Can someone tell me how to install (and which flavour or version) of linux on a pentium 1 75 Mhz 48 Mb ram 2 Gb hdd(space no problem). There are 3 ISA and 4 PCI slots My survey confirms some small good versions are available for this old hardware but my goal is as follows:--> --> I need this to be a development and testing platform for linux software -->I want it to run my mp3 and mp4 files(optional requirements- but if any of you smarties know then let me know) s---!! did i forget to mention that my sound card is an ISA opti 931m-3ds, and as far as i know there isnt good support for ISA cards on linux. Now its ok if i am unable to run mp3 and mp4 or even my opti sound card but i need a full fledged working development system. my video card is a trident 1 Mb ISA card and i dont know even if this is supported.Let me know where to get the drivers from. My mouse is not PS2 but serial but if linux does not support serial mice i'm ok-- i love working at the command line. [OK NOW at least i need a system even if there is no gui but a command line with gcc installed and networking utilities.] The maximum ram capacity is 128 so even if you tell me to buy a new pci graphics card with 128 Mb YOU gotta be carefull and know whether my old system supports it. I know one thing--> write the cd with the boot image on it. also keep in mind im ok with floppy disks.

First, do NOT write the CD with the boot image on it. Linux installation CD images are all bootable AFAIK. Simply make a disk from an image file. Even though I have no experience with it, I have heard others speak of DSL (Damn Small Linux), and I have installed Puppy Linux on a few older machines. I ran a search on Distrowatch and got this List. Scroll down to see the search results. HTH Ernie Registered Linux User 247790 ICQ 41060744

Have a look at Puppy or possibly Vector Linux.

Hi! I have a similar computer, 48MB RAM - an old Toshiba P-1. Very sturdy after all these years. I ended up putting Windoze 98 on it with lots of Open Source/free software (AbiWord, K-Meleon, Eudora), but i'm a bit of a Linux nut so i am trying what you want. Here are two ideas: First, I highly recommend Puppy - especially if you can get the 128MB RAM. I know it works on P-2 with 128, and have done so if i remember correctly. Version 2.14 will have what you want, but "Pizza Pup" and Puppy version 2.15CE look a little less geeky and have their merits, though all are quite similar. Pizza works very slowly on my laptop, but i have not tried graphics and sound. Versions 1.09CE is expressly made for low memory. If you save your files on exit it will run faster and you don't need to ditch your operating system: you just start your computer from the CD and it reads that file to remember your previous settings and run faster. You can easily install version 2.14 & up as your OS; it should work even faster. Very easy to figure out and LOTS of support pages. Go to puppyos.com and the "Community" Puppy pages. Note both the light and super-light browsers included and the "Wizard Wizard," a very nice feature. Another choice is Feather Linux. It works on my laptop but it didn't have the features i wanted. It was fast! There's a version called FeatherLight Linux but i can't remember what i didn't like about it. Also - check out DistroWatch.com if you haven't already. I see you posted this some time ago so let me know on this post or better, e-mail me. Happy computing and i hope this helps! :-) Marty

P.S. - Vector may also be a good choice as stated above -- find their OLD version comparison chart and try some. none are live as far as i know. Marty

Deli Linux is another possibility - runs on extremely low requirements is graphical mode, but i haven't tried b/c it's not available in live mode, only install mode.

hi! i thought id never get a response........!! I managed to run bioknoppix live! flawlessly with a 2.4.XX kernel although it took eight minutes. But im not interested in live so i think ill try puppy or dsl or deli. Vector does not boot from cdrom I dont know whats the problem but i wasnt able to boot the cd. I too have win98 but its pathetic.