linux for old pcs

[Flintwheel]

This is a very newbie question, but I am building a new computer out of old parts that I have laying around and, this is kinda a because I allways wanted to project. It'll be running a Pentium MMX at 200MHz with (at the moment) 32meg of ram, soon to be upgraded to 192meg. I will be using a 2GB compact flash for the boot drive (no virtuial memory), a laptop cdrom, and the whole lot will work from +5VDC and +2.8VDC (cpu core) from a liner power supply. (before anyone suggests that i buy a new computer... I wont listen to you.). I have the hardware design sorted, but im not really sure which os(s) to put on it. I was planning on 98SE for running games, I have a 8meg cf card which i plan to put dos onto, and i was thinking linux for web browsing. so my question is: which linux disrobution would work the best on this system, or am i better off putting togther my own distro?
Thanks in advance for help with my nutty project!

[oz]

Hello and welcome aboard!

You can check the following poll for some suggestions that might work well on your machine:

http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/cof...re-2011-a.html

[MASONTX]

Welcome to the forum. Good luck with your project, but those are some pretty minimal specs. Try Puppy linux, it usually works well with low spec machines, but I'm not sure that low. You might have to use an earlier version such as Puppy 4.1 instead of 5.2. You can go to distrowatch.com and search for older computer distro's and it will suggest some distro's for older hardware.

[glene77is]

This is a very newbie question, but I am building a new computer out of old parts that I have laying around and, this is kinda a because I allways wanted to project. It'll be running a Pentium MMX at 200MHz with (at the moment) 32meg of ram, soon to be upgraded to 192meg. I will be using a 2GB compact flash for the boot drive (no virtuial memory), a laptop cdrom, and the whole lot will work from +5VDC and +2.8VDC (cpu core) from a liner power supply. (before anyone suggests that i buy a new computer... I wont listen to you.). I have the hardware design sorted, but im not really sure which os(s) to put on it. I was planning on 98SE for running games, I have a 8meg cf card which i plan to put dos onto, and i was thinking linux for web browsing. so my question is: which linux disrobution would work the best on this system, or am i better off putting togther my own distro?
Thanks in advance for help with my nutty project!

Flint,
Welcome to the Linux Forums.
I am running TinyCore Linux,
in 10 Megabytes of RAM,
with 350 MegaBytes of HD space for applications
(such as FireFox web browswer, OpenOffice word processor, GIMP graphics editor, Audacity audio editor, Geany editor.).

I have also installed Puppy Linux which runs
in 128 MegaBytes of RAM,
with 500 Megabytes of HD space for applications
(such as the same list).

Interested ?
Search for these distro names in this forum, or Google for the inet URL of their home sites. TinyCore is small on support, but Puppy has a huge support base. Both have an inet forum.
Both made to run very well if using a Live-CD.
Both can be frugally installed to a HD.
Both can dual boot with other distros.
My system has five Linux distros controlled by grub4dos.

glene77is

[trung]

Hi! Your problem is the same to me, my computer is even worse than you. What is the most suitalbe distro for me?

[oz]

Hi! Your problem is the same to me, my computer is even worse than you. What is the most suitalbe distro for me?

Hello and welcome aboard!

Try using Puppy or one of the others from the link in post #2 above. If that doesn't work, download and try another. That's the best way to find the one most suitable for you and your hardware. Good luck to you.

[Jeff12518]

DSL works for me

[jayd512]

DSL works for me

I love DSL.
But it's no longer maintained. So, unless you do a full install and treat it as a minimal Debian install, you're gonna be up the creek if you want any type of modern software or updates.

In which case, you might be better off with a minimal Debian installation.

[MikeTbob]

I know it's not a distro in the normal sense but Parted Magic is pretty friggin awesome. It'd be fantastic if it had an updater and a "full install" method. It's meant to be run from USB stick or CD/DVD but I sure do love having it around for many reasons, including booting some older machines to "check them out"
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?dis...on=partedmagic

[glene77is]

Mike Tbob
I have installed Parted-Magic to USB, and Hard-Drive on several systems.

URL = http:// partedmagic . com
Click here: frugal_install

################################################## ###########################

1) Copy the “pmagic” folder from the CD to the the ”/boot” folder of any partition on your computer.
It can be any file system supported by the Linux Kernel, including NTFS or FAT16/32.

2) Set-up GRUB to boot the kernel and initramfs almost exactly like you would any other distribution.

