[Preston] Linux on a 486

[Robin Johnson]

I'd confirm what Stephen is saying about the GUI. I have RH 7.2 on a 450Mhz
PII with 64Mb RAM and either Gnome or KDE are too much for it. I'd be
tempted to investigate oneof the simpler and lighter Window Mgt Systems for
X, such as devolution or .. - there are a few about. I'm only saying what I
would do, I have no experience of these simpler GUIs but I am sure I have
read reviews in magazines that speak well of them.

Robin


----- Original Message -----
From: "Stephen Taylforth" <stephen@ribblesdale.org>
To: <preston@mailman.lug.org.uk>
Sent: Monday, September 16, 2002 3:12 PM
Subject: RE: [Preston] Linux on a 486



You'd probably be better running one of the 486s as a server (without x-win)
and saving the 233 as a workstation. In my experience linux without x
windows will run an any old piece of junk but putting a gui on even a quite
high end machine can make it creak under the load.  Your best chance is
finding a really early copy of linux which was around when the machines
first saw light of day (circa 94 /95 from the spec) but I can't suggest
anything that old.

You shouldn't have any trouble making a 486 into a firewall / router or a
mail server providing you don't expect to run a gui or handle a lot of
traffic. You should manage this with a quite modern linux provided it will
run on a 486

My experience with firewalls is with later versions of linux with a 2.4
kernal and iptables. I have set up back office boxes with early pentiums (90
mhz with 8meg) and they work fine provided you don't expect too much. (they
are much happier with 16 mb)

I think that with such old machines you'd better get your hand in with the
command line. (or retire them gracefully......)


Stephen Taylforth

IT Technician Ribblesdale School Clitheroe


>I've just inherited a small number of 486 machines and want to play around
>with networking them. I plan to set up a server using a PII 233 and Red Hat
>7.3 and want initially to play around with the 486's as work stations, but
>maybe later use one as a firewall / router and one as a mail server.
>
>Can anyone advise on the best version of Linux to use on these machines,
>bearing in mind they are quite low spec:
>  a.. 486 DX2 66 / DX2 50
>  b.. 340 / 540Mb HDD
>  c.. 8 / 16 MB RAM
>  d.. Thin net ethernet cards (although I do have some 10 base T cards so I
>may change them later)
>  e.. No CD Drive (so I'll have to do a network install, but I think I'm OK
>with this)
>
>Ideally, I would like to use an earlier version of KDE / Gnome or some
>other x-windows system (even though I do need to get to grips with the
>command prompt). I am thinking about an earlier version of Red Hat, but
>having checked their site, the earliest version available for download is
>6.2 and this appears to need more hard drive space than I have available.
>What about earlier versions of Red Hat than this? Where can I download them
>from? Alternatively, if anyone has a suitable version that they don't want,
>or will let me copy it, that would be even better.
>
>As far as firewalls go, the top two would appear to be Smoothwall and
>IPCop, anyone got experience with either and / or have any particular
>preferences? Also, will they support the hardware I describe above or do I
>need something higher spec?
>
>On a separate point, I haven't been to any meeting for the past 3 months or
>so due to a number of work and personal commitments, but it sounds like I'm
>not the only one. What is currently happening, is the group dying a slow
>death?
>
>Phil Edwards
>
>



_______________________________________________
Preston mailing list
Preston@mailman.lug.org.uk
http://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/preston