I need a linux distro for my crappy computer.
 

Hello dudes,
I am running windows xp and many other linux distros. And i have another crappy computer. I need a good distro to run on that computer. My second computer really sucks.

computer specs:-
Pentium 1 processor
49MB ram
crappy video card(may be 4 or 8MB)
dell monitor
realtek network card

If u know any distro that will run on this computer plz tell me. I need a graphical interface, but i don't need a very attractive interface. dont forget to add its website.
thanks

freebsd will, it's not linux, but can run most linux binaries. Slackware is pretty good for small computers. I run mandrake on a p2 with 100M on a laptop, runs pretty good, but the crappy neomagic vid card makes for some slow refreshes

cyto; recommend upgrading memory even 64mb if possible. linux is ram hungry. other than that go for it! providing u r not using it for gaming or intense programs.

cyto,

Agree w/ Ghost_runner on using Slackware as option for the "crappy" Pentium I.
Slackware can be installed using zipslack through parallel port zipdrive if CD-ROM drive bad
or if network install through realtek n.i.c. not possible.

FYI, 1) VectorLinux is based upon Slackware, 2) Knoppix will be SUPER-SLOW on the "crappy" Pentium I

-nycace36

I have tried freebsd and netbsd on my second crappy computer. But i couldn't start graphical interface. As i already told u that i have another powerful pc running windows xp and many other linux distros, i am not going to play games in my scond crappy computer. All i want to do is run is a webserver and a mail server. But i need graphical interface. It need not be a very pretty attractive one. just on for name sake. I don't have zip drive. Will i be able to install slackware using cd drive.

If u know how to configure freebsd or netbsd to start graphical interface, please tell me. Anyway I am going to try Slackware on my "crappy"computer. Thanks for the help.

..."All i want to do is run is a webserver and a mail server"...
... Will i be able to install slackware using cd drive.(?)...

The answer to your questions is yes. Not certain about VectorLinux or the above BSD distros , but IMHO, Slackware 10.0 really only requires one CD to have just a webserver and mail server up and running. The other "Extra" CD's include kernel&modules' upgrades, full set of Xwindows options, extra apps/utilities (e.g., internationalization), full sourcecode, ...etc.

Slackware's packages/apps are located on the 'slackware' directory of the installation CD, with groups of packages/apps in one to five letter directories. The apache and mail server packages are in the 'n' directory ('n' for networking)

Main Slackware site is http://www.slackware.org

Within this main site,
List of obtaining Slackware through its mirrors is http://www.slackware.org/getslack/
The Slackware installation rundown is here http://www.slackware.org/install/
The Slackware Installation Essentials online book (free) is http://www.slackware.org/book/
Some top-level documentation FAQs for Slackware are at http://www.slackware.org/faq/
A key top-level documentation page for configuring Slackware is http://www.slackware.org/config/

Hope that this helps!

Thanks i already visited that website. I have decided to try slackware 10.0 soon. Thanks for the help. If u have anymore sugestions plz let me know.

no prob. only things i would add are

1) that with apache and e-mail server both running, you'd get better performance with a swap partition (type 82 in linux 'fdisk') of 2-2.5 times your memory; e.g., a swap partition of 96 or 120mb ram with your "crappy PC" assuming that you can spare the diskspace. if you should decide to take penguin4's suggestion and eventually put in 64mb ram, then you'd make a swap partition of 128 or 160mb for noticeably faster apache/e-mail server performace.

2) work with your disk space to set up partitions for efficient use of your web and e-mail servers. if you just have a single <2gb harddrive, then after you make your swap partition,
just partition one large main partition as the /<root> partition for the remaining disk space.
otoh, if you have much more diskspace than this (or 2 or more harddrives), then you can tune your partitions for both performance and security. maybe something like this:
hda1 /<root> 150mb
hda2 swap 2-2.5x ram
hda5 /tmp 400-500mb
hdb1 /usr ~600mb, a little bigger than /tmp
(as few sources as possible, no development tools, no xwindows, no office, no emacs, etc.)
hdb2 /var 800mb (<--- big for apache web server logging/files)
hdb3 /home ~same size as /home (only one or two non-root users needed)
hdb4 /opt ~same size as /tmp w/o xwindows

this above partitioning scheme would need a minimum of one 800mb drive and one 2gb drive.
you can also make all the hdb partitions listed above as hda6-hda9 if you have just a single 4-5gb hdd.
more than a 5gb drive and with xwindows, you'd probably want to increase the size of the /usr and /opt partitions to add more apps and apache/e-mail tools, and then increase/var for more web-logging capacity.

-nycace36

I didn't buy that crappy pc. So i don't think that i can upgrade it. I have a 4.gb harddisk and a 1gb harddisk. I also have a lot of many hardisk but very low space (160mb). I have a 128mb sdram, but it won't fit in my crappy computer. I don't know whether that ram is working or not. If it is working i may sell it and buy a ram for my crappy pc. Thanks.

If you need some of the older 72 pin ram, you can probably get it for free or close to that from any computer shop that deals in used stuff. If the timing had been different, I could have helped, but I just sent a bunch of old computer stuff off to a resting place.

It's perfectly possible to use that computer.
I'd suggest debian testing: www.debian.org (install with netinstall cd if you have internet connection)
Arch linux (the i586 version): www.archlinux.org
Damn Small Linux: http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/
Slackware or freebsd. I guess you already know the websites of those.

You ask how to start X (the gui) in freebsd:
install X with something like #pkg_add -r xorg (find the correct package name)
then install a window manager etc. like #pkg_add -r icewm
then write a .xinitrc file in your home containing:
exec icewm

Then do xorgconfig as root(or something similar)
Then do xinit to start X.

This is about the same in slackware, debian and arch as well.
Install X, configure X, install window manager, put a .xinitrc to start the window manager when X starts, xinit to start X.

By the way, I have a page explaining how to configure debian to run it on any computer (includes old ones like yours and mine).
Here it is: http://users.skynet.be/six/gpure/tech/linux/debian.html

I also have a page which lists good lightweight software:
http://users.skynet.be/six/gpure/tech/linux/apps.html

By the way, here's an article of someone running debian testing with X on only a pentium 75 mhz and 16mb ram:
http://www.pycs.net/lateral/stories/4.html

greetz,
gunnix

Thanks
 

Thanks guys. I dont have that pc anymore. I have another Pentium pro pc and its running FreeBSD 5.3 without Xwindows. Cheers.

Much ado about nothing...