Help Choosing Linux Distro

[g0bl1n]

I have an old, old laptop. Its a Twinhead Slimnote-875cx, with these specs:
-75 mHz
-16 mb ram
-867 mb hdd
- Has a floppy only, however I have been using another computer to install Linux on the hdd and then putting it in the laptop.

I haven't found a distro that works yet. Damn Small Linux boots, however it won't go past the screen with the mouse that's x'ed out. I have tried Puppy Linux, that doesn't even want to work at all for some reason. I was going to try Kubuntu, but it is too big for the small hdd. Fedora is also too big.

So my question is:
What linux distro would you recommend for the specs above. I am into networking, so server apps would be nice! I haven't really done anything with Linux, so I just wanted to play around with it. I consider myself, highly skilled in computers...to a point. But I prefer not to do any work...I'm lazy... So mostly if it has a simple app to start an install from a LiveCD to a hdd, I'm happy...

Thanks for the forums!

[arochester]

Have a look at "Mini Linux" in Wikipedia at Mini Linux - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ... but with only 16mb ofRam and 867mb hard disk you might be looking at a door stop...

[GNU-Fan]

If you like networking, make sure you also visit our BSD neighbors.
For example the well tried NetBSD:

>>The minimal configuration for a NetBSD/i386 system requires 4M of RAM and about 40M of disk space. For a full installation (including source and X11), at least 8M of RAM and 200M of disk space are recommended.<<

[g0bl1n]

SO I just got done trying:
DeLi 0.8.0
Slax Server 5.1.8.1
Slitaz 1.0
Basic Linux


-DeLi gives me a grub error 15, which I cannot fix.
-Slax Server requires too much ram.
-Slitaz seems to start, but after loading the first 2 .gz files it freezes.
-Basic Linux works perfectly...but only boots from floppies...and doesn't have a lot of networking things.

I shall try NetBSD next I suppose, someone told me to try Arch Linux as well. But I don't know which file to download for NetBSD, could someone tell me which one to download?

[jayd512]

Here ya go.
<Bsd> - Google Search

[g0bl1n]

Err...but which one from this page?
NetBSD BitTorrents

[jayd512]

BSD is a little different than Linux in the regards that each one of those is a different kernel option. So you're gonna have to do a little homework on your system and hardware. For example, I noticed that your specs that you posted are from a pretty old box. This one, # NetBSD-4.0/i386, might work for you, but to be honest I can;t promise that. Use Google's BSD engine to really bone up on specific info on it.

<Bsd> - Google Search

[g0bl1n]

So NetBSD is acting quirky...well for me. When I startx and try to login as root it says that its incorrect. Even though I know its right...since its a simple password. And the background and mouse of the gui doesn't change from the X and the black and whit background. Is this the gui or have I done something wrong???

[GNU-Fan]

This is the expected behaviour.

1. On *BSD's, not every user is allowed to become root from every terminal by default, contrary to the custom on GNU/Linux systems.
From what I remember, the users has either to belong to a certain group (wheel?) or/and the "terminal line" from where root logins are to be granted must be mentioned explicitly in some config file.

2. Your x server has started correctly. Never seen before this lovely black-white pattern? You need to install and start the window manager of your choice if you don't like it. Or tell the start script you want it to open an xterm when the video system is brought up.