Linux on older machines

rcrummett · 09-11-2005, 12:32 AM

Hi -

I have a couple old computers that I am interested in testing some various Linux releases on, but I am not sure what distributions might be good for them.

The first machine has two hard drives, one 1.5 GB and one 2.5 GB, in addition to 64MB RAM. I think it has an AMD processor with 166 MHz speed.

The second machine is a bit nicer (a bit), with a 15GB hard drive and 64MB ram, and a 700 MHz Celeron.

Any suggestions? I figure I can be safe with just about anything on the Celeron, but I am really intrigued by the other older machine. Thanks.

aysiu · 09-11-2005, 12:35 AM

Damn Small Linux.

sundialsvcs · 09-11-2005, 12:39 PM

... This is an "older" machine? ... Gee, I haven't felt "equipment envy" in a long time.

The processors are somewhat slow by modern standards, but plenty big and fast enough. It should be a fairly trivial thing to locate more RAM for either machine, and/or, if you wish, a larger or faster disk-drive. External IDE-controllers (or SCSI, or firewire/USB 2.0) are also cheap and often considerably better than what comes on the motherboard. A couple hundred bucks' worth of off-the-shelf parts...

I'd say that almost any Linux distributiony you can name would be quite comfortable there.

Vgui · 09-11-2005, 02:13 PM

For the slower first computer I would recommend Vector Linux, which is Slackware based and created purely for older hardware.
For the second computer, your options are a bit broader, as you can likely put almost anything on there and have it run fine. 700mhz may not seem "fast" by todays 3.8ghz speeds, but it's still a perfectly good workhorse.

ctkroeker · 09-11-2005, 04:25 PM

Heard of search?

http://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...threadid=332037
http://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...threadid=327463
http://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...threadid=357256

FeatherLinux, DSL, Basic Linux, Puppy Linux, Vector Linux...

rcrummett · 09-11-2005, 05:26 PM

Thanks for all the help. I'll check some of these out.

Yes, I have heard of search. He and I are quite familiar with each other and he has helped me refrain from asking several other questions. I asked this one becase my good buddy search usually directs me to computers with 4 MB RAM and a 250 MB hard drive when I use the word "old". Since I was unable to think of an appropriate term to describe my machine I thought I would ask again.