[Preston] Linux on a 486

[Alan Blundell]

Hi.

I have a 486SX33/8Mb notebook PC and tried tinylinux on it as my first 
bet.  I got everything working, even X (with FVWM).  But, wanting 
something I could install a wider range of packages on, I tried RH4.3 
(still have it on CD somewhere, if anyone wants a copy ...)

I finally settled, after a bit of experimentation on ZipSlack, which is 
a repackaging of Slackware (pick a version!) with a minimal install to 
fit on an Iomega Zip disk.  If you can lay hands on a parallel Zip drive 
(100Mb will do), install is a piece of cake, and from there you can 
install the whole range of Slackware packages.  All available on 
mirror.ac.uk.

I did try KDE (v1.1, aware of the hardware limitations), but it was like 
treacle.  Blackbox was what I settled for, as it has much lower demands 
on hardware.

PS: haven't made it to any meetings yet - I hope I'm mot too late ;-)

Alan Blundell


Phil Edwards wrote:
> 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:
> 
>     * 486 DX2 66 / DX2 50
>     * 340 / 540Mb HDD
>     * 8 / 16 MB RAM
>     * Thin net ethernet cards (although I do have some 10 base T cards
>       so I may change them later)
>     * 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
>