[Nottingham] Linux on old hardware (Was:) [Talk] Thurs 02/07/09 What's in a Filesystem?

[Martin]

> Linux on old hardware;

In short:

Unless you're 'expert', or you have time to kill, or you're out to be 
disappointed, then *don't bother* !


Today's hardware is so cheap and so phenomenally fast and capable 
compared to even 5-years-old kit that it's silly to expect miracles of 
old stuff with the recent 'big' Linux distros. It's a bit like trying to 
cram a full grown elephant into a rickshaw... Try pedalling that!...

You might be able to move if you squeeze a /small/ /baby/ elephant in 
there...

So:

Option 1: Use a recent multi-gigbyte RAM multi-gigaHertz multi-core PC;

Option 2: Use a /small/ Linux distro with whichever hardware and be a 
little patient and sympathetic with it;

Option 3: Try Gentoo and enjoy lot's of educational patience and 
enlightenment :-)


So... For an old 486 system with I guess 32 MBytes of RAM or so... That 
really does need a small distro such as:

Puppy Linux
http://www.puppylinux.com/

DSL (Damn Small Linux)
http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/

SLAX
http://www.slax.org/


Other suggestions?

I resurrected an old Via C3 system using Gentoo but that is certainly 
not for anyone for a first time experience!

A good site detailing distros is:
http://distrowatch.com

Hopefully, the choice available is not too bewildering!



Combine the next meet with a bit of a fix-it evening?

Good luck,
Martin


-- 
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Martin Lomas
martin at ml1.co.uk
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