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i've got a 486 dx4 with 16 mb ram and 500mb harddrive space should i run redhat 4 or 5 or try a new but small distro?
(i'm a 13 year old trying to do linux and have never installed it before thanks
well, my suggestion is to use one that will fit... good luck. I don't know if it can fit on that small a hard drive.
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old distribution:
advantages - will run better on older hardware, takes less space
disadvantages - difficult to configure, hardware support isn't as good, most binaries will not run because of old kernel and glibc versionsnew distribution:
advantages - better hardware support, easier to configure (plug-n-play, autodetection), support for newer binary packages
disadvantages - requires more knowledge of what to install and what not to install to save space, will run somewhat slower, much slower if you use stuff like GNOME or KDE
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Congratulations for deciding to try Linux out!
Have you heard of DamnSmallLinux?
go to
www.damnsmalllinux.org
and check it out...
it is based on Knoppix. Haven't heard of Knoppix? it is the most popular Linux distribution on a CD, that autodetects hardware etc.
anyway, damnsmalllinux was designed to fit on a 50 MB business sized CD. It probably takes up more space on your hard drive (uncompressed) but you certainly have enough room with 500 MB. Goodluck!
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Redhat 4.2 will load on that 500 mb drive, no problem. 5.2 will be a little strapped for space, but you should be able to get enough of it on there. I have a 486 (actually, it's an Pentium Overdrive 83 Mhz chip on a 486 motherboard) with 16 Meg of RAM and runs Redhat 4.2 just fine, although with 32 it runs much smoother. The only decent browser that will run on it is Netscape 4.76, though. I also have been running a 486DX2-66 with 20 Meg of RAM on Redhat 5.2 for a couple of years without incident (very stable), but as a server (No X-Windows due to only 200 meg of disk space).
Download Redhat here.
I don't know about those smaller distros. You might want to give them a shot first.
Have fun and good luck.
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You will need the CD, and make sure that you back
everything up. If you are thinking you can install
Linux like a program you are wrong, you will need to
format your 500MB partition (erasing everything),
and then install linux (all done in the installation).
Also, you will no longer have access to Dos and
Windows 3.11 because like I said everythign will be
erased.Good luck though!
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Both Slackware and Debian will do. You
might want to check out the "4Mb Laptop
Linux HOWTO". When I get round to it I am
planning on installing slack on an old 4Mb
laptop with a 100Mb HDD.
I have also heard that PeanutLinux is good
for small installations although I have
never tried it myself. You can also get
floppy based distros that run directly off
a disk, search for LOAF (Linux On A Floppy)
and FreeSco.
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Look here for a list of the packages to give you an idea as to what comes with Redhat 4.2.
You can install Linux with a boot floppy (but not a series of floppies), rather than booting the CD, but you will also need the packages to be somewhere accessible, either on the net, on CD, or possibly on another computer's hard disk and then do a network installation.
Did you want to keep your DOS/Win3.1 stuff? Do as Sord says, then, and back it up first. I believe it's possible to do a dual-boot, and you should have enough space if you're doing a Redhat 4.2 install, but if it's 5.2, then I'd say you don't have enough disk space for it. Whichever you choose, though, you'll need to re-partition your disk, which, like Sord said, will wipe out your current setup.
Good luck.
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i have 2 500mb drives and i'm going to have a dualboot redhat4.2 and going to switch win3.1 to 95 (i have done a lot of reading and do know that you need to partiton
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