Example (Grub”1”):

title PartedMagic

root (hd0,0)

kernel /boot/pmagic/bzImage root=/dev/sdXX directory=boot edd=off load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=0 rw loglevel=9 max_loop=256

initrd /boot/pmagic/initramfs



For Ubuntu and it's derivatives, add something like the following to /etc/grub.d/40_custom (Grub2):

menuentry "PartedMagic"
{
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
gfxpayload=1024x768x16,1024x768
set root='(hd0,msdos1)'

linux /boot/pmagic/bzImage root=/dev/sdXX directory=boot edd=off load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=0 rw loglevel=9 max_loop=256

initrd /boot/pmagic/initramfs
}

Then run:

sudo update-grub

root=/dev/sdXX

Starting with PartedMagic 6.2 the search for the pmagic-<version>.sqfs file will begin with the removable devices, unless a device/partition (root=/dev/sdXX), label (label=XXXXXXXX) or partial uuid (uuid=XXXXXX) is stated. Without such a kernel boot parameter a 10 seconds delay will occur.

directory=/boot

Previous versions of this document said to copy the “pmagic” folder to ”/”. This carried the risk of a subsequent run of PartedMagic from a CD or a USB stick to find the pmagic-<version>.sqfs file on the disk instead of the on the media - something you would not want in the majority of cases.
Starting with PartedMagic 6.2 the risk is inverted: a subsequent run of PartedMagic from the disk might find the pmagic-<version>.sqfs file on the media.
The solution in both cases is to “hide” the “pmagic” folder in e.g. the ”/boot” folder.

################################################## ###########################




### On an XP sys, I placed it at C:/pmagic
### Both Grub4dos and Grub2 work OK.


### On the XP sys, with XP & Tiny-Core & Parted-Magic & Ubuntu & Puppy525 (CD) frugal, my grub2 call is:

menuentry "---< P-M >--- PartedMagic at C:/pmagic ---------------"
{
insmod ntfs
set root='(hd0,1)'
linux /pmagic/bzImage noapic load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=0 rw sleep=10 loglevel=0 keymap=us
initrd /pmagic/initramfs
}

### On the Tiny-Core USB pendrive-stick, with TCL & Parted-Magic, the Grub4dos call is:

### calls to the USB local install /pmagic.
title ==={ Parted-Magic USB-TC =find(TC-MARK), kernel, initrd }--- \n (sda0/pmagic in RAM)
find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /TC-MARK
kernel /pmagic/bzImage noapic load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=0 rw vga=791 sleep=10 loglevel=0 keymap=us
initrd /pmagic/initramfs

### calls to the HardDrive frugal install, at C:/pmagic.
title ==={ Parted-Magic M$-XP =find(WX-MARK), kernel, initrd }--- \n (HD 1,1)/pmagic in RAM)
find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /WX-MARK
kernel /pmagic/bzImage noapic load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=0 rw vga=791 sleep=10 loglevel=0 keymap=us
initrd /pmagic/initramfs

### On the Puppy_LUPU USB pendrive-stick, with TinyCore & Pmagic, the grub4dos call is:

### calls to the USB local install /pmagic.
title ==={ Parted-Magic =(root(hd0,0), kernel, initrd) RAM hd0,0 }===
root (hd0,0)
kernel /pmagic/bzImage noapic load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=0 rw vga=791 sleep=10 loglevel=0 keymap=us
initrd /pmagic/initramfs

### calls to the HardDrive frugal install, at C:/pmagic.
title ==={ Parted-Magic M$-XP =find(WX-MARK), kernel, initrd }--- \n (HD 1,1)/pmagic in RAM)
find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /WX-MARK
kernel /pmagic/bzImage noapic load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=0 rw vga=791 sleep=10 loglevel=0 keymap=us
initrd /pmagic/initramfs

### On the Dell Hard-Drive system, with Puppy-Lupu, Puppy-Lighthouse, Tiny-Core, Ubuntu, Parted-Magic, the call is :

title ==={ P.M }=== Parted Magic --- }===\n ---{ find(/pmagic/bzImage) }---
### root (hd0,0)
find --set-root --ignore-floppies /pmagic/bzImage
kernel /pmagic/bzImage noapic load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=0 rw vga=791 loglevel=0 keymap=us
initrd /pmagic/initramfs

################################################## #########################
It is great to have gParted, PCMan filer, FireFox, running securely.
I would like to embed the Libre-Office squash file into the Parted-Magic ISO
(If that is compatible with the Parted-Magic approach), would be a well-rounded Distro.

glene77is