What distro? and will it work?

[spoc]

hey people.
i know this q's been asked before so im gonna just ask it.
my computer is a:
pentium 1 200mhz,
32 meg edo ram
ibm ide 342 meg hdd ( windows says its only 327 meg tho...)
creative 6x cdrom (doesnt read cd-rs)
and a ibm mwave mdsp2780 modem with sound (modem and sound on one card)

now i wanna look and get linux.but i hav to get an official cd.
the modem i have is quite old (33.6) and needs drivers to use.
heres me questions.
1: will this modem work? cos i hav another spare but its also old.
2: what would be a good distro for this machine, cos i kno the new ones would go pretty slow on it...
cheers.

[bpark]

Well, with those specs, you will not be able to run GUI. I'm not sure about other distros but the bare minimum for Debian is 12MB memory and 110MB of hard disk space. You can find more info at: http://www.debian.org/releases/stabl...re-req.en.html.

I hear that gentoo is customizable and that might offer better solutions to your problem.

[spoc]

yeh well, with any of the distroes, will the modem work ( cos even windows has trouble with it ).cos i want this thing to be internet capable.
plus what about old distros, like an old mandrake.cos being a beginner i really do need gui to start off with

[bpark]

Check out the hardware pages at www.debian.org. I'm feeling skeptical about it since it's a modem + sound card.

[Dillinger]

I did some searches through some large forums and on google and there are no drivers for your particular modem. Even if there were I don't think you'd find official cd's old enough that would have it. I'm sorry to say but your chances of installing Linux on that box and being able to use that modem are slim to none. What is the other modem you said you have to spare? My only other suggestion is to buy a new card that you can make sure there is support for on an official cd that you can purchace.

[hasan]

hey spoc

i had one hell of a time with debian .... [ installing on Compaq 750 Mhz AMD Duron, ATI Rage 128 Pro Ultra, and on board AC'97 audio chip ]

the debian was not able to fire up my video card using the ati drivers, somehow i stumbled across VESA drivers (its a generic driver)

the sound did not work

and ........ i had tough time even to configure the PS/2 mouse protocol

people say slackware linux is for geeks

noooo .... slackware was really easily to install

Learning Debian is like Walking Through HELL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i must say, i dont have that much free time to waste all of it learning linux using debian

_______________

i dont understand why u want install linux on P1 with that memory

on top of that u want to run gui and sound !!!!!!!

thats not fair

i can understand using P1 if u want to make it a text-based file server or a print server

but common dont b unfair with linux, as well as with ur self ...

if u still want to use pentium 1 200 mhz ... and run gui as well

then u need at least 128 mega bytes of ram ... just to make gui roll

believe me u will still be frustrated and pissed with the gui performance using 128 megabytes of ram

with pentium 4 blazing at 3 gigahertz speed for as low as 600-800 dollars

i am sure u can get ur hands on pentium 4 1.4 ghz for as low as 300-400 dollars

or ....... Pentium 3 ( 700 mhz to 1 ghz ) for only 100-175 dollars .........

or ....... u can get pentium 2 300/350 mhz for free

i'm sure if u have a friend/friends who is/are working at some IT company. they can get u pentium 2

i have a pentium 2 300Mhz at home. my friend got it for me. his company was throwing it away.

u know what? instead of wasting my time on it

i bought a 2ndary hard disk and installed it in my AMD 750 Mhz and installed linux on that one .....

u want to use that P1, u can exploit it by making it a print server or a file server or a router [u can connect as many computers through it using that many NICs], or u can make it as a internet gateway server with firewall features .....

but trying to run gui using 200mhz processor and 32 megs ram will b unfair to both linux and You.

[bpark]

I would admit tht Debian installation is different and may even be harder than other distributions but really, if I can do it, anyone can. Of course you need basic knowledge about disk partitioning and thing like that but the installation isn't too hard. Just remember to skip "taskel" during installation. Taskel is this really bad program that tries to install the most popular programs in Linux. Some people stick strictly to apt and some stick strictly to dselect. I was the first case but now that I have learned how dselect works, it seems to be much more powerful than dselect.

[spoc]

umm in answer to the 2nd modem thing, its a dynalinkv143vqh-r, thats the fcc id. its isa and runs off a rockwell chipset

and why am i running a p1 200? i bought it for 350$ a couple of years back and it was cool. this is sorta hard since i earn 25$ a fornight and am 16 at school. i use it to go online and play simcity.print server? no. i do have another puter but its a 486.

now, all i need is either basic gui OR a dos like system. iv used dos in the past and can use it basically, but prefer gui for...obvious reasons.

and another thing, im thinking of buying a demolinux disk and trying it, that a wise idea? or would that die...

thanx for ur help

[spoc]

p.s in another reply to the guy who says give linux a break, if windows 98 can run on here, why cant linux? i mean it should be able to if its got distoes that can go on 486's....especially since win95 can run on a 486 and still be able to connect to the net and run

[genlee]

I have no idea why everyone says you can't run a gui. People must realize there is more to linux then just kde and gnome I used wm on a similar mahcine(233mhz p1 64MB ram) without any problems. As for the modem, I suggest buying a hardware linksys modem. They cost around $15 and will work with linux. Your isa modem might work since I think all ISA modems were hardware based. You might want to get another hd though cause you will fill that up very quickly. Space is very cheap now, less then $1 per GB. I bet you can find some 10GB drives on ebay for a few dollars.