Need Distro Suggestions for Old Computer

billspork · 01-10-2005, 07:49 PM

I have an old 350 mhz AMD-K6 with 192 Megs of RAM & an 8 Gig HD.

I need to use it temporarily and I'm wondering what Distro to put on it.

It'll be used for music & web browsing primarily.

I plan on running xfce or blackbox on it.

Thanks for any suggestions you guys might have,

Billspork

tamoneya · 01-10-2005, 07:57 PM

I would try to install a small linux distro like damn small linux or possibly find a older version of whatever distro you want. The second option may be harder but should work well if you have any old boot disks hanging around.

hugeness · 01-10-2005, 08:41 PM

I am running redhat 7.3 on a much lower spec than that - its a little slow but otherwise fine. you could also try Knoppix and just run it off the cd - its great for a quick internet setup. theres a whole bunch to look at on:
http://www.linuxiso.org/index.php

billspork · 01-10-2005, 09:22 PM

I'm actually using a Knoppix computer right now, but I need something with a HD because I can't get my WiFi card working properly under Knoppix (didn't really try too hard though).

I think I'm going to go with slackware because the system requirements are extremely low.

billspork

RodimusProblem · 01-10-2005, 10:27 PM

Quote:

I'm actually using a Knoppix computer right now, but I need something with a HD because I can't get my WiFi card working properly under Knoppix (didn't really try too hard though).

You mean a hard-drive install? Knoppix can do that. It also has FluxBox and a few other window managers when installed.

Just type knoppix-installer in the root console (found in the Knoppix menu).

Good luck with getting that older computer running.

billspork · 01-10-2005, 11:05 PM

does it basically do a debian install?

RodimusProblem · 01-10-2005, 11:34 PM

Quote:

does it basically do a debian install?

Pretty much; except the x window system and stuff is already configured and ready to be used instead of waiting for you to configure it via a command line text editor.

That seems to be the big difference between Knoppix and Debain Sarge anyway. Everything else seems about the same.

Knoppix defaults into KDE by the way.

BajaNick · 01-14-2005, 12:53 AM

I had Slack on a 350 mghz AMD with 192 mb ram and It easily ran fluxbox, xmms and xine with gui`s, But kde kept crashing.
Those specs are exactly the same specs I ran Slack on. I also had a 8 gig hd with the above hardware.

Winno · 01-21-2005, 09:00 AM

I have Mandrake 10 running on a similar PC - P2 266 with 192mb RAM. I get reasonable speed running Firefox, KDE, IceWM and XMMS. OpenOffice 1.1 is runnable. The concept of Mandrake is quite nice, but does have some unpleasant bugs, so I wont recommend it. I´ll try another distro when I get a bigger HDD.

EDIT: Mandrake is actually quite good (after trying some more distros). Those few bugs might not be visible (depending on the setup/install). Running an update would be useful for this. Some packages are a little old.