Best Linux distro for a PC built somewhere in the 80s-90s

DavidMcCann · 07-31-2010, 03:49 PM

Here are the specs of a Gateway2000 4DX2-66 (google is your friend)
Intel i486DX2 @ 66Mhz
10MB memory

DSL needs 16MB RAM (24 recommended) for a GUI, 8MB (16 recommended) for a CLI. So, no graphical interface. Of course, you could always install FreeDOS for a real taste of the 80s!

SwiftSkii · 07-31-2010, 03:55 PM

No there is about 8GB storage. Also, the UNetBooting thing is not going to work because of 2 reasons...

1 I dont have USB drives
2 I have 98, and it only supports back to 2000.

Thanx guys once again, SwiftSkii

SwiftSkii · 07-31-2010, 03:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DavidMcCann

Here are the specs of a Gateway2000 4DX2-66 (google is your friend)
Intel i486DX2 @ 66Mhz
10MB memory

DSL needs 16MB RAM (24 recommended) for a GUI, 8MB (16 recommended) for a CLI. So, no graphical interface. Of course, you could always install FreeDOS for a real taste of the 80s!

Uh, NO!

I have 16MB RAM.
I also have 8GB of STORAGE
There was about 7000 pictures on there. The last owner worked for NatGeo. Every pic was about 90MB
I have Puppy linux, gonna install that when i get home...

SwiftSkii · 07-31-2010, 03:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sumguy

In retrospect, I now wish that I still had my old IBM P2 500Mhz/8G HDD/196MB/WIN98 machine! Sold it 2 years ago, because there was no WIN98 support for any of my newer devices....and the 3GHZ/150Gig HDD/1Ghz/Vista machine I replaced it with, is in reality, hardly any faster. Had I been into LINUX back gthen, I would have just put one of the minimalist distros on the old machine (which always functioned flawlessly- and still is, I'm sure) and could have gotten another 9 years out of it! (Oh well...I got $200 for it...so it was hard to resist)

Yeah once mine is fixed up i am gonna sell it for like $200. Gonna also add a logo on the top.

SwiftSkii · 07-31-2010, 04:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by michaelk

A quick qoogle found the max spec for RAM at 64MB. As stated you should be able to find out how much is actually installed from the BIOS or from the 95 control panel in the system folder. I assume that you actually mean MB not GB in your first post. You probably have between 200 and 500 MB of hard drive storage space if this was an original drive.

FYI the min requirements for XP is a P-233 @ 300MHz Min RAM 64MB, 128MB recommended. IMHO its not going to work. Also this computer can not boot from CD.

deli, DSL or slackware are good choices. lightweight ubuntu is probably not practical with this computer. Someone did get puppy to run on a 75MHz PC with 40MB RAM but the min requirements are listed as a P-166 with 128MB RAM.

PS took me to long to type this up. UNetbootin might work.
http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/

WHAT?!?! IT CANT BOOT FROM CD? is there any other way that i can get puppy linux?

michaelk · 07-31-2010, 04:23 PM

I assumed you had access to a more modern computer running at least XP.

Another method but also requires a modern PC to run puppy as a live CD.
http://www.puppylinux.com/hard-puppy.htm

snowday · 07-31-2010, 05:04 PM

If it really only has 16mb of ram and won't boot from CD, you should give up and recycle it. Puppy or similar is simply impossible with such low hardware specs. Let's say you spend hours and finally get it working, how much do you think someone is going to pay for it that would justify your time? Perhaps it has some collector's value... check ebay and you will get a good idea of its true value.

Sorry to be so blunt but I do not think your project is realistic.

linus72 · 07-31-2010, 05:38 PM

only thing I know runs from 16mb ram with X is KolibriOS floppy.img-to-hdd
http://www.kolibrios.org/

I included it on my ThorsHammerII CD
http://linux.softpedia.com/get/Syste...II-55542.shtml

it also includes Plop bootmanager which can boot cd/usb/usb-cdrom, etc even on pc's that wont boot usb, etc

SwiftSkii · 08-01-2010, 10:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by linus72

only thing I know runs from 16mb ram with X is KolibriOS floppy.img-to-hdd
http://www.kolibrios.org/

I included it on my ThorsHammerII CD
http://linux.softpedia.com/get/Syste...II-55542.shtml

it also includes Plop bootmanager which can boot cd/usb/usb-cdrom, etc even on pc's that wont boot usb, etc

Thnx so much!! I will try it when I get home. It will more than likely work because the computer can only boot from a floppy hot the hard drive. Thank you!! You may have got me going with this.

SwiftSkii · 08-01-2010, 03:46 PM

Ugh, thats not going to work. I have Snail Internet.

Would getting an enclosure for the hard drive then hooking it up to the PC i am using now and installing Puppy Linux work?

