Laptops :: Ram for GUI

Hi all, I have been given an old laptop. I had posted yesterday asking for help mistakenly thinking I had a X configuration problem. I have hacked at it for a while now and have not had any luck getting a GUI working. This prompts this question. What is the minimum amount of RAM that will run a GUI? I have command line install working fine.

I am not sure I am posting in the right forum, but since this computer is a laptop I chose here.

What is the least amount of RAM that will run a GUI in a frugal install? What is the least amount of RAM that will run a GUI in a HD install?

David

Realistically, the minimum is

16MB of RAM + a 32MB swap file or swap partition.

I would recommend a minimum swap size of 64MB, though.

When X is up the ram usage about right at 16mb so you will have X but won't be doing much without using swap. Definitely don't try opening Firefox on that beast

Use dillo if yuo are on the web.

Chris

Thanks for your input guys. Would these numbers be for a frugal install or a HD install? It seems like a frugal may take more. I have been trying to make a 486DX with 24m ram work with a frugal, but have not been able to do it. I get to the comand line great and all is good. When I try to startx, things chug and churn but then just stop with a black screen. I have tried to use XFree86 dsl, there is a prebuilt driver for it. I get an error that there xfree86 is not found. I think it is looking in /usr/bin/somthing (don't exactly remember), it is not found. Any thoughts??

David

Frugal install uses slightly more RAM than HD install, but these numbers are good for both methods.

For xfree86.dsl , read the info file and see if someone here can fill in any missing details either on the forums or on IRC.

Next Page...
original here.