I have a pretty old Dell notebook (PII 400, 128MB RAM) that has no hard drive, along with an Atheros-based wifi PCMCIA card, a 2 GB pendrive for swapspace (it can't boot to USB), and no DVD (CD only). I want to use it as a machine for downloading and seeding torrents and nothing else. I refuse to put any money into it.

My idea is to boot a live CD that includes a bittorrent client and has a recent enough kernel to include Ath5k. All I need to do is connect it to my network, mount the network share where I keep the torrents, configure the client, and let it go. Remote access would also be nice, but wouldn't be a deal-breaker.

The problem is that it is so old that it can't run many live distros. I've also found that some current live CD's crash the X server on its NeoMagic video chipset (I found it documented in a few distros' bugzillas). Here's what I have tried so far, along with the result:

• ZenWalk 6.0.1 - Kind of top heavy for the hardware, and video was buggy. Gave up on it when it kept dropping back to the login when I tried to open a terminal to mount the network share.
• MicroKnoppix 6.2 - Ran well, but no bittorrent client and no package manager to add one.
• Puppy 5.0.1 - The indluded bittorent client is meant for occasional use, not round the clock.
• DSL - no bt client and no package manager (that I saw)
• Vector Lite 6.0 - Worked well, but I had to manually install Deluge. It also hung after a couple of hours of operation.
• Feather 0.7.5 - Ran AWESOME, but the kernel was only 2.4.x (no Ath5K) and no bittorrent client or package manager.
• Jolicloud 1.0 - GUI never started.
• Ubuntu 10.04 - Too top heavy; unusably slow on my hardware.
• OpenSuse 11.3 Live CD - crashed the X server on my NeoMagic chipset. Probably too top heavy, anyway.
• gOS 3.1 - GUI never started

So what I need is a super-lightweight live distro (like feather) with a fairly recent kernel (for my wireless NIC) and preferably an included bittorrent client so I don't have to install one.

Can anyone suggest one besides the ones I have already tried, or offer ideas on the ones I have tried?

TIA,

J

Might want to look at http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=56156


Edit: durn. You can't boot a pendrive. On my older IBM a22 Lappy I have

http://www.puppylinux.org/wikka/TeenPup

You can run off CD and save changes (not much) to cd or Pendrive also.

I forgot to include puppy in my list above. It ran well enough, but the included bittorrent client is crud. I'll take a look at fluppy.

Smaller still is http://tinycorelinux.com/ but you will have to install to something and build up on it (install torrent).

http://www.slitaz.org/en/ might be worth looking at also.

For a Slackware neat way to build a live cd

http://custom.nimblex.net/

I have used the older version of custom nimblex and was quite pleased with it on old hardware. You have the option of pretty much installing what you want on live iso including wireless support also.

If you're having that much trouble finding a working distribution, and you happen to be running a Debian based machine elsewhere, you might want to invest some time in Debian Live.

Ultimately you could build a live cd with a custom kernel for your hardware, no X server, auto-login and auto-launching of a suitable torrent application.

Might take a bit more effort than an off the self Live CD but worth it.

128mb is plenty of RAM to run a command line system (no GUI).

Here is a great how-to on setting up a command line torrent slave:

http://kmandla.wordpress.com/2008/08...t-slave-setup/

Lots of old hardware how-tos on that site, so take a look around.

Fluppy does come in a bootable iso and worked every bit as good as puppy, only it includes Transmission. Transmission isn't the best, but it works great for my purposes.

Thanks for all the comments!

J

Stop spamming!!! Reported!

Is this for real? Some netkop tried to hijack my thread 2 weeks after I finished it?

Stop netkopping!!! Taunted!

Try Austrumi Linux distro btw Ubuntu needs swap on older computers otherwise it will just.."hang up".

any1 here know where i can download driver for my laptop..i just install ubuntu in my laptop and i dont hve any idea how to make my laptop connect to the wireless internet. The model is Compact Presario CQ40 - 505 LA. Which driver need????

Please don't hijack a solved thread. You'll get far more responses starting your own thread.

Hi,

I'll bring this to some perspective. EricTra reported the post by mabobo dated 08-20-10 as spam. You are complaining about a report that was made 11 months ago. Nothing to do with you other than you are the OP of this thread. So do not attack other LQ members and please refrain your attacks. No one was being a netkop by reporting a spam post by another member. Report was not directed at you!

You did agree to abide by the LQ Rules. So please re-read LQ Rules to refresh your understanding of the rules. If you have any questions then contact admin, other mods or myself. We will be happy to help you.

BTW, I suggest that you look at the thread/post dates in the future before responding.