linux on a very small hard drive
 

hey

i'm looking to install linux on a 2nd hd (1.2GB - i said it was small!) on my pc (AMD K6-2 500MHz master hd 15GB enslaved by win98).
Before you all start telling me that i need a new hd, i should let you know that all I want to do is mess about - seeing what linux is all about and doing a bit of stuff in C and PHP, so I guess I won't need a big raft of apps. Anyway, I would just like to know what my best option is as to what distro to get, as I've had little luck finding out what I need and if it'll fit on my eensy-weensy hd!

thanx!

I think almost all distros will be able to fit on there, just so long as you are careful about what you install. Don't go ballistic with applications and you'll be fine. I have a Mandrake install that is only 1.3 gigs and I dumped more stuff than I needed on there (multiple window managers, etc). If you don't mind the command line, you could leave X off and that will give you lots of extra space.

Mind using a command line? Never!
 

cheers, i'll check some stuff out tomorrow. as for the command line, i certainly don't mind using one, but i would like to see what guis and stuff there are for linux. can i use either as the mood takes me?

i have installed redhat at about 400 megs before.. so a 1.2 gb hard drive should do fine..

you can always try a smaller distro like peanut linux.. i think it has a 155 mb install...

Yup. If you have X installed, you can switch back and forth between it and the command line with no trouble. You can also just open a terminal window and use the command line that way.

Minimum hard disk space required for Red Hat 6.0, (an old one I know), should be 650 MB I think.

1.2 gb isn't really eensy weensy. I had linux installed a while ago with two 160MB harddrives. And to make it even more fun one of the harddrives was used as swap and the other one contained the rest. And I didn't even strip it to a very minimum (well besides not installing X). Just for the fun of it I had a webserver and a ftp server running on it.

hi

thanx to all who gave me replies here - very helpful! a guy at my work is going to lend me red hat and mandrake so i can see whats what.

cheers!:D