My brother's HD crashed (absolutely unrecoverable). All he used w98se for was internet access (Yahoo mail, etc.)

Is there a distro that will run on a system with NO HD at all?

AMD k-6, 350MHz, 192MB RAM, CD Rom, nothing fancy on video, no sound, LAN card connected to my router and the Net via DSL.

Tried Puppy and DSL, but both hang, expecting something from the HD, which is still connected. Should I just disconnect it when they run? Puppy wants to create a 256 MB file to save preferences. Will it run with no HD at all?

I thought Puppy might work because it can run completely in RAM, therefore fast.

Hope this is the best place for this question. If not, please point me.

Thanks.

Tim

Im pretty sure DSL will run with no Hard Drive.

Your best bet is probably the tried and true KNOPPIX. On that system I'd probably boot: knoppix desktop=fluxbox

Default of KDE may be a little much for that system.

One other thought is to use a CF card in an IDE adapter. Distros like Damm Small Linux can be purchased already installed on CF card. This way you can have a no-moving-parts hard drive which you can write user data to.

Not familiar with a "CF card." What is that?

Thanks to all who responded.

Tim

Knoppix doesnt need an HD? But im quite sure you need at least 256mb of ram.

CF stands for Compact Flash - it is a miniaturized version of the PCMCIA form factor used in many professional cameras and some higher-end consumer cameras. It is also the form factor prevalent in higher-end PocketPCs to enable the use of Microdrives.

http://www.compactflash.org/

. . . and contrary to some people's claims, Compact Flash is far from dead.