Want to try linux for the first time

[Corsairpro]

I've got my hands on a compaq computer from 97 that has an AMD k6 233 w/ 32MB RAM, integrated video, audio, PCI nic, ISA modem, cdrom and floppy.

I was just going to put WIN98 SE on it, but I decided that I better give linux a try. That being the case, what distro/version will A) be good for a beginner whos only used windows ever, and B) will run on the above hardware. Its all old so should be supported.

Any help on converting another windows user would be greatly appreciated.

 

[KF]

Mandrake (9.1?) must be about the very simplest to set up. It asks very few questions (none geeky.) Just put in the CD, and choose the default answer a few times, and not very much later it will be up and running.

Red Hat is just about as simple. However, they don't set it up to play mp3s, so if mp3s don't play, don't suspect the sound of being set up wrong. You can track down and install the things needed for mp3s, but you will then begin to see why people are uncomfortable with Linux. Figuring out how to change and install things is generally not very clear, and generally involves a lot of head scatching, and many steps.

Oh yeah, RH quit putting in mp3 support until they settle questions they have about its 100% legality. They support a different sound compression: ogg?

The real setup problem people have is when they want Linux IN ADDITION to Windows on the HD. That immediately gets you into the nuts-and-bolts of partitions. People find that scarey.

There have to be several threads like this a week, so take a look around and you will get more input.

 

[Corsairpro]

ok, so how do i go about downloading something that I can burn to CD and pop into this old thing? Also should I partition/format prior to installing linux w/ a 98 boot disk?

:edit: Free linux is good too... redhat and mandrake wanted me to pay????

 

[Bleep]

Redhat and Mandrake are free for downloading. Just do a search on Google for Linux downloads. The fastest mirror for me is the one from Bolder Colo.

Bleep

 

[KF]

Getright resumes downloads

Filemirrors.com: Where to find files.

One ftp download site for Mandrake 9.1 ISOs.

The first of the 3 CDs may be all you need. It would take about 3 days continuous for me to get one CD at 28,800. Without a resuming downloader, if my connection was interrupted at any time, I would have to start over. With resuming I have gotten CDs downloaded by connecting nightly for a couple of weeks.

But recently I borrowed a relatives high speed connection, and it took something like an hour or two per CD. I'm not sure how long, but I set Getright to download the whole shebang (plus Red Hat and some others too) and came back the next day, and it was done. (I burned the CDs on an old 12x CDR I installed for them.)


Cheapbytes

This place has the 3 Mandrake 9.2 CDs for $7 +$5 shipped. Also Pink Tie (Red Hat.) And some others. If you are cheaper than that, check out the closeouts. I have bought from this place, and they are on the up and up. Remember these are the unsupported versions, regardless of what the CDs contain.


AlmostFreeLinux.com

Another cheap place. I never actually ordered from them. They have tons of distros, and seem to be cheaper. They sent me an ad a couple of weeks ago for preordering Mandrake 9.2 or Red Hat 10 ($6 +$3) at a 15% discount.


Nice site about Linux distributions

 

[KF]

>Also should I partition/format prior to installing linux w/ a 98 boot disk?

I believe Mandrake and Red Hat will offer to wipe the HD if you choose. If not, then I see you already know what to do.

If your computer oldie can't boot from a CD, put the first CD of these distros in a Windows computer, and they will offer to make you a linux boot floppy to start the install with (as I recall.)

 

[MedicBob]

Check out Knoppix. It doesn't require you to install anything, just boot from the cd you create.

Knoppix

You can install it to HDD, but I use it just on the CD. If you break something reboot the computer and everything is back to what it was at 1st.

 

[Matt84]

Mandrake may be an option with the IceWM (Light Weight window manager) but a 233MHz K6 will struggle with Gnome or KDE. You will also need to bump your RAM up to around 64MB to get it to work with XFree86, and then 128MB to do anything really useable.

You might want to try Vector Linux. It has a small footprint. But either way you will need a RAM upgrade to use Linux with a GUI

 

[NuclearFusi0n]

Debian.

