Wants LINUX on an old PC

[Inquiring-old]

I want to put LINUX on an old P2 350Mhz Intel CPU with 64Mb RAM rig. Is there any Linux version that is supported by this hardware?
I havent ever installed Linux before and want a simple easy install and a low cost or free version of Linux that is self explanatory. If the install works out well then would Linux be able to allow me to connect to the Net with my DSL? How would I know what other apps work in that Linux environment?

Thank you.

 

[drag]

Try Vector Linux, it's something that is setup specificly to run on older hardware. Otherwise Debian will run well, but the install is a bit jarring.

Read the Vector linux install docs and you should be fine.

Minimal requirements are 166mhz with 32megs of RAM, recommended is 233 and 64megs of RAM.

For performance upgrade Linux will respond best to more ram. So if you can get some cheap or something, it would be worth getting.

vector Linux

It uses minimalist versions of programs when possible so a lot of functionality is going to be missing compared to what you'd get with a full-fledged linux desktop, but what there is what you need to get the job done.

IceWM is going to provide the most windows-like GUI, but fluxbox and especially XFCE are worth trying out as far as guis go.

 

[uOpt]

This is really a big enough machine for any distribution. The hardware requirement for the base Unix system didn't really raise since a PPRO 200 was king of the hill.

Just select that you don't run KDE or GNOME when logging in, use something lightweight on the desktop.

Mozilla/firefox will probably be unenjoyable, you might try a lighter browser. And don't use the firefox from Fedora.

Openoffice is out, too, but there are more leightweight solutions to read MS word and Excel documents if you need that.

 

[walkure]

I was thinking about taking an old PC (um... the one I'm typing on) and turning it into a Linux experimental box as soon as I build my new system. I might like to use it to handle very light website serving needs (put together a php/mysql setup, run Gallery on the site, photo albums, etc). Oh, I'd probably use a dynamic DNS service for the addressing (www.dyndns.org, et al).

Feasible?

 

[cbrookerd]

fedora seems to be pretty easy to use for me......i installed it on a system and am running my teamspeak server and ftp server on it now.......it's really pretty self explanatory.....i think you'll be fine running most distro's on that hardware......i've ran mandrake 9 on a system similar to what you have and ran reasonably well, especially if you're just wanting to learn more about linux

 

[Randabis]

Ubuntu might run well on it as long as you use a lightweight gui, no gnome. If it had more memory you'd be able to run gnome though.

I run it on a 450 mhz pentium 3 with 224 MB of ram and a 6 gig hard drive (laptop) and it does very well with gnome and other goodies.

 

[drag]

Originally posted by: walkure
I was thinking about taking an old PC (um... the one I'm typing on) and turning it into a Linux experimental box as soon as I build my new system. I might like to use it to handle very light website serving needs (put together a php/mysql setup, run Gallery on the site, photo albums, etc). Oh, I'd probably use a dynamic DNS service for the addressing (www.dyndns.org, et al).

Feasible?

Sure sure.

Server stuff does not require nearly as powerfull computer as desktop usage. If you go with no GUI (or at least turn it off when your not using it) you can run a full-fledged server easily on a 200mhz machine. Even a 486 is perfectly acceptable, if you have enough ram.

 

[walkure]

Originally posted by: drag

Originally posted by: walkure
I was thinking about taking an old PC (um... the one I'm typing on) and turning it into a Linux experimental box as soon as I build my new system. I might like to use it to handle very light website serving needs (put together a php/mysql setup, run Gallery on the site, photo albums, etc). Oh, I'd probably use a dynamic DNS service for the addressing (www.dyndns.org, et al).

Feasible?

Sure sure.

Server stuff does not require nearly as powerfull computer as desktop usage. If you go with no GUI (or at least turn it off when your not using it) you can run a full-fledged server easily on a 200mhz machine. Even a 486 is perfectly acceptable, if you have enough ram.

Cool cool, thanks. I'm looking forward to learning Linux. I want to be able to do everything on the command line anyway, since that seems to be a standard skill mentioned in many job ads that I see (CS major here, so I have no excuse NOT to learn that stuff, right?).

 

[drag]

The GUI configuration tools are a nice convienence for doing stuff, but depending on them to much is a bad idea.

 

[cmv]

Originally posted by: MartinCracauer
This is really a big enough machine for any distribution. The hardware requirement for the base Unix system didn't really raise since a PPRO 200 was king of the hill.

Just select that you don't run KDE or GNOME when logging in, use something lightweight on the desktop.

Mozilla/firefox will probably be unenjoyable, you might try a lighter browser. And don't use the firefox from Fedora.

Openoffice is out, too, but there are more leightweight solutions to read MS word and Excel documents if you need that.

Sure, it'll work but if you're a desktop user, it'll suck. I've been using Linux for a *long* time. The days of recommending running it on shoddy equipment are over for me. Run it right or forget it. If you're doing non-GUI stuff than this does not apply to you.

Perhaps the OP should try Knoppix on their current desktop? It's a bootable CD and it isn't installed to your hard drive. It boots right into the desktop and will let you see if your hardware is compatible (for the most part -- some stuff is compatible but not setup in Knoppix yet) and get a feel for what Linux is like.