My laptop has different specs than that computer.

linus72 · 08-01-2010, 03:59 PM

Quote:

Ugh, thats not going to work. I have Snail Internet.

whats not going to work?

SwiftSkii · 08-01-2010, 04:19 PM

The thorshammer thing. It will take a long time.

I was wondering if anyone could teach me how to make my own linux OS?
If someone teaches me, i guess i could start a colab to make an OS for the really old systems.

I can supply the artwork, if needed.
Coding, im not so sure.

linus72 · 08-01-2010, 05:53 PM

Then join me at multidistro.com??
I need all the help I can get dude...

OK
so you just want the KolibriOS that boots off hdd?
hold on....(sounds of digging and hard drive whirring...)

ah!

OK
you got grub legacy or grub2?

heres grub legacy menu entry for KolibriOS floppy.img boot off hdd
sda1/hda1

Code:

title Kolibri OS 0.7.7.0
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/memdisk floppy
initrd /boot/images/kolibri.img floppy

grub2 entry for sda1/hda1

Code:

menuentry 'KolibriOS 0.7.7.0' {
	insmod ext2
	set root=(hd0,1)
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set (put UUID number of partition here)
	linux16 /boot/memdisk bigraw
	initrd16 /boot/images/kolibri.img
}

you may have to change "linux16" to just "linux" if it doesn't work...
I actually could not get this to work off ext3 partition..
the desktop only loaded a frozen mouse...
try deleting "bigraw"
EDIT: yes, after editing and taking out "bigraw" it booted right off ext3 partition which has Ubuntu on it...

grub2/memdisk help; didn't work for me...
http://machine-cycle.blogspot.com/20...grub2-and.html

then I booted same setup off fat32 usb and it worked?!
However, maybe format your hdd as fat32 and it will boot as with usb
here's syslinux.cfg entry

Code:

label kolibri
menu label KolibriOS 0.7.7.0
kernel /boot/memdisk floppy
append initrd=/boot/images/kolibri.img floppy

so here's the full monty...

KolibriOS 0.7.7.0 floppy.img + memdisk
http://multidistro.com/downloads/odd...ibrihdd.tar.gz

SwiftSkii · 08-01-2010, 07:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by linus72

Then join me at multidistro.com??
I need all the help I can get dude...

OK
so you just want the KolibriOS that boots off hdd?
hold on....(sounds of digging and hard drive whirring...)

ah!

OK
you got grub legacy or grub2?

heres grub legacy menu entry for KolibriOS floppy.img boot off hdd
sda1/hda1

Code:

title Kolibri OS 0.7.7.0
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/memdisk floppy
initrd /boot/images/kolibri.img floppy

grub2 entry for sda1/hda1

Code:

menuentry 'KolibriOS 0.7.7.0' {
	insmod ext2
	set root=(hd0,1)
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set (put UUID number of partition here)
	linux16 /boot/memdisk bigraw
	initrd16 /boot/images/kolibri.img
}

you may have to change "linux16" to just "linux" if it doesn't work...
I actually could not get this to work off ext3 partition..
the desktop only loaded a frozen mouse...
try deleting "bigraw"
EDIT: yes, after editing and taking out "bigraw" it booted right off ext3 partition which has Ubuntu on it...

grub2/memdisk help; didn't work for me...
http://machine-cycle.blogspot.com/20...grub2-and.html

then I booted same setup off fat32 usb and it worked?!
However, maybe format your hdd as fat32 and it will boot as with usb
here's syslinux.cfg entry

Code:

label kolibri
menu label KolibriOS 0.7.7.0
kernel /boot/memdisk floppy
append initrd=/boot/images/kolibri.img floppy

so here's the full monty...

KolibriOS 0.7.7.0 floppy.img + memdisk
http://multidistro.com/downloads/odd...ibrihdd.tar.gz

No, i dont have GRUB. In fact, i dont even have ANY OS on there. Just the BIOS, and i am not home, so i cant tell you what kind. I got the CalabriOS thing but not the hammer thing (Cant remeber what its called)

The computer does not have any USBs, cannot boot off of CD. It ,however, does have serial ports. So i need a floppy disk that has a program that can let me put in the CD and it will install from the CD.

Thanx in advance,
SwiftSkii

linus72 · 08-01-2010, 08:00 PM

you can use the Plop bootmanager floppy.img to boot cd's/usb/usb-cdroms on pc's that wont boot from usb, etc
http://www.plop.at/en/bootmanager.html

use the plpbtin.img which will install plop to mbr of pc
and it'll have bootmanager that can boot the hdd, cd, usb, etc

then you can install any cd/usb etc to hdd...

you still need to transfer the kolibrios thing from usb to hdd...
you need a cli livecd...