Am considering a Handbook 486 - Can it run Linux & Firefox?

Greetings.

I am new to Handbooks and Linux, but am attracted to this machine
because it seems to be quite an engineering marvel for its time. I
understand that a 486 operating at 40Mhz and 20MB of RAM isn't much,
but I understand that Linux has a reputation for being able to 'push'
older hardware quite far. I'm curious just how far this machine can
go!

If I do buy the machine, I'm considering removing the HDD and
replacing it with a CF card for storage. This should help reduce power
consumption very much, and also greatly improve the system's speed. It
should also make the system a good bit more shock resistant.

Assuming that I load only the software the system needs, and I
configure it to run as "tightly" as possible, will Firefox work on
this system?

Thanks!

As best as I can tell, there is not a Linux distribution that would run in a
system with as little as 20MB of RAM. I would not spend one penny on a 40MHz
486 these days. If you want to run a stripped down Linux and browser on a
laptop computer, Pentium II notebooks are a dime a dozen, and Pentium IIIs not
far behind in price. One of my family members runs Windows 2000 on a 650 or
700MHz Pentium 3 with 400+MB memory. You should be able to get by very nicely
with a system that has 256MB to ruin Linux, maybe as little as 128MB. I'm not
sure because I have not yet tried it... Ben Myers

On Sat, 26 Jan 2008 04:51:38 -0800 (PST), sweetbearcub@gmail.com wrote:

>Greetings.
>
>I am new to Handbooks and Linux, but am attracted to this machine
>because it seems to be quite an engineering marvel for its time. I
>understand that a 486 operating at 40Mhz and 20MB of RAM isn't much,
>but I understand that Linux has a reputation for being able to 'push'
>older hardware quite far. I'm curious just how far this machine can
>go!
>
>If I do buy the machine, I'm considering removing the HDD and
>replacing it with a CF card for storage. This should help reduce power
>consumption very much, and also greatly improve the system's speed. It
>should also make the system a good bit more shock resistant.
>
>Assuming that I load only the software the system needs, and I
>configure it to run as "tightly" as possible, will Firefox work on
>this system?
>
>Thanks!

On Sat, 26 Jan 2008 09:10:58 -0500, Ben Myers wrote:

> As best as I can tell, there is not a Linux distribution that would run
> in a system with as little as 20MB of RAM. I would not spend one penny
> on a 40MHz 486 these days. If you want to run a stripped down Linux
> and browser on a laptop computer, Pentium II notebooks are a dime a
> dozen, and Pentium IIIs not far behind in price. One of my family
> members runs Windows 2000 on a 650 or 700MHz Pentium 3 with 400+MB
> memory. You should be able to get by very nicely with a system that has
> 256MB to ruin Linux, maybe as little as 128MB. I'm not sure because I
> have not yet tried it... Ben Myers
>
> On Sat, 26 Jan 2008 04:51:38 -0800 (PST), sweetbearcub@gmail.com wrote:
>
>>Greetings.
>>
>>I am new to Handbooks and Linux, but am attracted to this machine
>>because it seems to be quite an engineering marvel for its time. I
>>understand that a 486 operating at 40Mhz and 20MB of RAM isn't much, but
>>I understand that Linux has a reputation for being able to 'push' older
>>hardware quite far. I'm curious just how far this machine can go!
>>
>>If I do buy the machine, I'm considering removing the HDD and replacing
>>it with a CF card for storage. This should help reduce power consumption
>>very much, and also greatly improve the system's speed. It should also
>>make the system a good bit more shock resistant.
>>
>>Assuming that I load only the software the system needs, and I configure
>>it to run as "tightly" as possible, will Firefox work on this system?
>>
>>Thanks!

* * *
sweetbearcub,

The new Puppy is quite small, but it will not run in 20MB... and believe
you need to run the old puppy in a 486 which is larger distro...

