Hello Linux Heads ,Iam considering getting the PEANUT LINUX Distro or Vector Linux.

Could I possibly stuff these into a old IBM pc 286 and get a working internet browser???

Even more extreme ,is there any distro out there that could even be shoeHorned into a XT level PC ???

I realize that old machines have their finite limitations of how much memory and Harddrive space you can stuff into them, not considering the graphics chip/card.
Linux is cool if it can be installed in a "old useless" 386 machine and work good.

Thankx!!!!

Have you checked out
http://www.distrowatch.com

I haven't kept abreast of the ports, but last I checked, you needed a 386
or better to run linux on an x86 machine. There may be some ports
out there, but you would need to port a lot of the GNU tools to get a
usable system, since most of those are written for >= 386. Specifically,
you would need to find a compiler that would work with the 286 or XT,
from there, you could start porting. . .

Yes,I have visited DISTROWATCH,COM ,NeAt Little Graphic "Cartoons" of Distro,s , I get somewhat Confused about it all ,Iwonder IF PEANUT LINUX is a TRUE LeGIT Business <I mailed away for a almost a month ago. haven,t got it back yet> Mandrake is ok .Suse is Easier, Redhat is overloaded with many programs.


Maybe I,ll re-educate myself with WIN 3.1 and see how the old days of 80~90s computing was. Enjoy

I'm quite sure you won't find any distro that will run on a 286, Linux the
kernel just needs the capabilities of at least a 386. . .

Hey ,Moses what about the Minix Distro ,or is that for truly commited Non-graphical user (pure text-typing) heads who are UNIX pro,s and veterans??

The problem is 286's and prior are 16 bit processesors, 386 and beyond are 32 bit procs (in x86 anyway).

If I remember my history correcly, Linux was written because Linus really
disliked Minix, which was the only real (free?) OS available on the x86
arch. . . Minix was a response to the perceived bloat of the various Unices
available, but was never done well, hence Linux.

HMMMM,Never Knew that ,Linus Dislikeed Minix -shows that I got alot to learn With Computers and History.

ELK linux will run on an 8088. I think thats probably the oldest most worthless computer you can find. if I remember correctly, you don't even need the "full" 640K base ram.

as to finding ELK linux, you got me. its out there, in glorious 360K disk images...

if you don't believe me check out the "bogomips" mini-howto, the 8088 wins the award for slowest bogomips of any system that Linux has booted on.

Back Again ,me the Computer Newbie -moron!!! Isn,t the 8088 the "famous" CPU chip that was used in Ataris, Commodores and old TRS-80,s Plus Apples back in the Late 70,s ~early 80,s ----REAL GEEK Level Stuff ,No graphics I presume ("PONG" level graphics I bet!!)

Read on ,learn on ,click on ...... Chilibowl

I might be wrong (like so often) but I think that
Apple has *always* used Motorola CPU's

Cheers,
Tink

It all sounds MINOAN -cretean to mee!!!!