Re: What Linux distro to use for old Intel machine, that fits on CDs?
On Jun 28, 2:26*am, Benjamin Gawert <bgaw...@gmx.de> wrote:
> Maybe then this time you should take the time and at least check what
> you really have? "...about 200 MHz clock, with about 500 MB RAM (or
> maybe it's 225.." and "...It has a late 90s but
> popular video card, forget the brand...." is worth nothing. There is no
> PentiumII 200MHz, so either it is a Pentium 200 or a PentiumII with
> higher clock speed. If it's a Pentium then you won't have much fun
> running Linux on it, too (except maybe for use as a router or file
> server). Same about memory (exact size and type), the mainboard and also
> the gfx card.
So your argument then is for maintaining the status quo--running
Windows 2000. Thanks for your vote.
Re: What Linux distro to use for old Intel machine, that fits on CDs?
On Jun 28, 3:31*am, markhob...@hotpop.donottypethisbit.com (Mark
Hobley) wrote:
> If you want to stick with a small 2Gb drive, I would suggest Puppy
> Linux.
>
> Regards,
>
> Mark.
Thank you Mark for the Puppy Linux vote, though I take it you're
relying on hearsay and have never tried it. What word processor and
what web browser do you recommend for such a weak system?
Re: What Linux distro to use for old Intel machine, that fits on CDs?
On Jun 28, 7:35*am, ray <r...@zianet.com> wrote:
> I would probably try Elive first - I installed it on a P166 with 64mb RAM
> last year and it was 'decent'. Other options would include **** Small and
> Vector.
Thanks for the Elive cite. I just checked their website--and it fits
the bill. However, they insist on money for the "fits on one CD
version".
I don't want to pay for something that might not work.
Also, how stable is this? For surfing the web (mainly checking email)
and printing a letter, how often does Elive (or any other 'minimum
hardware' distro) crash?
RL
PS--notice the bad english: "I have not put a minimum donation"...wow,
how good a programmer is this guy? I hope he's foreign, that would be
excuseable and understandable.
RL
Please give me something to continue my work!
Why request a donation ?
Elive is free and made with pleasure for your pleasure, but free does
not mean "no cost" . I spend all my time developing Elive. It is my
choice. Your choice is whether or not downloading Elive is worth a
donation. I have not put a minimum donation, because I realize that
many of you are students with very limited resources. I thank You for
showing interest in Elive, and hope to see you in #elive on IRC!
You decide the value Elive has for you. What do you obtain ? You
maintain the future of Elive and you also receive faster downloads.
No Money: If you can't possible to donate for Download Elive, we
propose you those solutions:
* The better option is to use our invitation codes system
* You can try Elive from a development version.
Re: What Linux distro to use for old Intel machine, that fits onCDs?
On Sun, 29 Jun 2008 02:15:29 -0700, raylopez99 wrote:
> On Jun 28, 7:35Â*am, ray <r...@zianet.com> wrote:
>
>> I would probably try Elive first - I installed it on a P166 with 64mb
>> RAM last year and it was 'decent'. Other options would include ****
>> Small and Vector.
>
> Thanks for the Elive cite. I just checked their website--and it fits
> the bill. However, they insist on money for the "fits on one CD
> version".
>
> I don't want to pay for something that might not work.
Be creative - there are certainly ways to download it for free - including
bittorrent.
>
> Also, how stable is this? For surfing the web (mainly checking email)
> and printing a letter, how often does Elive (or any other 'minimum
> hardware' distro) crash?
I don't run it regularly, but last time I checked, it was quite robust. In
the past I have had some issues with E17 though E16 was rock solid - E17
has grown a lot since then, though.
>
> RL
>
> PS--notice the bad english: "I have not put a minimum donation"...wow,
> how good a programmer is this guy? I hope he's foreign, that would be
> excuseable and understandable.
>
> RL
>
> Please give me something to continue my work!
>
> Why request a donation ?
>
> Elive is free and made with pleasure for your pleasure, but free does
> not mean "no cost" . I spend all my time developing Elive. It is my
> choice. Your choice is whether or not downloading Elive is worth a
> donation. I have not put a minimum donation, because I realize that many
> of you are students with very limited resources. I thank You for showing
> interest in Elive, and hope to see you in #elive on IRC!
>
> You decide the value Elive has for you. What do you obtain ? You
> maintain the future of Elive and you also receive faster downloads.