Use X if you want, with nothing heavier than something like kahakai.
If you can set up distcc with a faster box, Gentoo might be nice.

 

[Kadarin]

Judging from some of the Slashdot commentary lately, you might want to stick with Mandrake 9.1 and avoid 9.2...

 

[drag]

Just try one out.

Redhat, SuSE, or Mandrake try to make it as easy as possible. And are actually in some ways easier to install then windows.

It's not that big of a deal. If you are familar with your hardware and considure yourself computer savy and can handle a command line then go and try debian, slackware, or Gentoo.

THose are the major ones. And their are dozens others.

Hopefully it will go smooth and you won't have any issues. Occasionally you can run into issues with your first install, but it's nothing you can't handle.

 

[lowtech1]

I belive that Knoppix require 128 megs of ram, while Damn Small & Morphix Light GUI Linux requirement is 32 megs.

At 32 megs of ram you are not going to get the main Linux distros with KDE/Gnome to load.

Try the LiveCDs distros that I mention above & once you are comfortable with Linux, then try HDD install....or any of your favorite distro with no GUI or a light weigtht windows manager.

 

[NuclearFusi0n]

Originally posted by: MedicBob
Check out Knoppix. It doesn't require you to install anything, just boot from the cd you create.

Knoppix

You can install it to HDD, but I use it just on the CD. If you break something reboot the computer and everything is back to what it was at 1st.

AMD k6 233 w/ 32MB RAM

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no.

 

[Corsairpro]

I was under the impression that linux worked well on low end systems... heck, WIN98 requirements are a 486 w/ 16MB, anyway, I downloaded an ISO of a mandrake 9.1 cd... so I'll burn that and guess we'll see how it goes. Wish me luck.

 

[NuclearFusi0n]

Originally posted by: Corsairpro
I was under the impression that linux worked well on low end systems... heck, WIN98 requirements are a 486 w/ 16MB, anyway, I downloaded an ISO of a mandrake 9.1 cd... so I'll burn that and guess we'll see how it goes. Wish me luck.

Linux? Yes.
X? perhaps.
KDE? HELL NO.

Linux is all about scalability.

 

[Matt84]

Linux is just the kernel - command line interface and has very modest system requirements. I think it can still run on a 386 machine class.

X is not too resource hungary. X should still run on a late Pentium or early Pentium 2 class machine.

The Window manager on the other hand is a totally different story. KDE and Gnome require some CPU power with a ton of ram. KDE 2 used to run ok on my old P200MMX with 64MB ram but KDE 3.x is slow even on my old P3 733 with 128MB RAM (now has 256 and runs KDE 3 fine). Look for lighter window managers like XFce or IceWM. These should work fine but I can't guarantee that on a 32MB system.

 

[Mitzi]

I'm running Knoppix 3 on an old Celeron 300 with 640Mb of RAM and an old ATi Rage card...runs great though I assume thats down to all the RAM in the machine.

My suggestion: upgrade the RAM, should be a very cheap upgrade.

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

I'd probably run Openbox on it, but I'm not sure what you're gonna do about a browser.. mozilla was slow as hell on my 233 with 256MB ram.

 

[sciencewhiz]

Remember, XP won't run well on that machine either. If you try any modern distro's default setup, it's going to be slow.

You have two choices, then. You can either choose an older distro, or you can choose a newer distro, and do some configuring to use less resource intensive programs.

 

[eklass]

Originally posted by: Corsairpro
I was under the impression that linux worked well on low end systems... heck, WIN98 requirements are a 486 w/ 16MB, anyway, I downloaded an ISO of a mandrake 9.1 cd... so I'll burn that and guess we'll see how it goes. Wish me luck.

i'm gonna have to go ahead and say you're gonna have trouble running some spiffy window manager

that said, i'm using mandrake 9.2 and it's damn fine. redhat also sets up nicely. i hear that people love gentoo also, although i never have tried it. in any case, i would still give installation and setup a shot

oh yeah, and i suppose we'll see ya back here when you start having problems installing programs or something <g>