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Which Distro for a very old/limited machine?

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second_coming
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PostPosted: Fri Nov 22, 2002 3:06 pm    Post subject: Which Distro for a very old/limited machine? Reply with quote

Hi folks,

I have an old DX2/66 which is a tiny machine (ex bank computer). I want to install linux on it and use it for hosting development web sites which utilise PHP/MYSQL and POSTGRES.

Now it only has a 1.6gb hard drive and 32mb of RAM and I'll be using it minus keyboard/mouse & monitor once configured.

My question is which distro is best suited for this application which will maximise the available hard drive space once up and running?

TIA
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flw
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PostPosted: Fri Nov 22, 2002 5:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I don't know which would be best, but I can tell one not to use for the hardare you have. Redhat 8.0, is hardware intensive (processor/ram/free space). So much so that its needs/wants the same level of processing power that XP does. Although, it may be ok with no gui at all.

I don't remember this issue as much on RH 7 or earlier versions.

I've only used Redhat, so I have no idea on any other distro's.
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ShaolinTiger
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PostPosted: Fri Nov 22, 2002 5:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

How hardcore are you second_coming?

If you are THE HARDCORE like Bruce Lee's Nunchuka's go for Gentoo, totally built from source.

Get your Kernel down to a manageable size, install only what you need etc.

If you want a distro out the box I'd go for Debian as the install footprint is VERY small for a fully functional system.

Other than that perhaps have a look at one of the mini distros going around (probably listed on Sourceforge).
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second_coming
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PostPosted: Fri Nov 22, 2002 5:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've dabbled in linux a few times but nothing indepth.

I'll have a look at both Gentoo and Debian, thanks Very Happy
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b4rtm4n
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PostPosted: Fri Nov 22, 2002 5:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'd steer clear of Gentoo for that spec machine as it needs 64mb plus at last checking.

Deb is a good bet but for a beginner with a low spec machine an early RedHat say 5.2 or 6.2 may be easier to cram on.

I'm going to stick to my guns from previous threads and say Slackware (7.1 or earlier) would be best tho.
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ShaolinTiger
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PostPosted: Fri Nov 22, 2002 6:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hmm I suppose Gentoo has a tiny footprint but all that compiling gotta hurt..

I remember once long ago when Kernel compilation used to take about 30 hours LOL

Slackware or Debian it is then Smile
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browolf
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PostPosted: Fri Nov 22, 2002 7:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

second_coming wrote:
I've dabbled in linux a few times but nothing indepth.

I'll have a look at both Gentoo and Debian, thanks Very Happy


if u look on linux.org there's a distribution list. there's alot of them. There's bound to be one that meets your needs.

~Andy
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hads
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 25, 2002 3:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I vote Slackware!

It's great. And for what you want to do it will work out of the box with no compiling. Unless you want to of course. (I would have to check on Postgres - don't use it myself)

b4rtm4n, may I ask about your opinion to stick with 7.1 or earlier?

My second choice would probably be Debian.

Also check out here for distro's: http://distrowatch.com/
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 25, 2002 4:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yea shalion i agree, I wanted to try gentoo because my friend highly recomended it to me, but the bootstrapping process on my 900Mhz Duron, and givin it 64 megs of RAM, went half of the day, then all night, and then half of the next day, and then i canceled it because it took too long. Listen There are this file that you need to edit to make the distro more compatible with your cpu, i think i edited it wrong, i really wanted to try it, but then i settled for slackware.
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 25, 2002 6:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

second_coming,

my machine is 266Mhz 160SD-ram but running on RedHat 7.3 also get feel heavy . but i've tried verison 6 b4 that quite preety good for my machine speed

And ur one, i think verison 5 is most suitable for u..
if u dun run x windows , i sure ur machine enough to run redhat 8

u can try mandrake coz that not so heavy, i've tried mandrake 7.2, that wont get lag on my 133Mhz 32 Ram machine.

And i think freeBSD not so heavy like Linux, coz my friend siad he jsut using 386, 32 ram to running freeBSD 3.5...

that all
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ShaolinTiger
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 25, 2002 11:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Actually Redhat and Mandrake are the LAST 2 I would recommend, you need a custom X Windows if you are running an old machine like litestep? and all the others..

And definately no bloat, Slackware and Debian or a lighter weight distro based around one of those Very Happy
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second_coming
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 25, 2002 12:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've just downloaded Slackware 8.1 so I'll give it a go thanks Very Happy
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 25, 2002 1:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Cool.

There's a few people here using Slack I believe so feel free to post if you run into anything unexpected.
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 25, 2002 3:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

hads wrote:
Cool.

There's a few people here using Slack I believe so feel free to post if you run into anything unexpected.


hehe... probably all too soon Laughing
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 25, 2002 4:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

As an addition to this a lot of people have recommended Fluxbox as a light weight X Windows

http://fluxbox.sourceforge.net/

Based on the perhaps even lighter Blackbox code.

Also Afterstep http://www.afterstep.org/
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delete852
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 26, 2002 1:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I am not sure but aren't there kind of two types of ditro's based on how their rc.d directories set up? I am not sure, i think the types are based on redhat and slackware.
The reason I wanted to try gentoo, is because of its packaging system, i tried red hat and i was extremely dissapointed with the dependancies, so i looked for somethign better.
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