>
> No Money: If you can't possible to donate for Download Elive, we propose
> you those solutions:
>
> * The better option is to use our invitation codes system * You can
> try Elive from a development version.
Re: What Linux distro to use for old Intel machine, that fits onCDs?
* Andrew Halliwell:
> I think he makes the specs up as he goes along, sometimes.
> (to be fair to linux though, I doubt there's a video card THAT old that'll
> cause problems)
What about the Nvidia Riva128(ZX) or the bigger cards from 3DLabs
(Wildcat series)?
Re: What Linux distro to use for old Intel machine, that fits onCDs?
raylopez99 wrote:
> I have not been able to get a straight answer to this, despite almost
> a year of trying.
>
> Maybe three's the charm?
>
> Here goes again...
>
> I have an old machine, not my main machine, nearly in mothballs that
> somebody uses on occasion to surf the net and print a letter on a
> recent model HP inkjet using OpenOffice as the word processor
> program. The machine is running on Windows 2000. The machine is an
> Intel Pentium II, about 200 MHz clock, with about 500 MB RAM (or maybe
> it's 225, I upgraded it but forgot what it was, but I'm pretty sure
> it's 512 MB). The C: hard drive is only 2 GB large--the only one for
> the OS. This was a popular configuration in the mid to late 90s so
> I'm sure a lot of these machines exist in the world, so somebody must
> have loaded Linux on one of them.
>
> The machine has no DVD, only a CD reader. It has a late 90s but
> popular video card, forget the brand.
>
> What Linux distro to use for this configuration? I can, using another
> PC, download a distro, but then I would have to burn it onto a CD or
> CDs, so I would rather not do that--that is, I would rather get or buy
> a Linux distro that is already burnt, in proper order, onto labeled
> CDs to make installation easier.
>
> In case you're wondering why I want to switch to Linux: though the NT
> system is functional, it's slow, and rumor has it that Linux is 'virus
> free' (or nearly so) and faster. Presumeably since Linux is virus-
> free I would not need antivirus (AV) software. Is this true?
> Eliminating AV software would free up RAM. Again, this system is not
> for a power user. I myself am a power user, would never think of
> switching to Linux. But for this lightweight user, perhaps Linux
> might work for them.
>
> Any ideas welcome. Be advised that I also needle the posters at
> comp.os.linux.advocacy, but this is not a flame. I really have not
> been able to get a straight answer on this issue.
>
> Some common mistakes made by respondants: they recommend their
> favorite distro without checking the min system requirements; they
> recommend something they've never tried (Puppy Linux, Ubuntu, and ****
> Small Linux seem to be a favorites--but I need somebody who is very
> familiar with a distro before I install it and find out it won't work
> on this archaic system); and they assume that I have fast internet
> access on this machine. Also, some spiteful types from
> comp.os.linux.advocacy (avoid this group like the plague unless you
> simply enjoy flaming for its own sake) recommend distros that, when I
> research them, find they won't work on this machine specified above,
> so, please cite your choice with a link if possible.
>
> Thanks for your attention.
>
> RL
"dyne:bolic is shaped on the needs of media activists, artists and
creatives as a practical tool for multimedia production: you can
manipulate and broadcast both sound and video with tools to record,
edit, encode and stream, having automatically recognized most device and
peripherals: audio, video, TV, network cards, firewire, usb and more;
all using only free software!"
"You can employ this operating system without the need to install
anything, and if you want to run it from harddisk you just need to copy
a directory: the easiest installation ever seen!"
"It is optimized to run on slower computers, turning them into full
media stations: the minimum you need is a pentium1 or k5 PC 64Mb RAM and
IDE CD-ROM, or a modded XBOX game console - and if you have more than
one, you can easily do clusters."
Re: What Linux distro to use for old Intel machine, that fits on CDs?
In comp.os.linux.advocacy, raylopez99
<raylopez99@yahoo.com>
wrote
on Sat, 28 Jun 2008 01:24:31 -0700 (PDT)
<f83465dc-f065-4ae1-a357-5900092cbc77@27g2000hsf.googlegroups.com>:
> I have not been able to get a straight answer to this, despite almost
> a year of trying.
>
> Maybe three's the charm?
>
> Here goes again...
>
> I have an old machine, not my main machine, nearly in mothballs that
> somebody uses on occasion to surf the net and print a letter on a
> recent model HP inkjet using OpenOffice as the word processor
> program. The machine is running on Windows 2000. The machine is an
> Intel Pentium II, about 200 MHz clock, with about 500 MB RAM (or maybe
> it's 225, I upgraded it but forgot what it was, but I'm pretty sure
> it's 512 MB). The C: hard drive is only 2 GB large--the only one for
> the OS. This was a popular configuration in the mid to late 90s so
> I'm sure a lot of these machines exist in the world, so somebody must
> have loaded Linux on one of them.
