[Scottish] Small distros

Fri Aug 23 16:55:00 2002

FWIW This past week I've been trying to install a slimmed down Linux
system on an old 16Meg P75 with the intention of using it purely as a
3270 terminal emulator. First I tried Mandrake 8.2 (which I got from a
Linux mag). It took most of the day to complete a minimal install. But
at least I was able to get to a logon prompt without thinking too hard.
So I was quite pleased. However, Mandrake didn't have the necessary
terminal emulator package on it's cds, so having been very impressed
with SuSE 8.0 on my home box, I tried installing it. I thought if I had
the same distro at work & home it would be easier for me. However, the
SuSE installer had no chance, even in text mode. Eventually I purchased
2x32Meg SIMMs to boost the memory up to 72Meg. The SuSE installer
eventually cranked into gear and decided on a minimal install, which
took nearly 24 hours to complete. However, it did only take three mouse
clicks! (Although I ended up with sendmail and windowmanager installed,
which I didn't want). Unfortunately, even in single user mode (i.e.
nothing else running), trying to locate and select the 3270 emulator
package from the supplied list using Yast took soooo long I gave up.
I've decided to look into creating a custom package list on my box at
home and trying again another day...

Regards,

Andrew.

-----Original Message-----
From: scottish-admin@mailman.lug.org.uk
[mailto:scottish-admin@mailman.lug.org.uk] On Behalf Of Ben Thorp
Sent: 23 August 2002 15:50
To: scottish@mailman.lug.org.uk
Subject: RE: [Scottish] Small distros

AFAIK, yes it is. It was originally marketted on the principal that it
was
RedHat, but with Pentium optimised RPMs.

Most of the distros will do a minimal install, although they might
struggle
with memory. Even Slack 8.1 now needs at least 16Mb, IIRC.

ZipSlack fits on a 100Mb DOS partition, too.

Just my $0.02

mrBen

                      "Ian Drake, IT, CIR,

                      SE Dunbartonshire"            To:
"'scottish@mailman.lug.org.uk'" <scottish@mailman.lug.org.uk>           
                      <ian.drake@scotent.co.        cc:

                      uk>                           Subject:  RE:
[Scottish] Small distros                                            
                      Sent by:

                      scottish-admin@mailman

                      .lug.org.uk

                      23/08/02 15:40

                      Please respond to

                      scottish

Mandrake is 586+ only isn't it?

-----Original Message-----
From: Kenny Duffus [mailto:Kenny.Duffus@cis.strath.ac.uk]
Sent: 23 August 2002 15:35
To: scottish@mailman.lug.org.uk
Subject: Re: [Scottish] Small distros

On Fri, 23 Aug 2002 15:02:23 +0100 "Brian Eley" <beley@cis.strath.ac.uk>
wrote :

> Hi,
>
> Can anyone recommend any small, novice friendly distros for use on
some
486s
> / early pentiums? I've got some free time and some machines itching to
be
> tinkered with :-) I plan to network them as well, and generally have a
good
> ol' footer.
>
> Do any places sell such distros on CDs, as i'm only on a 56K
connection
and
> can't download anything too big.
>

Mandrake 8.2 also does a minimal install

---
Kenny Duffus
Department of Computer & Information Sciences
University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK
Tel: +44 (0)141 548 3592    Fax: +44 (0)141 552 5330

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