Linux for an old pc

Whether you are using Linux on the desktop or as a server, it's still good that you're using Linux. Linux related questions go here.

Moderator: General Moderators

Post Reply
Vicious
Forum Contributor
Posts: 105
Joined: Fri Jun 20, 2003 12:40 pm

Linux for an old pc

Post by Vicious »

Hey can anyone tell me Im a newbie with linux and have no clue what to do. So the easier the better. Its for a 1 gb hard drive. pc 100 and 40 mb ram so it would have to go back a bit. I just want to get a feel for it and stuff. Thanks alot.
hedge
Forum Contributor
Posts: 234
Joined: Fri Aug 30, 2002 10:19 am
Location: Calgary, AB, Canada

Post by hedge »

You should be able to install any distro, you will have to do a minimal install and will not be able to install X.

Redhat is probably the most bloated, I don't know which distro is the leanest. You could also install BSD, I have openBSD installed on my p120 with a 2g drive.
User avatar
m3mn0n
PHP Evangelist
Posts: 3548
Joined: Tue Aug 13, 2002 3:35 pm
Location: Calgary, Canada

Post by m3mn0n »

To get a real 'feel' for it as a desktop OS you'd should have a GUI installed...unless your a real DOS/command line type of guy. ;)

I've yet to find a distro that can support a laptop I got, that has 1.4gig hd and 16 mb ram, and also allow me to use X or KDE.
Vicious
Forum Contributor
Posts: 105
Joined: Fri Jun 20, 2003 12:40 pm

Post by Vicious »

I dont know dos one bit lol.
jason
Site Admin
Posts: 1767
Joined: Thu Apr 18, 2002 3:14 pm
Location: Montreal, CA
Contact:

Post by jason »

Vicious: Install Fedora. http://fedora.redhat.com

It's got a graphical install, and should provide a small installation, and it should be an easy installation (most important).
User avatar
Pyrite
Forum Regular
Posts: 769
Joined: Tue Sep 23, 2003 11:07 pm
Location: The Republic of Texas
Contact:

Post by Pyrite »

hedge wrote:... and will not be able to install X.
Are you on crack???

XFree86 only takes up about 100 megs. Even then, if you know where you're doing you can get it down to 16 or so.

But most newbs use Mandrake or Redhat (Fedora as its called now). There are some distros made for small HD's too.

But my best advice to to download the ISO for Knoppix (google it for the site url). This will let you run linux on your PC without installing it onto your HD. It is a bootable CD, packed full of software and GUI's. Plus there is no risk.
Post Reply