which distro?

[noregine]

I have an old pentium 1 (166) with 32 mb of ram and a 2 gig HD that was given to me and I was wondering which Linux distro would be best for it. I have RedHat 5.2 on it now but is there anything better for it?
Any help would be appreciated.

[Spyder32]

Depends, really. How much experience have you with Linux Distro's and what one is your favorite. However, with the tech aspects, you might wanna upgrade your box. If RedHat can go on it and you want to try something new, go for Caldera or Debian. They are pretty good distro's I've taken a liking to, you might like them as well. There's alot to choose from, so take your time. I hope I helped you out


EDIT: Hell, if you like Redhat (I do) then just get the newest version of RedHat on the machine, if you want to keep RedHat.

[noregine]

I have tried to install Mandrake 7.1 on it but it will never fully install. Whenever I install redhat I have to have a bootdisk b/c if I don't all I get is a screen of binary code. I would be happy to keep RedHat if I could fix that and have it boot from the HD.

[Tigerdaz]

You may want to try Vector Linux which is based on debian and is desgined to run on old machines exactly like yours. Its hardware identification is pretty good also.

But if anyone is posting regards small distros i would be interested to hear about them. You may also like to consider peanut Linux which does a small distro. I think you will have the same trouble as myself if you try the latest distros if your not experienced with Linux its very hard to know what to chop out to make it run sweet and fast on your old machine.

So any points from other AOers would be apretiated

Just to correct my post above before i get flamed to bits. Vector is based on slackware i do appologise was losing the plot for a bit oh well hopes this holds back the flamers.

[problemchild]

I have tried to install Mandrake 7.1 on it but it will never fully install. Whenever I install redhat I have to have a bootdisk b/c if I don't all I get is a screen of binary code. I would be happy to keep RedHat if I could fix that and have it boot from the HD.

It sounds like you just have a boot loader configuration error somewhere. If you will either post or PM me with the contents of your /etc/lilo.conf and some partitioning information, I might be able to help you troubleshoot that.

[ThePreacher]

Well, I just recently installed Slackware on my 400 mhz laptop, and other than a problem with the sound, it is very good and faster than mandrake. If you are an rpm junkie you might have a little trouble with this distro, but the speed difference is a big deal, especially on older computers. The install is text based and not as fancy as Mandrake, or Red Hat's, but it gets the job done.

[KissCool]

TINY LINUX is a small Linux distribution designed especially for
old recycled computers.


----------------------
Technical requirements
----------------------
- processor : i386 or better
- RAM : 8 Mo minimum, 12 to 16 if possible
- Hard Disk : 50 Mo is enough for installation itself, but you will do
better with at least 80 Mo
- 3 1/2 ' floppy drive
- keyboard and mouse

If you don't need of a big distro, you can try Tiny Linux: http://tiny.seul.org/
But be sure to have the technical level in order to install it (it's not a graphical install like Mandrake and Red Hat).

[Tedob1]

heres another one:

http://delilinux.berlios.de/

What is DeLi Linux ?
DeLi Linux stands for "Desktop Light" Linux. It is a Linux Distrinution for old computers, from 486 to Pentium MMX 166 or so. It's focussed on desktop usage. It includes email clients, graphical webbrowser, an office package with word processor and spreadsheet, an dso on. A full install, including XFree and development tools, needs not more than 300 MB of harddisk space.

The trick is, that DeLi Linux uses (almost) only "lightweight" alternative software. If you are looking for the newest KDE, GNOME or Mozilla, DeLi Linux will not make you happy. The test computer is a 486 laptop with 16 MB RAM, and all apps which comes with DeLi Linux are running smoothly.

[sweet_angel]

Another small linux distro..mmm..try BanShee Linux http://www.banshee-linux.org/info.php

BanShee Linux is a small linux system aimed towards end-users who are not power-users. The author of this OS is Sean Rima.

BanShee Linux/R is a two-floppy disks rescue system using uClibc and Busybox to make sure that system is as small as possible.

Or try Devil Linux

Devil-Linux is a special Linux distribution, which is used for Firewalls / Routers.

The goal of Devil-Linux is to have a small, customizable and secure (what is secure in the internet?) Linux.

The future of Devil-Linux will go far beyond an ordinary Router, we will provide a lot of other services, but the Distribution will still be easy and fast to maintain.

Their link http://www.devil-linux.org/

[Terr]

And for tiny security toolkits... Consider Trinux.

Uses floppies, but will even load some of the tools from a website.