Linux on a 386
 

My 14 year old son would like to learn command line Linux on an old 386 that he bought at a garage sale.
What flavour of Linux should he use and where can he download it ?
the 386 computer has a disc drive (A:) but no CD Rom

thanks

debian allows for a floppy based base install. Also I have read about tiny linux. How much ram is in this beast?

If he just wants the command line and no X he could try ZipSlack at http://www.slackware.com/ - though that may be too space and RAM-intensive - need well over 90 megs hard drive space and I think 8 or 16 megs RAM, though I think there's a special method for 4 megs. If that is too much, there's BasicLinux at http://hetteh.iq.pl/bl/index.html. Basic 2.1 will do 4 megs or less, I think and only takes a few megs, and Basic 1.8 will run a 386SX.

Oops, I wasn't thinking. He'd need a net connection on the 386 and a lot more room for the ZipSlack with no CD. Um, Basic would still work. And I guess Debian, like BigNate said.

http://sunsite.dk/mulinux/

Try that, reply back if you have any problems

I didn't much like MuLinux, myself, but that's just me. I suppose it's a great distro if it hits you right. :)

Debian Woody floppy images are here. Write them to floppy with either dd (in Linux) or Rawrite (in Windows). The floppy image links are near the bottom of the page.
If you have 8-16MB RAM you should be OK. If less, I wish you luck.
With either a hardware modem or network card (whichever is appropriate), email, text web browsing, ability to download files, and add software packages and updates from Debian are all possible.
Good Luck.

EDIT: For a quick taste, try Toms boot/root disk, a classic Linux rescue floppy with enough to get the feel of 'ls', 'cd', 'cat' and such...

If you go here:
http://www.linux.org/dist/list.html
you will find 65 different distros if you select the "minimalist" option

I like Tiny
http://tiny.seul.org/en/
myself, but have only run it on a 486, not a 386.

HTH
Steve

The link is great, but I would say that a large number of those distros are not suitable (many run-from-cd, speciality firewall or such distro, full X-window, etc...) not even for what was asked, but possibly even for installation to the PC in question.
Really just a caution about being impressed by the "hit count" here, not putting down the link.
There are a few good choices also.

Weeelll, YMMV, but I find around 25-30 or so on that page that could fit the question. Many of the specialty distros would be perfect for learning the CLI, also, as many are rescue and such, which include the basics for a beginner.

I guess I could have put in a disclaimer about the number not being quite right, but I didn't really think that the OP would assume that all would be suitable.

They are all for the Intel platform, but one would have to look each one up individually where the processor is not specifically stated. After all, in today's world, even a 486 is deemed old, as in ancient.


;)
Steve

Depending on their available RAM and hard drive space, I see about 6-12 that fit the bill.
Just my opinion. Still a great link.