Smooth sailing on Cyrix 5x86

[Cyrix5x86]

I have a few basic questions that I have not been able to find satisfactory information on thus far. I will first list out my computer specs.

Specs:
1) I have a 486-class, Socket 3 UMC 8881/8886 Chipset Mainboard with a Cyrix 5x86-120 Mhz cpu @ 40 Mhz FSB (The Cyrix 5x86's is not strictly a 486 as it's architecture contained some next gen. 6x86 instructions.
2) 16KB L1 Cache, and 512KB L2 Cache (15ns)
3) 256 MB FPM RAM (60ns)
4) 16 MB PCI Matrox G200 Graphics Card @ 1280x1024
5) Adaptec Ultra Wide 2 PCI SCSI card (80 MB/S) w/70 GB U160 hard drive & SCSI narrow DVD-ROM
6) 3COM PCI 10/100 network card, PCI USB 2.0 w/PS/2 keyboard/mouse ports, ISA AWE 64 Gold sound card

Performance Notes:
Given that the hard drive will not draw much cpu power (as compared with an IDE), and the ram is quite large, the bottleneck on this system is largely due to cpu performance. NT4 runs fast, W2K runs acceptably, but not nearly as fast as NT4. The "low-end specs" I have been finding for Linux recomendations on a 486 are for computers with less than 32 MB ram and in console mode. Even the modern "low-end spec" distros today require a P166 except for Debian and FreeBSD. I can get DSL LiveCD working through the USB keychain but it runs much slower than even W2K. At one point I had Debian 3.0 ("woody") running on this with KDE, but the video was a pain to get working and I could never get audio to function. I am still very inexperienced with *nix and I do not want all the applications that came installed with KDE.

Questions:
1) As I do not intend to change the hardware, is it possible to build or acquire a Linux kernel with support for only the hardware I desire? Which distro allows for a step-by-step custom compilation of the kernel and how difficult will this be?

2) Which retro kernel version (and on which distro) would run smoothly given the above-mentioned system specs? It would be beneficial to load much of the system into RAM considering 256MB of availability. How is this done and which kernel/distro supports this? Perhaps even some base applications can be placed into RAM at boot (i.e. Firefox, Open Office, etc.)?

3) Which distro allows for a step-by-step custom installation of every program displayed in GNOME? I don't want installed anything I will not use, including device drivers and programs. I see no point to build into the kernel drivers for a SCSI printer, for example.

4) Which retro version of GNOME or KDE would run smoothly and on which distribution? Would it suffice to install a 1999 release of Debian, for example?

5) Are security updates available for old distros/kernels? Are they really needed?

6) What other recommendations do you have to minimize resources and speed up the system?

Intentions:
Running an older computer can sometimes be like driving an old car for pleasure or as a hobby; please refrain from replies involving motherboard/cpu replacement. This system will serve as a box for learning Linux basics, *nix applications, and running an HTTP/FTP file server. I currently have the Apache HTTP server configured with Win32 and would like to transition this onto the 486.

Program Recomendations Appreciated:
The other base programs I would like to install are:
DNS, HTTP, FTP Servers, Open Office, Dictionary, Notepad, C Compiler, PDF Writer, Calculator, MP3/DVD and general media player (DVD playback probably will not function without a decoder card on a 486), The Gimp, Lightweight JPEG viewer, Lightweight graphics internet browser, Xchat IRC, File recovery software for accidentially deleted files, Disk defragmentor, iso cd image loader, CD/Diskette image creator (i.e. like WinImage), a RAR/Zipping program.

[coopstah13]

just install DSL (Damn Small Linux) its just about as light as you can get, you could make a more custom kernel

[Cyrix5x86]

I am not sure if installing DSL to the hard drive will be any different than running it from the LiveUSB pendrive. DSL already loads entirely into the RAM and as I mentioned above, "I can get DSL LiveCD working through the USB keychain but it runs much slower than even W2K."

I should further mention that DSL does not seem to support my SCSI only system as indicated when trying to boot from the SCSI CD drive.

If anyone has more detailed answers to my direct questions, it would be greatly appreciated.

[HROAdmin26]

Let's break this down...

You have a Cyrix CPU...I used to build machines (*a lot* of machines) with those back in the day. They used a "performance rating" that inflated their potential. A 120MHz Cyrix would be ~90MHz Pentium. So that's what you're working with...

Your questions:

1) Yes. Google. Linux from Scratch comes to mind. You can also do something like install Debian, re-compile a stripped down kernel, and then replace the default build.

2) "Retro kernel"? Something from 1995-96...

3) Kernel options are controlled when you compile it. As for compiling apps...you need all of the source code for dependencies which would be *a lot* for something like Gnome/KDE. And then the *time* required to compile a kernel/GUI on a 120MHz would be lllooonnnggg....

4) And if you install a 99 version of something, expect '99 level of looks, options, bugs, usability.

5) Of course security matters. If you know you have holes, keep it away from the innertubes...

6) Don't install a GUI. Use DSL or a base Debian install (no GUI) and use command line. You will learn 10X faster. (DVD playback!? Ha!)

If you install an older Linux, you will have a 2.2 or 2.4 kernel, which isn't the 2.6 kernel that most distro's use now...

I don't know what your expectations are...You are not going to get a "modern" version of a GUI running "smoothly" on a 10 year old CPU. Command line usage/apps will run "OK."

* You can't get the right answers without the right questions.

[Cyrix5x86]

Many questions have gone unanswered. Would anyone else care to take a stab at this?

[racepres]

I know that this post is getting "long in the tooth" but! I just kinda stumbled onto the fact that My DSL installation runs about close to normal If, I have a swap partition. Without swap it is painfully slow.
[100m cpu, 24m ram. ast laptop]
Conclusion w/o swap I would not use dsl, on this box.
HTH RP

[Cyrix5x86]

Thank you for the improved suggestion. For the time being, I have selected FreeBSD 7.1 as the most suitable candidate for my needs. If at some point down the road unresolvable problems arrise, I will see how a full harddrive installation of DSL w/swap works out, although I suspect my SCSI hardware is not supported by default.

When I booted from the DSL 4.4.10 CD (on my SCSI DVD-ROM), I get the following error:
"Can't find KNOPPIX file system, sorry. Dropping you to a (very limited) shell." This occurs after DSL initially loads and is probing for devices. I may need to load the driver manually through the console, but for now, I am going with FreeBSD (all device probing was at least successful).