Posted: 4/7/2007 6:09:27 PM EDT
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Hello - I am looking for a version of Linux that will run on about 4GB of hard drive space and 64 meg of ram. I can't remember the processor type now, but I can run over and look. I am more or less looking for something to toy around with until I can get the machine rebuilt into something modern. I was thinking of something like Debian? I like KDE and GNOME for the desktop environments. I know the hardware isn't much, but I thought I heard of something that was more for older hardware, but I can't remember. |
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slackware is known to work good on old hardware. if you like debian, try it first (they are pretty slow about updating, so they may still work) - you may have to use a 2.4 Kernel if it's really old hardware. if KDE is too slow, you may try something like fluxbox. eta: with 64 M of ram, it should install fine, but if you get a hangup, try the text-mode installation (that's assuming debian uses a graphical installation these days - i haven't installed it in years). |
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+1 on slackware check out knoppix too. you can run quite a few distros "live" before you install it on your hdd. www.frozentech.com/content/livecd.php |
I have run Knoppix on it, but it is slow as dirt, but I think it is the drive that it is running on. |
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Damn Small Linux (based on Debian) "DSL Not" is excellent as well, its a "bulked up" version of DSL but is still under 150mb to download. |
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This is going to sound like a PITA but it's really not that awful. Do a custom gentoo install. Strip out all the drivers you don't need (especially USB and SCSI) and build a monolithic kernel. Don't use ALSA for sound if you can avoid it. Then go through X and strip out all the video drivers you dont need and compile it with all the depends for whatever window manager you plan to use. (Fluxbox is not bad - WindowMaker is ok too) Forget about K or Gnome (Bloated beyond hope of ever being speedy on that sort of system) You will also want to ditch OGL. This sort of install is going to really hurt the apps you can run but it will run dang fast. |
Thanks for the offer. I am just trying to see what I could get to run on it before I redo the entire thing. This is more to see how far I can push not much. Hopefully in a few weeks the stuff I ordered will be in and I can scrap the entire install on this one.  BTW, I am downloading freeBSD to see how that works out. 92% done with the download now (for both disks). |
It's not enough patience in the world to run KDE/GNOME on a computer with 64 MiB ram. I have some EDO ram lying around if you need it... |
Meh. If it were mine, I'd just do a bare bones Fedora install and use it for utilitarian tasks like mail, DNS, web, routing...things like that. Why Fedora? I've got the CD's handy, and I use it all the time. No particular reason.  Really, just about any stripped down distro will do. Forget running Gnome or KDE on it, unless you like punishment. |
You need 128 MiB ram for a text-based installation of Fedora 5. 64 MiB is way too little in my opinion to run a webserver and router, BitTorrent will easily allocate all available physical memory due to the high amount of peers. |