alt.os.linux - old 386/486 computers

Author

old 386/486 computers

Wil Villafane

2002-12-13, 11:25 pm

Hi,
Is there a linux version out there that I can use on an old 386 computer
maybe with 4 or 6 MB RAM, 300MB HD?

Wild Wizard

2002-12-14, 5:25 am

Wil Villafane wrote:

> Hi,
> Is there a linux version out there that I can use on an old 386 computer
> maybe with 4 or 6 MB RAM, 300MB HD?

my personal fav

slackware 4.0

you really need to get a distro (version) that was current around the time
that pc was current

--
A person is just about as big as the things that make them angry.

D. Stussy

2002-12-14, 8:24 pm

On Sat, 14 Dec 2002, Wil Villafane wrote:
>Is there a linux version out there that I can use on an old 386 computer
>maybe with 4 or 6 MB RAM, 300MB HD?

Why does this question keep coming up? Linux was originally designed for the
386.

Slackware's distribution will work there.

Billy Watt

2002-12-14, 8:24 pm

D. Stussy wrote:
> On Sat, 14 Dec 2002, Wil Villafane wrote:
>> Is there a linux version out there that I can use on an old 386
>> computer maybe with 4 or 6 MB RAM, 300MB HD?
>
> Why does this question keep coming up? Linux was originally designed
> for the 386.
>
> Slackware's distribution will work there.

It comes up as nowadays a number of distros compile optomised for 686
minimum, Mandrake is one I can think off. Slack is still 386 even the latest
version (8.1)

Billy

--
It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are
fighting, but for freedom - for that alone, which no honest man gives
up but with life itself

revcop

2002-12-15, 4:49 am

I had Redhat Linux 5.2 and 6.0 running on a 486. If you can find older versions of Redhat. Might work on 386 not sure.

Kevin Croxen

2002-12-16, 9:25 am

In article <Pine.LNX.4.44.0212150139350.2337-100000@exp.bde-arc.ampr.org>
, D. Stussy wrote:
>On Sat, 14 Dec 2002, Wil Villafane wrote:
>>Is there a linux version out there that I can use on an old 386 computer
>>maybe with 4 or 6 MB RAM, 300MB HD?
>
>Why does this question keep coming up? Linux was originally designed for the
>386.
>
>Slackware's distribution will work there.
>

But check out the "4 MB Laptop Howto", since with only 4-6 MB of RAM,
there will be particular installation procedures for low memory
environments that will need to be observed, even with Slack.

Ned Latham

2002-12-18, 5:24 am

Wil Villafane wrote in <uXyK9.20076$a8.10144@news4.srv.hcvlny.cv.net>:
>
> Hi,
> Is there a linux version out there that I can use on an old 386
> computer maybe with 4 or 6 MB RAM, 300MB HD?

Have a look at the Linux Router Project:

http://www.linuxrouter.org/

Ned
--
To reply, cut out my nose * Democracy means "the people rule". *
and make the met a net. * Fight for the power of assent. *

Martha H Adams

2002-12-19, 8:25 am

There's a sort of a social virus abroad, and it infects even generally
sensible people who run Linux. The infected victim believes no
computer is good for anything except the Latest and Fastest and Etc.
This is most unfortunate. I have a 6/12 MHz 80286 machine just gone
this year into retirement apparently owing to its bios fading; but up
to that it was as good as the day years ago, when I fetched home a box
of stuff from a flea market and assembled it. The same is true for
your 386/486 machine.

My prime application here is text composition, namely, writing. I
find I produce text just as fast on my old 6 MHz machine as on a 100
or 500 MHz machine, and if I moved to a 2 GHz machine my head wouldn't
run a single Hz faster. I suspect the same is true of *most of* the
computer users out there.

So do persist with your 386 / 486 machine work; and if someone looks
down his nose at you, just reflect to yourself that maybe he's
suffering from a certain social virus. And the key difference between
you and him is, you're OK.

As for the old Linux, there are archives out there although I don't
know where to find them. *Also,* you might want to have a look at the
emerging single-thread but very sensible Freedos software. At
something like http://www.freedos.org.

Cheers -- Martha Adams

Bill Unruh

2002-12-19, 5:25 pm

mha@TheWorld.com (Martha H Adams) writes:

]There's a sort of a social virus abroad, and it infects even generally
]sensible people who run Linux. The infected victim believes no
]computer is good for anything except the Latest and Fastest and Etc.
]This is most unfortunate. I have a 6/12 MHz 80286 machine just gone
]this year into retirement apparently owing to its bios fading; but up
]to that it was as good as the day years ago, when I fetched home a box
]of stuff from a flea market and assembled it. The same is true for
]your 386/486 machine.

]My prime application here is text composition, namely, writing. I
]find I produce text just as fast on my old 6 MHz machine as on a 100
]or 500 MHz machine, and if I moved to a 2 GHz machine my head wouldn't
]run a single Hz faster. I suspect the same is true of *most of* the
]computer users out there.

]So do persist with your 386 / 486 machine work; and if someone looks
]down his nose at you, just reflect to yourself that maybe he's
]suffering from a certain social virus. And the key difference between
]you and him is, you're OK.

]As for the old Linux, there are archives out there although I don't
]know where to find them. *Also,* you might want to have a look at the
]emerging single-thread but very sensible Freedos software. At
]something like http://www.freedos.org.

Agreed, but the problem is that the newer programs/operating systems,
etc, all assume much more power than those machines deliver. Thus if you
want to run KDE and OpenOffice say those machines show their speed.

This would not be a problem (just use old versions of Linux and of X
managers, word processors, etc) excpt that at the same time the
companies stop supporting those old versions, the security bugs get
unfixed, and soon your machine is a hazard to the health of the net.

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