Linux for Pentium I

[Archman]

Hi,

I have been looking for a linux distro to work on an older Pentium I pc with 128mb of ram. I am looking at DSL (Damn Small Linux), and that seems to be about it.

I recall linux being created to revive older pc computers a few years back, but now it seems most need a Pentium III or better computer.

If I am unable to find anything worthy, I will use NASlite+ to create a cheap backup server

Thank you

 

[Archman]

What I am looking for is experience people have had with linux, and some recomendations for a decent distro

 

[Evander]

Here are other choices, I have never used them but they sound right up your alley:
http://www.delilinux.de/
http://www.puppyos.com/

 

[nweaver]

most any distro will run on that, as CLI only. I would definatly roll your own kernel for any modern distro though. If you are looking for a GUI, then I would tell you to look for a bigger machine...

 

[Evander]

The deli linux has a windows-like gui: http://www.delilinux.de/deli4.jpg
I think puppy linux does too but I don't see any screenshots on their homepage

 

[SleepWalkerX]

Originally posted by: Evander
Here are other choices, I have never used them but they sound right up your alley:
http://www.delilinux.de/
http://www.puppyos.com/

On top of these there's:
SaxenOS
Fluxbuntu
Slax (You could probably run Popcorn Edition)
Feather Linux

 

[n0cmonkey]

Slackware
Debian

With those two choices, do you need anything more?

 

[BobDaMenkey]

I had messed around with Puppy Linux before on a P3 700mhz 128mb ram system. It did run fine from memory, but I couldn't get the drivers to work for its network card and gave up after a couple hours of fidgeting.

edit: The slowest PC I have right now is a 933mhz P3 w/256mb RAM. I've got it running xubuntu pretty smoothly.

From looking at all the distro's that were posted here Deli looks like the best bet, as the test PC was a 486 w/16mb RAM and they claim to have programs running smoothly on that.

 

[Archman]

Thank you everyone for your help and information Delilinux looks very interesting, and so does feather linux. I was thinking of eventually trying a GUI... heck maybe even going back to an older version of linux from the big distros. I don't think it'll be too much of a challenge because I recall that the pentium tower (IBM Aptiva) was upgraded with an Intel overdrive upgrade 233 MHz cpu w/ MMX, and 128MB of ram.


I think what I'll do is try each of the mentioned distros out, and see which I like the best If nothing strikes my fancy, then I'll use NASlite and create a NAS terrabyte device.

Thanks again

 

[Pabster]

Damn Small.

Puppy might be OK too.

The NAS idea might be a winner. Great use for an old box.

 

[R3MF]

Puppy linux
Damn Small Linux
Astaros linux

 

[BurnItDwn]

I would run Slackware on that machine personally. If you wanted to put a GUI on it, the window managers that slack includes are pretty good and "minimalist", so they would probably work decently on an older Pentium machine with 128mb of ram.

I'm sure other distros are great too, but I haven't done any research in the last few years, just Slack has always been my choice for old hardware.

 

[Nothinman]

Just make sure everything is compiled for i586 or earlier, if they're compiled for something newer they might try to use MMX, SSE, etc and won't work.