Hi,

I've got a PII 400 machine that I want to put Linux on. I am rather keen on using SUSE or Redhat(Fedora). And I would like to install the bare minimum i.e. essentials only (although would be nice to run X11 but i'm equally happy with command prompt) so that I can get a decent performance from this aging machine.

Should I choose an older version like redhat 6.2 but patch the kernel to the latest version etc. Or just go along with Redora Core2? I've heard that the newer versions of GUI like KDE/GNOME is quite mem/CPU intensive so it may run really slowly on a PII 400.

Please give me some advice or just simply point me to a URL and I'll follow it up.


Mnay thanks

chrno

Please keep in mind, I am a newbie (~10 months on linux) and this is only my opinion...

I would go with Fedora Core 1. I installed this on a dell latitude Cpi (266Mhz) WITH the GUI, and it ran well. The GUI option kind of depends on your RAM, the Cpi had 256M so it was okay. If you've only got 128, you can try it, but it may be a bit sluggish...

Personally, I'd wait on FC2. I just upgraded, only to find out there';s still some kinks to be worked out. Go with FC1, and wait until FC2 is in a little better shape.

Good luck!

well if you have to go GUI I would probably stick with a lightweight WM likc XFCE, fvwm, blackbox, or fluxbox (and lets not forget Afterstep). Gnome / KDE are certainly not the end all / be all of WM.

Also it would probably be helpful to get good video hardware so that you can reduce the memory footprint and cpu needs of the x server.

Without X you still have curses (ncurses?) and such so it certainly isn't necessary. Is the machine to be a client type box or are you looking to create a router / print server / file server / ... ?

** edit **
I know you specified FC and Suse but given that it's old hardware you may want to look at more tailorable distros such as debian, gentoo, or LFS. Just my $0.02.