DSL for old machine

Forum: Other Help Topics
Topic: DSL for old machine
started by: whodat

Posted by whodat on Feb. 12 2006,22:28

I have a Pentium MMX (150 mhz processor) with 48 meg of Ram.

I've had trouble installing Vector. It seems to be a bit too much for this machine.

Would DSL be a better solution?

Thanks guys...

Posted by cbagger01 on Feb. 13 2006,18:00

Yes

Posted by ospreyeagle on Feb. 13 2006,19:06

Most definately yes. Here is my post on linux questions:
Here is the list of Unix distributions small and big (http://bengross.com/smallunix.html)

I checked out most of the distributions suggested in this post with a Pentium 3-266 MHZ, 128 RAM, 10 GB harddisk desktop. This is much more than my laptop but I like running a pilot before messing with the real thing. Here are my impressions:

(What i say below relates to simple/naive install and I did not add or remove any packages from initial install. I wanted an x windows therefore did not go for smaller version of the following distros.)

Vector Linux is too big (>800 mb). It has lot of packages but as default does not allow user to control their installation (in comparison to fedora which allows user to control the packages). It was ruled out because of its size.

Puppy Linux live was fast and I was not clear about how to install it on harddisk. I am sure it is not difficult but I did not want to invest time in it. I also did not like its Windows like interface and graphics.

DSL was equally fast and had slick interface (based on Debian/Knoppix). Hard disk installation is explained rather well on DSL forum and is straightforward . Please use google and wiki to find how to install DSL on hard disk(I am currently not allowed to post url on this site). The installation was fast and the results satisfactory. Though some prior knowledge of partitions etc is helpful.

Zenwalk has a good installer but like Vector does not give choice while installing. It installs gnome and open office among others.Thus, it would have swamped my 2 GB harddisk.

My guess is Zen and Vector are geared more towards standard users and not towards lower end (ghost) computers. I think I will stick with DSL (and if that does not work out invest in figuring out Puppy).

Posted by lovdsl on Feb. 14 2006,00:59

I am new to linux but just installed damnsmall on a dx2 66mhz with 48 meg ram and a 400 meg hd with a 50 meg swap..it was simple and looks great..it recognized my soundblaster snd card and xmms is playing a cd. it installed to hd well..so YES I say it will work for you as my machine is far older..if that is worth any..

Posted by whodat on Feb. 14 2006,14:42

Thanks guys. Sounds like DSL might be the way for me to go then. Extra thanks to ospreyeagle for the tech rundown on several distros.

I was able to get Vector to work on a newer machine, a i686 with 566 mhz, 384 meg ram. The modem won't install though. It's a 56k modem which is several years old, so I'm not sure why it won't work. I'm using the 5.1.2 Soho Live CD. The one thing I noticed was the Network feature always fails, but everythng else works fine. I don't have a network card on the machine, so probably this may be the reason for that error. I'm rather new to the whole Linux thing, so I'm not sure how to manually install the modem. I'm going to post a question on the VectorLinux forum concerning this.

All in all though, even though I wouldn't mind running a Live version of DSL on the i586 inside Windows 98, I really should've ordered Vector Standard. I got plenty of hdd space for it on the i686 and I don't like the fact that my CD-RW is tied up the whole time (only have 1 CD on the machine).

Posted by doobit on Feb. 14 2006,15:37

Many modems are Winmodems, that is, they are mostly made of Windows software that drives some basic audio hardware to create an analog modem. Linux runs hardware modems (like the Rockwell externals) with little to no problems, but needs special driver packages for the different winmodems. DSL has drivers for the Lucent brand of Winmodems, I believe, but I don't know about the others. Some distros probably do not have Winmodem support at all.