>
> The machine has no DVD, only a CD reader. It has a late 90s but
> popular video card, forget the brand.
>
> What Linux distro to use for this configuration?
Before you ask *what*, you must first ask *why*. Win2k
appears to be satisfactorially running on that machine;
there's no particular reason to change absent additional
information.
Did you have a repurposing of this machine in mind?
(Me, I got sick of Windows 95, long ago, and I'm an old
Unix head. That's satisfactory ... barely ... as an explanation.)
If you're going to go ahead with this, make it a dual-boot.
At least that way, you'll have a fallback.
> I can, using another
> PC, download a distro, but then I would have to burn it onto a CD or
> CDs, so I would rather not do that--that is, I would rather get or buy
> a Linux distro that is already burnt, in proper order, onto labeled
> CDs to make installation easier.
http://www.cheapbytes.com/ is still around. In any event
it makes little difference; the .ISO images are burnt
as-is; no reassembly required.
If you *really* want to build your very own distro, it's
possible but arduous. (I'll admit to some curiosity
on some of the technical stuff, though -- like setting
up booting. However, for me it's not a high priority.)
>
> In case you're wondering why I want to switch to Linux:
I do.
> though the NT
> system is functional, it's slow,
Compared to a 3.2 GHz 2 GB RAM modern sort, *anything* on a 200 MHz
Pentium II with 500 MB RAM isn't going to be speedy.
> and rumor has it that Linux is 'virus
> free' (or nearly so) and faster.
That is only a rumor. BadBunnyz is out there, for example.
True, Linux is very virus-*resistant*, and most distros
are set up such that even if a virus does in fact infect
a user's executables, turning a user's account into a
quasi-zombie, the system (loosely defined, the bits owned
by root or bin) is still reasonably safe. Of course BadBunnyz
will infect all of a user's documents, given half a chance, but
it can't infect another user's documents without that other user
letting it in, nor can it infect the rest of the system.
> Presumeably since Linux is virus-
> free I would not need antivirus (AV) software. Is this true?
Depends. For the most part, AV software is unnecessary for
Linux *desktops*. However, if you're going to use that thing
for a Linux *server*, you may want virus detection software
to protect downstream Windows nodes. (This is a rather specialized
solution, to be sure.)
> Eliminating AV software would free up RAM.
And disk space.
> Again, this system is not
> for a power user. I myself am a power user, would never think of
> switching to Linux. But for this lightweight user, perhaps Linux
> might work for them.
Perhaps, perhaps not. I ask again: is there a reason to switch
from Win2k? "Having a lightweight user" on the box is insufficient.
Might be cheaper to buy a new box, especially since most consultants
charge over $100k/hour. Also, they can learn Windows Vista, which
is supposed to be easy to use, intuitive, and what not.
>
> Any ideas welcome. Be advised that I also needle the posters at
> comp.os.linux.advocacy, but this is not a flame. I really have not
> been able to get a straight answer on this issue.
>
Well, you need to clarify your question. At best, you're trying
to install a 2008-era distro on 1998-era hardware. There's some
issues there. At worst, you're working with an about-to-be-doorstop.
> Some common mistakes made by respondants: they recommend their
> favorite distro without checking the min system requirements; they
> recommend something they've never tried (Puppy Linux, Ubuntu, and ****
> Small Linux seem to be a favorites--but I need somebody who is very
> familiar with a distro before I install it and find out it won't work
> on this archaic system); and they assume that I have fast internet
> access on this machine. Also, some spiteful types from
> comp.os.linux.advocacy (avoid this group like the plague unless you
> simply enjoy flaming for its own sake) recommend distros that, when I
> research them, find they won't work on this machine specified above,
> so, please cite your choice with a link if possible.
You will have to go into more detail as to what you expect
the user of that machine to do:
Specifics are important, especially for games, which tend
to favor Windows (Halo in particular is Windows-only, AIUI),
if only because developers tend to go towards the big targets.
You can try http://www.****smalllinux.org/ if you just want to
experiment; it's one of the lighter-weight distros, occupying
only 50MB of disk space.
Re: What Linux distro to use for old Intel machine, that fits on CDs? 
Linear Mode
