Looking for a stripped down OS to use on an older laptop

[Salvador]

I'm looking for a stripped down OS to use on an older "slow" laptop. It's a 50 mhz. 486 with 32 mb's of RAM (maxed out on the RAM) and a 2.1gb hdd. It needs to be relatively easy to use and I need to be able to use a few pcmcia devices including a NIC and a pc adapter for flash memory cards.

Basically, what I want to use the laptop for is a photo dump when I'm on vacation. I want to be able to upload photos via the flash memory pc card adapter and then interface it with my network and download the photos to another machine (that is running Windows).

Is there such an OS? I have Windows 95 on the laptop drive right now and it runs slow. It will handle uploading the photos, but I can't seem to find a pc card NIC that will work with Win95. I can't even install Windows 98 because it doesn't meet the minimum memory requirements to install Windows 98. It only has a maximum of 32 mb's of RAM.

TIA,

Sal

 

[drag]

The only Linux version that I would try to run on that (other then realy mimalists firewall/rescue/network versions) would be a thing called
Vector Linux.

However running X windows on that is going to chug. If you want to forgo a gui enviroment you can very fast using a straight command line enviroment.

Using Links browser running in a framebuffer you can get a decent browser with pictures/frames/javascript that will run fast.

Using apps like screen you can easily create multi tasking.

Bash command line isn't like Dos. It's a full multiuser/multitasking 32 bit enviroment able to play music, browse, word proccess, provide networking services and any else you want in a modern computer. It just does it without a gui.

The syntax is archane and it takes a bit of memorization. But man files are usefull once you learn to use them.

However linux is going to be as slow as your Win95 just because X windows is going to bog you down quite a bit. Back in the day it was bareable because that's all you had, and today the stuff actually can run faster on older systems then the orginal old-school stuff. But it's going to be painfull otherwise.

But then again it will be modern. Be able to do PCMCIA stuff easily and has USB support. It will be stable and almost never crash, and viruses are practicly non-existant.

Plus once you learn how to operate around the shell you can gain access to the numerous shell accounts out their on the internet and be able to join up with the rest of the internet and impress your freinds with your hackerish knowledge.

 

[arsbanned]

That laptop has PC card slots?



In a word, no, there isn't.

 

[AtTheGates]

I'd try one of the small versions of Knoppix. I've tried Damn Small Linux and it is pretty good. It has a simple gui and Xzgv for viewing pictures. Also Knoppix based distributions are very good at hardware detection so you should not have to do much work. Damn Small is only about 50 megs and can be run directly off the cd so try it out and see if it detects everything. Also try searching for a flavor that better suits your needs. Knoppix Flavors

 

[Abzstrak]

any version of linux will work fine, just don't bother with a gui... especially since your just using it to transfer files... the CLI is fine for copying files, copy them from the flash to the HDD, and use samba to share it out so that the windows machine can see the share on the network...

 

[Salvador]

Thanks guys! I appreciate the info. I'd rather have a GUI if I could. I want it to be as easy to use as possible. I'm more into functionality and ease of use than command lines that will impress my friends. I just don't want anything bloated like Windows. I don't even need to use this laptop for anything other than a specific task. I just want to be able to upload the photos and then be able to get them off via a pc card NIC.

Oh.. Although this laptop DOES have a pc card slot (2 actually), it doesn't have a cd rom, so I need something that's going to be bootable from the hard drive, not from the cd. I do have a cd rom for this laptop, but it's on the docking station and I can't use it portably.

Thanks again.

Sal

 

[n0cmonkey]

NetBSD.

 

[AtTheGates]

Knoppix and its flavors can be booted of a hard disk. You just use the cd booting to try it out and install.

 

[Cheetah8799]

Damn Small Linux

Also, SLAX works well on older systems.

 

[Abzstrak]

Originally posted by: Salvador
Thanks guys! I appreciate the info. I'd rather have a GUI if I could. I want it to be as easy to use as possible. I'm more into functionality and ease of use than command lines that will impress my friends. I just don't want anything bloated like Windows. I don't even need to use this laptop for anything other than a specific task. I just want to be able to upload the photos and then be able to get them off via a pc card NIC.

Oh.. Although this laptop DOES have a pc card slot (2 actually), it doesn't have a cd rom, so I need something that's going to be bootable from the hard drive, not from the cd. I do have a cd rom for this laptop, but it's on the docking station and I can't use it portably.

Thanks again.

Sal

Well, if you are gui dependent you can try fluxbox, so similar light weight gui's, but they'll still be slow. Of course on the CLI you only have to type a couple commands to copy files, but if you can't handle it since you don't want to "impress" anyone, just by a new laptop thats faster.

 

[Salvador]

Well, if you are gui dependent you can try fluxbox, so similar light weight gui's, but they'll still be slow. Of course on the CLI you only have to type a couple commands to copy files, but if you can't handle it since you don't want to "impress" anyone, just by a new laptop thats faster.

The thing is that I don't need a laptop. I'd never use it. The only thing that I'd use it for is a photo dump when I go on vacation. This old laptop almost works perfectly for this.

I will probably build myself a Linux box sooner or later to mess around with and learn the command prompt. I just don't want to mix learning the command prompt with something that I want to be foolproof when I need it.

Sal

 

[drag]

You could probably install win98 on it if your REALY wanted to.

There are also bunches of versions of windows 98 were people stripped out IE and a bunch of subsystems to make it stable and fast. They call them variations of win98lite or windows 98 lite.

Never used them before, but this will probably work out better for this laptop and you then any linux distro.

 

[vegetation]

The thing is that I don't need a laptop. I'd never use it. The only thing that I'd use it for is a photo dump when I go on vacation. This old laptop almost works perfectly for this.

Sal

Just a suggestion: look in the hot deals area for the 20gb portable media drive on sale at Radio Shack if this is all you really need. It's only a little more than $100 and I'm sure it has way more storage capability than your old 486 laptop, for which I would be seriously concerned about hard drive integrity with such an old machine. All the media ports are built-in so there's no fumbling with adapters, and it's going to be smaller than this old machine.