Need A Little Advice On Linux...

AutumnTwilightAutumnTwilight Join Date: 2002-08-27 Member: 1244Members, Constellation
in Off-Topic
I have a friend who has a Pentium 100Mhz machine. It's got a 2GB Hard Drive and 40 MB of RAM. He wants to brush up on his Unix commandline skills, but wouldn't mind at all having a GUI with it.

The question is, what kind of Linux setup can he install on this machine? It isn't his only machine, so it's mostly just an experiment. I know Linux has a lot less overhead than MS stuff, but still, what distro and version would you recommend for him? This would actually be somewhat helpful for me also, as I've got a spare 233Mhz PC sitting around that I'd like to blow away and put Linux on, but haven't gotten around to it yet (Full time work and full time school plus a wife and two kids keeps me busy...<!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo--> ).

Anyway, thanks in advance to any and all of you Linux geeks out there for your help!

Twilight
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Comments

  • SkulkBaitSkulkBait Join Date: 2003-02-11 Member: 13423Members
    edited October 2003
    Well, I'm a big <a href='http://www.debian.org' target='_blank'>debian</a> fan. You can download a minimal boot CD (or 2 floppies) and install it over an internet connection (preferably broadband, obviously). As for GUIs I like WindowMaker on my 266 laptop, but there are many smaller/faster ones if you need them. TWM is probably the fastest, though you will probably find it unbearably ugly and hard to use. People seem also to like Blackbox and Fluxbox for lightweight WMs.

    Edit after reading below: X really isn't much of a hog, thats kind of a myth. Usually its the things above it (KDE and GNOME) that make it slow. Also, it is not a GUI, X has no user interface its mearly a means to display graphics.
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  • TalesinTalesin Our own little well of hate Join Date: 2002-11-08 Member: 7710NS1 Playtester, Forum Moderators
    Well, I normally recommend RedHat. But for a machine with that 'cozy' of specs, you may need to go with another distro... RH really wants around 6-8GB total. But you DO get *everything* you need. No need to download WinAMP, Mozilla, or a lot of other things that a windows machine just doesn't come with. Heck, CD ripping/burning software as well as a GUI from the very start. And a kernel that is more stable than Mandrake. <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->

    I'm not certain if X will be all that pleasant on a P-100. If he's working for command-line, I'd go with Slackware. All the stuff you need, nothing you don't, and a great environment from the get-go. Command-line.

    XF86 (the generic Linux GUI, aka X) is a bit of a hog. So if you want pretty-pretty-pointy-clicky, you'll want a somewhat beefier box to have the experience remain pleasant.
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  • esunaesuna Rock Bottom Join Date: 2003-04-03 Member: 15175Members, Constellation
    <!--QuoteBegin--Talesin+Oct 2 2003, 02:04 AM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Talesin @ Oct 2 2003, 02:04 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Well, I normally recommend RedHat. But for a machine with that 'cozy' of specs, you may need to go with another distro... RH really wants around 6-8GB total. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Hmm, on my last install of RH8, even with unbearable amounts of pointless stuff i'd never use, it was only asking around 3-4gb, but still, that's asking a lot. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
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  • SkulkBaitSkulkBait Join Date: 2003-02-11 Member: 13423Members
    Since were talking about disk space, and I didn't mention it, I feel I should tell you that debian can be installed in as little as 50megs (no X), or just less then 160megs (with X), if you don't install anything else.
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  • AutumnTwilightAutumnTwilight Join Date: 2002-08-27 Member: 1244Members, Constellation
    Thanks for the responses, guys! I really appreciate that. I'll have to get back to him and see how badly he wants a GUI, or if it's just a nicety, but optional.

    Thanks again,

    Twilight
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  • DelarosaDelarosa Naturally Custom Join Date: 2002-11-29 Member: 10214Members, NS1 Playtester
    <!--QuoteBegin--SkulkBait+Oct 1 2003, 08:37 PM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (SkulkBait @ Oct 1 2003, 08:37 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Since were talking about disk space, and I didn't mention it, I feel I should tell you that debian can be installed in as little as 50megs (no X), or just less then 160megs (with X), if you don't install anything else. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    just what i needed to know, and i'm not even the one who started the tpoic...

    /me installs debian on his 500mb hard drive that sits nicely in his "school" computer.
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