But you might want to post this question in the Antix forums to see what
suggestions they might offer... There are a several users with very old
systems
http://antix.freeforums.org/

JR

Depending on how old the Linux distro is, it may not even have Firefox which is
a new phenomenon in the relatively ling life of Linux. What did they use for a
browser in Linux back them? Mozilla. Then there is always KDE's Konqueror
(Yuck!)... Ben Myers

On Sat, 26 Jan 2008 15:26:42 GMT, Postman Delivers <JR_the_postman@xyzahoo.com>
wrote:

>On Sat, 26 Jan 2008 09:10:58 -0500, Ben Myers wrote:
>
>> As best as I can tell, there is not a Linux distribution that would run
>> in a system with as little as 20MB of RAM. I would not spend one penny
>> on a 40MHz 486 these days. If you want to run a stripped down Linux
>> and browser on a laptop computer, Pentium II notebooks are a dime a
>> dozen, and Pentium IIIs not far behind in price. One of my family
>> members runs Windows 2000 on a 650 or 700MHz Pentium 3 with 400+MB
>> memory. You should be able to get by very nicely with a system that has
>> 256MB to ruin Linux, maybe as little as 128MB. I'm not sure because I
>> have not yet tried it... Ben Myers
>>
>> On Sat, 26 Jan 2008 04:51:38 -0800 (PST), sweetbearcub@gmail.com wrote:
>>
>>>Greetings.
>>>
>>>I am new to Handbooks and Linux, but am attracted to this machine
>>>because it seems to be quite an engineering marvel for its time. I
>>>understand that a 486 operating at 40Mhz and 20MB of RAM isn't much, but
>>>I understand that Linux has a reputation for being able to 'push' older
>>>hardware quite far. I'm curious just how far this machine can go!
>>>
>>>If I do buy the machine, I'm considering removing the HDD and replacing
>>>it with a CF card for storage. This should help reduce power consumption
>>>very much, and also greatly improve the system's speed. It should also
>>>make the system a good bit more shock resistant.
>>>
>>>Assuming that I load only the software the system needs, and I configure
>>>it to run as "tightly" as possible, will Firefox work on this system?
>>>
>>>Thanks!
>
>* * *
>sweetbearcub,
>
>The new Puppy is quite small, but it will not run in 20MB... and believe
>you need to run the old puppy in a 486 which is larger distro...
>
>But you might want to post this question in the Antix forums to see what
>suggestions they might offer... There are a several users with very old
>systems
>http://antix.freeforums.org/
>
>JR
>

"Ben Myers" <ben_myers_spam_me_not@charter.net> wrote in message
news:jjfmp3t0mgpjmj3iugbvrlp8273d2n4p4i@4ax.com...
> As best as I can tell, there is not a Linux distribution that would run in
> a
> system with as little as 20MB of RAM. I would not spend one penny on a
> 40MHz
> 486 these days. If you want to run a stripped down Linux and browser on
> a
> laptop computer, Pentium II notebooks are a dime a dozen, and Pentium IIIs
> not
> far behind in price. One of my family members runs Windows 2000 on a 650
> or
> 700MHz Pentium 3 with 400+MB memory. You should be able to get by very
> nicely
> with a system that has 256MB to ruin Linux, maybe as little as 128MB. I'm
> not
> sure because I have not yet tried it... Ben Myers
>

FWIW: I'm not a Linux guru, but I installed it on a slighty souped up
Pentium 2 with 128 mb and a 1 gb hard drive. It ran, but spent a lot of
time paging, so I'd say you need 192 or 256 mb if you want a GUI interface.

On the other hand, when I googled "Handbook 486" I found this link from
someone who claims to have done it:
http://www.angelfire.com/al/priddyink/handbook486.html

Sam

On Sat, 26 Jan 2008 10:40:12 -0500, Ben Myers wrote:

> Depending on how old the Linux distro is, it may not even have Firefox
> which is a new phenomenon in the relatively ling life of Linux. What
> did they use for a browser in Linux back them? Mozilla. Then there is
> always KDE's Konqueror (Yuck!)... Ben Myers
>
> On Sat, 26 Jan 2008 15:26:42 GMT, Postman Delivers
> <JR_the_postman@xyzahoo.com> wrote:
>
Ben

Konqueror is a good one from where I sit, but broken in my distro since
Adobe has not released a new 64-bit secure Flash that does not suck-up so
much memory...

I can't wait for a good secure 64-bit Flash to get my system back in good
shape...

I know I like one as a combo file manager/web browser - but needs a
secure Java and Flash...

I have no idea what they used in the early days... but I was only
suggesting one or two previous versions -

JR

On Sat, 26 Jan 2008 10:57:43 -0500, Saml wrote:

> 4

Amazing... Good find

JR the postman