK 9.1 seems to be aimed more at modern desktops then older machines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iphitus Posted July 22, 2003 Report Share Posted July 22, 2003 I run Mandrake 9.1 fine on my trusty 300mhz box! It runs like a dream compared to WIndex. GNOME runs reasonably well, KDE a little slower but I use Fluxbox. Also it'd fit on a 2gb hdd no problem. I have all of Mandrake on a 2gb partition. Except /home. But i could fit it on / /dev/hda6 2.0G Used: 892M Free:1.1G 46% / ram, a little low. I have 160mb. you should probably have a reasonable swap. That computer would be fine so long as you aren't going to need over 700mb for /home data. Go for it!! What do you have to lose!! James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoulSe Posted July 22, 2003 Report Share Posted July 22, 2003 It also depends on whether you need X or not. If you are turning the machine into a router/firewall/etc. then you could just use ssh and maybe Webmin to access the machine and you don't need to load X, which will just slow things down. There are plenty of distributions out especially for machines like yours, check out the distro list at www.linux.org I would personally stick with what I know and dump a scaled-down Mandy 9.1 on, the real question is: what do you want to do with the box? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrewski Posted July 22, 2003 Author Report Share Posted July 22, 2003 Thank you all for the suggestions. I went ahead with MDK 9.1 and, despite a few installation hitches, it seemed to go well. My friend started Gnome on it, because she liked the way it looked (don't we all) and it seemed to run ok. But when I get my hands on it, I'm going to set it up to run blackbox (and maybe get fluxbox? lots of recommendations here) with the gnome panel. Oh, I ended up putting 128MB of RAM in it... :) The box is for a friend of mine who wants to learn Linux but is afraid of putting it on her current computer. Believe it or not, this one is better than the one she has now! But I'm just trying to make the transition from Windows as easy as possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aRTee Posted July 24, 2003 Report Share Posted July 24, 2003 Good work Andrewski! Question: she wants to learn linux? Why? As in: Why not just use it? Question2: if she wants to learn linux, why not guide her through the install? Or is that what you did? In any case, enjoy! And keep spreading Linux! ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iphitus Posted July 24, 2003 Report Share Posted July 24, 2003 Thank you all for the suggestions. I went ahead with MDK 9.1 and, despite a few installation hitches, it seemed to go well. My friend started Gnome on it, because she liked the way it looked (don't we all) and it seemed to run ok. But when I get my hands on it, I'm going to set it up to run blackbox (and maybe get fluxbox? lots of recommendations here) with the gnome panel. Oh, I ended up putting 128MB of RAM in it... :) The box is for a friend of mine who wants to learn Linux but is afraid of putting it on her current computer. Believe it or not, this one is better than the one she has now! But I'm just trying to make the transition from Windows as easy as possible. Fluxbox..Fluxbox..Fluxbox..!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phunni Posted July 24, 2003 Report Share Posted July 24, 2003 Thank you all for the suggestions. I went ahead with MDK 9.1 and, despite a few installation hitches, it seemed to go well. My friend started Gnome on it, because she liked the way it looked (don't we all) and it seemed to run ok. But when I get my hands on it, I'm going to set it up to run blackbox (and maybe get fluxbox? lots of recommendations here) with the gnome panel. Oh, I ended up putting 128MB of RAM in it... :) The box is for a friend of mine who wants to learn Linux but is afraid of putting it on her current computer. Believe it or not, this one is better than the one she has now! But I'm just trying to make the transition from Windows as easy as possible. Fluxbox..Fluxbox..Fluxbox..!!!! Hear Hear! Blackbox is probably a little bit smalle/faster - but also not as nice to use IMHO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iphitus Posted July 24, 2003 Report Share Posted July 24, 2003 I've never used blackbox. I have Flux on my main machine, a P2 300mhz and it's pretty fast. Might try blackbox now.......................... Any donations of money for a new machine happily accepted j/k James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrewski Posted July 24, 2003 Author Report Share Posted July 24, 2003 Good work Andrewski! Question: she wants to learn linux? Why? As in: Why not just use it? Question2: if she wants to learn linux, why not guide her through the install? Or is that what you did? In any case, enjoy! And keep spreading Linux! ;) She is using it now, but she was afraid (rightly so, IMO) that her current computer (older and slower) wouldn't take Mandrake 9.1. Plus, if it all did mess up, she'd have no computer come fall, when she is going to be working on her senior thesis. As it is, I got this computer from a scrap heap at work, guided her through the install, and am now teaching her the basics. One of the first things we're going to do is to install the new OpenOffice 1.1 so I can show her that Linux will do her word processing just fine. :) A little farther down on the list is teaching her the Dvorak keyboard, so she can do her word processing faster, more efficiently, and with less wrist strain. 8) Thanks all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest KyooMac Posted July 25, 2003 Report Share Posted July 25, 2003 I know this is the Mandrake users forum, but the lightest distro I've found is Slackware. I'm running it on an old Dual Pentium Pro socket 8 machine. Mandrake 9.1 was just way too bloated, even after stopping services I did not use. If you want your friend to get a feel for linux without destroying her current computer you should try knoppix @ knoppix.net boots safely from a cd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.