Hey i have a k6-200 with 64megs of ram and about 8 gigs of hdd space. i was just wondering what you guys suggest for a distro on this thing...it has to be i586 i belive...Gentoo just takes way too long. Arch is i686. Debian is crap Imo. anythign else?

I think Slackware 10 with Icewm will work well.

i was thinking about trying that but slack's install is a pain when it comes to installing packages....cause you have to either install 3 gigs or sit there and wait for each one to install and say yes or no....unless that has changed since 9.0

I just installed SuSe 9.1 on a 350 mhz AMD-K6 with 192 Megs & an 8 Gig HD.

KDE runs better than expected after some tweaking, but I'm going to switch to either blackbox or IceWM.

On a side note, I don't think the Slackware 10.0 installer is much different from 9.0

billspork

The expert install option for Slackware let's you chose each package to install. Check the one's you want, hit go, and that's it.

I agree, Slackware 10.0 is very painless and runs really smooth on older machines. Suse pretty much does the same full system install, you pick what type of machine it will be Server, Workstation, Laptop and it installs the proper packages.

VectorLinux is good.. it would run fantastic on that box.. i haveit running on a Pentium MMX 200 MHz with 32MB RAM and it's decent.. the default desktop it Fluxbox using ROX filer for icons on the dektop.. it works great...i totally recommend it for basic websurfing, word processing, listening to music..

try it.. you won't be disapointed..

The most important is not the distro, but i think for you, it's the Desktop manager......you'll have to use very light desktop (XFCE, and a slack10.0).

If you do it, i think you should upgrade kernel and compile your own to have a system as light as possible...... For install, it will be a bit long to choose the package, but it's worth trying

Hope I help you in your choice!

Will this make a good server machine? I'm looking to make an MMX 233 with 32MB RAM into a learning-process server. I realize that for high-end server applications, I'll need more than 32MB, but that's what I've got and a limited budget to boot!

Adios,
Clay

no.. it's basically a small and fast desktop...

if you want to use a server i suggest a trimmed down Slackware.. (which is what vector is).. then you have all the package selection of Slack...

Or better yet... use FreeBSD... it would run plenty decent on there... without a GUI of course.. but if you want to learn for server purposes.. you don't need one..

I have an old Compaq Proliant 800 with a Pentium Pro 200 MHz and 192 MB RAM as my webserver.. and it works pretty decent..

My firewall is a 200 MHz MMX with 32 MB RAM and it's a [url-www.smoothwall.org]SmoothWall[/url].. But that's ALL SmoothWall does.. it's completely managed by a web interface from remote PCs...

But again.. if you want general purpose server use.. FreeBSD would run great on there... and the package management is awesome as well..

To install a binary:
pkg_add -r <package>

To install from source code:
cd /usr/ports && make search name="package" (if you're not sure exactly where the program is located, this will tell you)
cd /usr/ports/which/dir/for/app
make install clean

tada...

can't get much easier huh??

good luck.. let us know what you decide.. feel free to email me with any questions...

YAWD (yet another what distro thread)

i KNEW I would see one of these on the distro forum. every n00b posts this exact same question, doesnt linuxquestions have a new user FAQ your supposed to read?

as for the distro, everyone's going to tell you slackware, and i'd have to agree. slackware (try vector linux...rocket fueled slackware)

and please, NO MORE "WHAT DISTRO SHOULD I CHOOSE" THREADS (please oh please)

I'll probably be flamed for this, but here's the FAQ, as I found it:

Q. Where is the forum?
A. Right here.

Q. How much is membership?
A. In the true Linux spirit membership is free!

Q. Do I HAVE to register?
A. No, but becoming a member does have its benefits.

Q. What are the benefits of registration?
A. - You cannot post without being a member.
- You become part of a community.
- You can give something back.
- You can subscribe to threads and receive email updates.
- The board keeps track of which threads you have read.
- Much More!

Q. Where do I signup?
A. Right here.

Sincerely,
n00b.

but also, its common sense when vitising forums to use the nifty search feature.....every forum community knows this.