Distro for old comp

[Urza9814]

Hey, I got a friend who wants to try Linux on a comp he just got...200MHz, 92MB RAM, 5GB hdd...He's got Damn Small Linux running on it right now, but is having a hell of a time...all kinds of trouble...stuff not being there and such since it's made to be small...the problem is he has dial-up, so he's gonna have to buy for it...cant' DL and try 'em out first...so I was thinking Slackware or Mandrake 8.2...mandrake would probably be better because it seems to be easier...and I could help him with it...but anyways, what do you think woudl run best?

 

edit:

hmm, according to amazon, 9.2 will run...says 64 required, 128 recomended...anyone have any experience with running 9.2 on 92 or lower RAM? Will it still run decent?

..wait...my odl comp only had 64MB...and it ran fine...but it was 667mhz...so...will it run decent on 200MHz? lol

 

[moved from Other Linux Distributions by spinynorman]

[Gowator]

That RAM is critical....

Im not sure it matters which distro once the thing is installed but choice of WM is vital as is tuning what can be installed.

For instance the nvidia module is huge ... and any wrapper drivers are huge (like ndis)

Recompiling the kernel with minimal support can save quite a bit etc.

The decision is perhaps do you start small and add or start large and take away?

[iphitus]

dude do a search lol, there's been plenty of threadson htis....

 

in short, that will probly run mdk8.2, or even up to 9.1 without a problem

 

have fun

 

iphitus

[theYinYeti]

FYI, I have a P150MMX laptop with 32BM RAM, and 2GB HD. It runs Mdk9.1 just fine, with all the benefits of it: USB hotplug, optionnal supermount. I use Matchbox as the (very light-weight) window manager, Netscape 4.9 (or 4.8?) as the web/mail/news client, and just usual applications for everything else. With your config, I suggest you use IceWM, fluxbox, or Matchbox for the window manager, and Mozilla or Firefox/thunderbird for the net.

 

Yves.

[aRTee]

Run 10.1.

 

Kernel 2.6 is really faster than 2.4.

 

Use icewm or something similar for window management, rox as filebrowser - or use the cli. Note that the standard icewm terminal icon starts konsole - not helpful. Use rxvt instead.

 

KDE might run, but won't leave any memory free for running any apps..

the command 'free' will tell you how you're doing.

 

I installed Mdk10.1 OE on a P1 166mmx with 48MB of RAM. 5 minutes to boot... 2 minutes to start OOo writer. But it did run. With 96MB of RAM you can do lots more.

Oh, and on that machine I had to do a non-graphical install, the graphical one would hang/crash, with a hint about the text installer and not enough RAM..

[Darkelve]

Run 10.1.

 

Kernel 2.6 is really faster than 2.4.

 

Use icewm or something similar for window management, rox as filebrowser - or use the cli. Note that the standard icewm terminal icon starts konsole - not helpful. Use rxvt instead.

 

KDE might run, but won't leave any memory free for running any apps..

the command 'free' will tell you how you're doing.

 

I installed Mdk10.1 OE on a P1 166mmx with 48MB of RAM. 5 minutes to boot... 2 minutes to start OOo writer. But it did run. With 96MB of RAM you can do lots more.

Oh, and on  that machine I had to do a non-graphical install, the graphical one would hang/crash, with a hint about the text installer and not enough RAM..

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Maybe XFCE would work as well?

Also, for Word Processing, TextMaker is the lightest on resources there is (well, except Vi(m)/emacs etc... :P ). But it's commercial, you can get a demo though. Next is Abiword. OOO Writer is heaviest on resources.

 

I understand that VectorLinux is one distro that specifically targets these kind of machines, but if aRTee says Mandrake will run on it; and because you're more likely more knowledgable about Mandrake than Slackware, I think I'd still go with Mandrake.

[Gowator]

Run 10.1.

 

Kernel 2.6 is really faster than 2.4.

 

Use icewm or something similar for window management, rox as filebrowser - or use the cli. Note that the standard icewm terminal icon starts konsole - not helpful. Use rxvt instead.

 

KDE might run, but won't leave any memory free for running any apps..

the command 'free' will tell you how you're doing.

 

I installed Mdk10.1 OE on a P1 166mmx with 48MB of RAM. 5 minutes to boot... 2 minutes to start OOo writer. But it did run. With 96MB of RAM you can do lots more.

Oh, and on  that machine I had to do a non-graphical install, the graphical one would hang/crash, with a hint about the text installer and not enough RAM..

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Isn't the stock MDK 2.6 larger than MDK 2.4 though

With 96MB I think a non-always swapping install might be possible but it will take some slimming down and perhaps a custom kernel?

 

Just compile in what REALLY needs to be in and leave the rest out should leave more room...?? I generally agree though... 2.6 is faster and better but might need more work for really low mem machines?

[Urza9814]

I couldnt' get 10.0 to run decent on my 667 with 64MB RAM...took literally over 10 minutes to load OOo...and I tried IceWM, Windowmaker, and Fluxbox. 9.2 however ran faster than Win98 (what the comp was 'designed for')

[Gowator]

I couldnt' get 10.0 to run decent on my 667 with 64MB RAM...took literally over 10 minutes to load OOo...and I tried IceWM, Windowmaker, and Fluxbox. 9.2 however ran faster than Win98 (what the comp was 'designed for')

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yep, but it opens in a minute on my 667 with 64MB RAM... (XBOX)

I think its because the 2.6 kernel is stripped down to what could be plugged into the XBOX... no scsi, only the inbuilt NIC etc. etc.