"Juan Zuluaga" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Could people describe their experiences using
> Linux/BSD on old computers? Distributions, text
> editors, printing, windows managers, disk space...
You have to realize that this is a VERY personal issue, and can easily lead
to Holy Wars and the like :) Also realize that older hardware may limit your
experience, simply because the "best of" class distributions might not run
well, or may not support obscure hardware. For the best odds of success,
make sure that your hardware is supported by whatever distribution you
select. This is particularly important for X. More system horsepower always
helps, although Linux/BSDen work far better with lower hardware requirements
than Windows. This does NOT mean that you'll necessarily find your 486
transformed into a racehorse that outperforms a PIII and 1GHz under Windows!
Be realistic, and that 486 MAY prove perfectly adequate for almost
everything you do, but there may be some limitations. For basic CLI use,
things are FAR simpler and just about everything (at least what I can think
of) should work quite smoothly on older hardware ONCE IT'S UP AND RUNNING.
My *personal* favorite is Debian Linux because it runs well on a variety of
hardware, from old Surv-class PCs to new multiprocessor systems. The base
installation is about 13 diskettes if you don't have CD or networking
capabilities available, and as few as 2 if you have a network connection.
Base installations go very quickly. It is larger in terms of memory than
other distributions, notably earlier Slackware, but -- personally -- I quite
like the apt-get update mechanism for installing and managing packages. I've
been able to update through successive releases quite successfully without
the need to wipe-and-reload that I ran into with earlier RedHat (5.2-6.0
notably). A fairly beefy installation can easily fit in under 100MB, and far
less if you're prudent. Considering that the base install can later be
upgraded to full-blown X system if desired, that's an important
consideration for me.
One problem though. Debian's install is NOT particularly straightforward, at
least the first time through. That can be quite frustrating. I did
successfully get Debian loaded on an old Compaq 386 notebook with 8MB RAM.
It was NOT particularly fast, but could be used for some basic tasks. The
problem was hardware limitations (no network) kept me from doing anything
useful with it. I also loaded up several Toshiba 486 notebooks with 16MB RAM
and it worked quite well, including full network support.
There are a number of "small" distributions, but keep in mind you won't find
anything on them in the press, or at your local bookstore. They're pretty
slick though, and may be useful depending on what you're after. Most are not
going to be well suited to using mainstream apps though.
Other places to look:
http://www.cotse.com/miniunix.htm
http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/distributions/
You'll see Steven's BasicLinux on a couple of these pages these days.
Congrats, Steven!
Try to determine what hardware you'll have available, then select based on
that and you should find something that works for you. Feel free to ask for
more input as you determine what you're after, and good luck with it.
- Bob
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