I need some advice. I want to setup this computer with Linux, but I am not sure what distro to use.

The catch is....
Compaq Laptop
486DX/75
32MB RAM
340MB Hard Drive
Linksys PCMCIA NIC
Integrated Trackball
Color Display.

I currently have <cough>Win98SE<cough> installed on it. It took real magic to get that to install. I had to do it via a serial cable and copy the windows CD to a hard drive of another computer. Doublespace (yes from dos 6.0) the laptop, and install with the extreme minimum options. Afterward, I was able to Install <cough> Microsoft <cough> Office97pro <cough> with all the trimmings on it.

It currently has:

Win98SE
Office97 Pro (All of it except outlook97)
IE 6.0 SP1 w/Outlook Express
All the MS updates.
AOL's AIM
Seti@home (for kicks to see how long it takes to process one unit)

I want a similar Linux Setup.
GUI
Some kind of Office thing
Firebird is good enough for what I use it for
Similar e-mail.
GAIM?

Is this possible? I eventually want to get every computer I have running Linux. Total = 6 (2 done).

(I also have a Gateway Profile 1.5 (AMD 400MHz) that I'm wondering if anyone has had good luck installing Linux on. I mention it here because it's a glorified laptop.)

Thanks for any help you all can provide.

I recommend slackware, it seems to easily install via network(nfs), and lends itself to older hardware nicely, I have it installed on a compaq 400cx, which is a dx/2 40 proc, a 256mb drive, and 28mb of ram, the original install of slack 8 was done when it only had 4mb of ram, and yet completed successfully, this notebook has no cdrom or native network interface, I used a linksys pcm100 10/100 pcmcia card to connect it to my network for the install.

I visited the slackware site. what version do I get?
(I'm also using a PCM100)

I used version 8, I'm not sure whether you need anything more recent than that, in fact you may not even need anything that recent, for instance I use XFree86 v3 not 4 on it. I guess it depends on what you're going to run on it and how up to date that needs to be, you may want to see what a really trimmed down 9.1 install looks like (if it will install) and then work backwards to 9.0, etc.

I've decided to install Slackware on this machine. Taking the above specs into account...How should I devide up my partitions.

"It is also a good idea to make seperate partitions for /, /home, and /usr. People will tell you many things about how to divide up your disk, but it really comes down to what you want." (---slackware.com/install/partitions.php)

I don't know what I want. I assume I'll make the ones listed, but how big?

I have the same laptop, in great condition and 16mb ram, with a base station and also a 386 model 4/40CX. They came with windows 95 and 3.1 respectively. I have since converted the 4/75C to Grey Cat Linux 3.0, a tight redistro of Slackware 3.5 and Basiclinux. This enables me to leave MS-DOS and win95 on it but share the same partition, useful with the limited diskspace.
It is on the internet via a direct modem to modem connection (serial modem run over some phone cable w/ a 12V power supply to a dial-in server in my basement), and has WIRELESS internet via a hacked Motorola USB cellphone cable (it is realy serial (rs232), with a usb converter chip that can be easily removed) which allows a cellphone to act as a modem (connecting to Metconnect, a free isp).

Does anyone have an idea how Debian would run? Are there any other distros I could try? Thanks.

By the way, if anyone wants schematics for the hacked cable (the pinouts are kind of rough) or for the modem-to-modem connection to get these beautiful fossils on the web, email me navaburo A T gmail D O T com

I did succesfully install slackware 10.1 (2.4.29) on the computer, but no gui. I'm looking at installing either DSL or adding packages tothe current install. I bought a 1gig CF card and card reader so now my total capacity is 1.3GB slightlt more respectable. The sad but convienient part is, hdparm shows the same speed for both the fixed disk and the CF card.

I'm going to aquire a second, identical (except for the CF card) laptop on monday, we'll see what I can do with that.

My current one runs netork security. It's nice because it is so slow that if anyone tried to crack it, it would take them a week. (It takes about 3 second to tell you the login is good and 10 to tell you it's bad.)

I'm going to try DSL on the next one, so I'll let you know how that goes.