Lightest Linux.

Here we go with the Linux questions again.

I've recently acquired a very antique computer. Something along the lines of 200mhz Intel and a 32mb of RAM. I want to get this system up and running for my parents. I was just wondering what version of linux would run on such a system. I'm not sure of the HD space capacities, but I imagine it won't be much. All I need it to do is run the internet and maybe some word processing from time to time. I'm sure all distros can do the aforementioned tasks.

So, I guess my question is, which is the lightest/smallest Linux distro with these features and not have the computer sluggishly slow?

Thanks much.

 

I'd say Puppy and DSL (Damn Small Linux) ... would be the lightest.

Puppy has been run on similar specs -> http://www.puppylinux.org/user/readarticle.php?article_id=11 ... you just need to make use of the swap to offset the memory requirement.

 

dog, you are the best.

It looks like that DSL is the lighter of the two. However, it doesn't seem this machine meets the minimum requirements for Firefox. What kind of browser would I be using?

I'll look into getting this thing off the ground. Much thanks again.

 

You can use Dillo - It's a very basic browser - I believe both distros include it

Here's a screenshot of it:

 

Hello,

I would vote for Slackware that I was able to install smoothly on machines where Mandrake could not even install (not enough memory). Besides Slackware, may be try the Fedora Core distrib.

Regards,
gkweb.

 

Ah, Dillo looks to be an interesting little browser. I assume, as far as browsing is concerned, it does everything, SSL, etc?

 

Hello there gkweb,

I combed the website for system reqs for Fedora Core, but I could not seem to find any. Slackware seems to be another possibility for me to look into. Thanks.

 

you could try xubuntu. it should be easier to setup and use then some of the others mentioned. i'm not sure about the specs though.
http://www.xubuntu.org/

BTW, DSL comes with Firefox.

 

You need to enable the plugin for SSL (it's an aphla currently - so it isn't really useable)...

change the following line in dpi/https.c
#undef ENABLE_SSL
to:
#define ENABLE_SSL ... recompile and reinstall ... it's very basic ... but useable for general browsing.

 

I found on their site:

So that's out, but thanks for the suggestion. I didn't know there was a very light ubuntu version.

Thanks dog for the links to SSL, I'll try to figure that out. My parents might be doing some online banking from time to time, so I want to make sure those things work.

 

I wouldn't use Dillo for that considering it's in alpha state ... banking sites usually require javascript too which isn't supported.

Opera may be viable - I don't see a listing for the minimum system requirements other than this -> http://www.opera.com/support/search/supsearch.dml?index=206

 

that's what i ment about not being sure of the specs. lol, i didn't really look very closely at the specs before i posted

i just asked some Linux users and they said -

 

In addition to what has been said, I will add

Vector Linux

It is a distro based off of slackware, but runs much faster.

Gentoo is also pretty fast since it has all of those compilation enhancements (it will take an insanely long time to install on your pc though since the entire os is compiled from source during install ).

If you don't like any of those, you can try ubuntu, then install fluxbox for the desktop (much faster than Xfce). Remove all of the uneccesary apps that you won't use, disable startup processes, etc.

Good luck!

Alphalutra1

 

Another vote for Slacky. I used it on a Pentuim 100 a few years ago.

My friend put linux on my Amiga 1200 - I will have to ask him what distro

 

I've decided on Slackware. I read Puppy and DSL, both would work great from the live distros, but I am too unsure how to get it to install to the HDD.

I'll look into how to get that distro to install to harddrive and let you know how I go. It seemed to be the easiest process of the small distros.

Thank you all again for the great suggestions.

 

the makers of DSL recommend you don't install it to the HDD, i can't remember why though. there's also DSL-N which came out a month or so ago. it's 1/3 bigger.

i think Slackware is abit complicated for a first distro, maybe once it's setup it will be fine, but some of the programs will have to be installed from source which will involve finding all the dependencies.

there are afew places where you can get pre-compiled binaries though and there are the package managers too - slapt-get

http://software.jaos.org/#slapt-get

there is SWareT too which i think might deal with package dependencies
http://swaret.sourceforge.net/index.php

i've never used Slackware though, but when i install my new HDD i really want to install it, but mainly because i've heard you really have to know what you are doing to use it and i want to learn more about Linux, Ubuntu is too easy!

 

You won't go wrong with that ... it's a good distro.

Best Wishes and looking forward to hearing an update.

Steve

 

Thanks for all the help guys.

I'll def keep you updated on how I go.

The problem is how to lug around this machine across town without getting hit by a car, dropping the computer, etc.

 

Slackware installed, and everything is up and running. Kinda. But it does the job fine. Thanks all.