Hi all,

My gf managed to dig out an old olivetti PCS-35 computer (its a 486) that her parents used and we want to convert it to a firewall/print server which will share her internet connection.

The thing runs windows 3.1 currently (and this windows version does seem good, it has yet to BSOD, crash, do something stupid or generally be a pain in my side (+ its not a resource hog! i.e. runs quite fast) ) but we want to run Linux on it (probably debian) as a server.

So, can anyone give me any general tips about 486s? I heared the some versions dont have a match co-processor, how can i find out? and how well can this thing run linux (probably with shorewall as a firewall, and cups/samba)? Im not expecting screaming performance, but how does it compare to e.g. laptop P1 at 90Mhz

Also are there any limits to what hardisks a 486 could take? currently its got a 80Mb hard disk and was hoping i could fit at least a gig in there (or 500mb)? are there any hardware limitations to this? (e.g. my P1 BIOS cant take Hard disks bigger then 1GB)

Also can I get a USB ISA card for it? being old it only has two ISA slots. It wouldnt matter if the USB was only 1.1 because her ADSL will only reach a max of 4Mbits/s.

Also would using a ISA->PCMCIA card with a USB pcmcia card work (if it is impossible to find ISA USB cards) and if so what pcmcia USB cards are compatible with linux?


Thanks alot

well i am no linux expert but i'd say that u r asking quite a lot from that poor 486 i have a p1 that will take up to 32 gig HDD but realy i don't know about a 486 but it should be 2 or 8 if not 32. ps why not try using knoppix as this runs fron a CD. as for isa versus usb their r slim hopes i think u need sertain cpu and ram requirments for usb be it even 1.1 as i enquired once for a friend. u best get a p1 that has pci or even onboard usb mine has it !

I like getting the most out of my hardware, i also like to recycle computers

googling about i came accross this:

DETAILS

It seems that the system is a 25 or 50Mhz CPU with potential for 20mb of onboard ram.

If its of any use my CPU is a 486DX , while other people have reported using 4gb drives with it. Hopefully i will be able to so this (all other versions i found were running windows 3.1)

and Correction, its a PCS-44, not a PCS-35

surte get the mosr out of it i do the same but usb from isa i think is not going to be possible try a paralel to usb maybe