redhat 8.0 - would it run on this?

[mrleachy]

hi, im waiting on my copy of redhat 8 to arrive in the post (bought on ebay), what i have for my current linux box is a cyrix m-2 333, 64 meg ram and 4 meg graphics and all the other usual bits

i have looked at the redhat site to see what i would need to run it, couldnt believe what i will need, recomends 192 meg ram for GUI but 64 for text only, do you think this box would really be adequate for text only as with 4 meg graphics im only left with 60 meg ram, if i would need a newer (secondhand) box to run it realistically what should i go with if i can only get a generic brand computer?

i have a dell gx110 at the moment and was wondering if anyone here has had any experience or problems getting redhat to run on a dell of some sort?

any help or input on whether dell is a good idea or another alternative brand would be appreciated

[problemchild]

what i have for my current linux box is a cyrix m-2 333, 64 meg ram and 4 meg graphics

I'd say Red Hat's minimum requrements are a little on the pessimistic side, which I suppose is better than Microsoft claiming that XP runs on a 300. The GUI will probably run with what you have, but you won't be very happy with the performance. Gnome and KDE have both become quite bloated of late. I'm sure you'll have no problems whatsoever running it in text mode, but unless you're running a server that's not a very pleasant way to work.

If you can get a newer system, faster is always better. But I think you can probably run with what you have - at least for a while. Just try it and see what you think you can live with.

as with 4 meg graphics im only left with 60 meg ram

Your video card has its own memory and doesn't take away from your main system RAM. The only serious limitation you'll run into with a 4 MB graphics card is the screen resolution and color depth you can run in.

[the_JinX]

I run a full KDE3 managed X interface @ 1024x768 on a PII 300, so I think it's safe to say it'll work..

as problemchild pointed out, you shouldn't (normaly) subtract the video memmory form your RAM, most videocards (except some built in on the MOBO) have their own mem.

And 4MB of video ram is more then sufficient for normal usage of X, don't expect to be running TuxRacer or something though

[owensleftfoot]

When you get redhat up and running have a look at the window manager Fluxbox. Its a great wm with a tiny footprint - it loads in about 2 seconds as compared to about 30 for KDE on my box.

[mrleachy]

thanks for the input guys (and gals maybe), just have to wait for the cd's to turn up and i'll see how it goes, if not i'l just get another one of these dells i have as i looked at the redhat HCL only a little while ago and it said my whole computer as a system was compatible

might have to do some swapping around with hard drives and stuff and see how it goes, thanks for the pointer of how redhat go about their hardware requirement specs too, might post a follow up after i have it installed on one of the pc's to give some feedback on what i have run into

[ArmyOfOne]

If your GUI is laggy try Fluxbox...
http://freshmeat.net/projects/fluxbox
It's reccomended for computers that can't handle KDE or Gnome as well, I love it even on my xp1800 because of how it's laid out