just for fun. Install on OLD hardware

[acase.hcom]

ive got a couple of old computers laying around and thought i'd put linux on them, okay heres the specs, AMD K6/266 2 Gig gard drive and 8 mb of vram. And the other to, pentium II 133, 5 gig HDD on board graphics. unknown amount of ram on both i was thinking DSL or puppy. I also have a ethernet card but no windows drivers that needs to work in linux

[lykwydchykyn]

I wrote a series of articles on this. You might find them interesting. The link is in my signature.

EDIT:

In case you don't feel like reading my endless novel of a blog series, I'll give my two cents here:

- RAM will make the difference here between getting Linux installed or not. 8 Mb? don't waste your time. 128Mb? That's more like it.
- DSL is really old and out of date. There was a beta release like a year ago that was going to revive development, but not much has happened since. TinyCore and Slitaz are better choices for a super-small light Linux distro.
- No matter what Linux distro you choose, these computers are going to run Linux like complete crud. Launching vim on a TTY will probably be painfully slow, never mind running an X11 desktop. You might try some other fun and free lightweight operating systems, though. like Menuet, kolibriOS, Freedos (and its derivatives, like LightDOS), mikeOS (and derivatives, like tachyonOS), etc.

[ventrical]

Puppy and DSL (Dern Small Linux) lol are bonus for old PC'c .. Even early versions of Knoppix would get Compiz Fusion going on even the oldest video graphics adapters.. laptops too.

regards..

[3rdalbum]

ive got a couple of old computers laying around and thought i'd put linux on them, okay heres the specs, AMD K6/266 2 Gig gard drive and 8 mb of vram. And the other to, pentium II 133, 5 gig HDD on board graphics. unknown amount of ram on both i was thinking DSL or puppy. I also have a ethernet card but no windows drivers that needs to work in linux

Not criticizing your idea of fun... but I'd rather go to the shops with my girlfriend than struggle to get an ancient computer to run Linux "just because".

Non-Linux graphical OSes, though, that's more appealing. Haiku, Syllable (might be a dead project now), AROS or KolibriOS.

[acase.hcom]

3rdalbum, i didnt say that they may also (depending on how well they work) be used as educational devices. Or with a HDD upgrade store music on them. But i agree that if i didnt have any use for them than command line would be the way to go. forgot to mention, the p II system has is a 166 Megahertz with 256 MB RAM, And the K6 system uses DIN5 AT style keyboard that i dont have

[mörgæs]

The K6 does not have CMOV which severely restricts your choice of distro.
I would send both of them to recycling since there's so much old (but newer) hardware around.

[DuckHook]

...I'd rather go to the shops with my girlfriend than struggle to get an ancient computer to run Linux "just because".

Shopping?! Really?! Ooooh... Dunno... That's down to last-gasp desperation territory there, bud... I'd rather deal with the zombie apocalypse, myself.

Non-Linux graphical OSes, though, that's more appealing. Haiku, Syllable (might be a dead project now), AROS or KolibriOS.

Re: Syllable... Not quite dead. See "zombie" above. AROS is rather resource heavy and will probably run like a pig on these machines, but no harm trying. If willing to go outside Linux, then OP might also consider Minix.

The real problem with these outlier OSes is that they are really obscure. There's usually a small but intense community of fanatical acolytes that keeps them going. A general user who wanders into their midst is going to feel like he just got dropped down a rabbit hole. There are few apps, fewer drivers and vaporous support. But then, realistically, how much use are you going to get out of Tiny Core either?

I'm with mörgæs, though it pains me to say it. This old hardware hound would give these old battlewagons proper last rites, then recycle them. Or you could convert them into coffee machines! Grills! Tribbles! The list is endless.

[nothingspecial]

Here is another good blog to read if you like getting old hardware running http://kmandla.wordpress.com/

Fwiw I find that sort of stuff fun too

[lykwydchykyn]

3rdalbum, i didnt say that they may also (depending on how well they work) be used as educational devices. Or with a HDD upgrade store music on them. But i agree that if i didnt have any use for them than command line would be the way to go. forgot to mention, the p II system has is a 166 Megahertz with 256 MB RAM, And the K6 system uses DIN5 AT style keyboard that i dont have

The PII can probably make a usable server for files or such. I think the K6 is a lost cause, especially if you can't find an AT keyboard around.

AROS is rather resource heavy and will probably run like a pig on these machines, but no harm trying. If willing to go outside Linux, then OP might also consider Minix.

The real problem with these outlier OSes is that they are really obscure. There's usually a small but intense community of fanatical acolytes that keeps them going. A general user who wanders into their midst is going to feel like he just got dropped down a rabbit hole. There are few apps, fewer drivers and vaporous support. But then, realistically, how much use are you going to get out of Tiny Core either?

Yeah, AROS actually takes a pretty decent computer (or at least a decent video card), or at least Icaros does. It's actually surprisingly complete for such an obscure OS.

TinyCore is actually pretty useful, especially if you want to build some kind of single-purpose machine using a small storage device like an SD card or flash ROM. Our "on-hold" music at work is piped into the phone system from an old Compaq thin client with TinyCore flashed onto its 256Mb flash ROM.

[DuckHook]

Our "on-hold" music at work is piped into the phone system from an old Compaq thin client with TinyCore flashed onto its 256Mb flash ROM.

Too cool. I just love hearing about stuff like this.