What should I do with this old relic?

[Windows Nerd]

I did some digging in storage today...and found an ancient laptop my dad gave to me a couple of years ago that he used at work a loooooonng time ago. I decided to at least do something fun with it; it's useless for anything productive.

I looked around the case for any clues to when the laptop was made. I did find that is made in Taiwan, though not the date. I did find, under the battery, a sticker with some basic specs:

Model: Ast Advantage! Explorer Colour 486SX/25 Model 173W

170mb HDD
VGA Dual Scan STN Colour LCD
1.44mb Floppy disk drive
8mb of RAM (The back said 4, but the OS said 8, so it had obviosly had been upgraded)

I imagine this was cutting edge at one point..

Booting it up, it runs Windows 95...and took a good 3 minutes to desktop. I even had to set the date in BIOS (system setup the computer called, it nowhere did I see the word BIOS, but I did see a version 1.5 in Setup). It ran Winows 95 fairly smoothly (as smoothly as Windows goes).

Some pictures, taken with a crappy webcam, are attatched below.

157196

157197

What should I do with it?

Scott

[Excedio]

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[Random_Dude]

That is indeed a relic!



->Put it back in storage, you may be able to sell it as an antique in 15 years.

I would go for this one.

Cheers :cool:

[Phrea]

-> Try and put some version of Linux on it...

That.
Blueflops should work for instance, it works like a live cd. :)

[warpasylum]

You could probably run Damn Small Linux on it. I'd play around with it as opposed to stashing it back in the closet, but that's MHO.

[Windows Nerd]

DSL works with 8mb of RAM?
PS: It doesnt even have a CD drive. Only [geeky halo reference]f10p33 d1skss!1[/geeky halo reference]. If you can tell me what I referenced you get a cookie.

[Windows Nerd]

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[gnomeuser]

Deliver this space heater to your nearest recycling center for safe disposal.

Maybe once put some small Linux on it and take a few pics, just for bragging rights.

[robertcoulson]

Don't throw it away...Put Linux on it and donate it to a needy family and let them enjoy Linux.
Robert

[gletob]

I say keep it for novelty, or recycle.


Don't throw it away...Put Linux on it and donate it to a needy family and let them enjoy Linux.
Robert

Dude it's got 8 MiB of RAM, That's enough to run this: http://www.micheleandreoli.it/mulinux/ .... maybe.

And that's only a command line. No family wants that.

[koleoptero]

Keep the windows 95 on it and try to find some old floppy games for it.

Try running kolibriOS on it, it should work quite fine with it.

[robertcoulson]

Sorry..Thought maybe Puppy Linux...Just trying to help some one else...That's all...Nothing wrong with that is there...???
Robert

[KdotJ]

The hdd size is madness!
I remember when my dad bought a computer many many years back, it had a 19gb hard drive. The man in the shop said "you will never ever fill that up in your life time" lol

[koleoptero]

Puppy wont run on 8mbytes of ram if you beg it. I don't think any modern version of linux will.

[Yes]

I've got a laptop with 8 MB of RAM that runs BasicLinux nicely. I can run X in it, but you can't really run many X apps except Xclock or Xterm.

[robertcoulson]

Well....Me being not a computer genius, I stand corrected...Nothing left to do than junk it ....!!
Robert

[kk0sse54]

You could probably run Damn Small Linux on it. I'd play around with it as opposed to stashing it back in the closet, but that's MHO.

As far as I know DSL is dead

@OP, IMO with 8 MB Ram it isn't worth doing anything with it, besides you'd be extremely hard pressed to find any OS that would work with it. Heck I don't even think TinyCore, NetBSD, or Kolibri would run on that. Even K. Mandla would have a hard time finding anything useful for that machine.

Edit: Don't know how familar you are with it but NetBSD's minimum requirement is 4 MB Ram and 40 MB disk space http://www.netbsd.org/ports/i386/hardware.html

[cgroza]

Take a hammer and see what's inside :D

[koleoptero]

Kolibri can run on 8mbytes of ram. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KolibriOS)

[Sammi]

Even if you were to make Linux run on it, it wouldn't really be useful for anything.

Throw it away.

[Phrea]

Maybe once put some small Linux on it and take a few pics, just for bragging rights.

I did that with Blueflops on an old 486.
Even had internet on it, so I could browse a bit, and of course, get on IRC ! :D
[cashing in those bragging rights now :P ]

[Yes]

Oi the laptop's not worthless. He could definetly at least get online with it, and for a lot of people that's all they need - a box to check their email. You could also set up to be a mail server or web server.

[lisati]

8Mb RAM! 1Gb HDD! Good luck finding a GUI-based Linux system to work - my old desktop struggles with a CLI version of Ubuntu 6.06 and it has 64Mb RAM and a 3Gb HDD.

[Old_Grey_Wolf]

Be merciful and let the old thing rest in peace. :)

[Sporkman]

So, what I'm hearing is that Windows 95 is much more compact, efficient, and feature-rich that any comparable version of linux in existence today, is that about right?

:P

[snova]

So, what I'm hearing is that Windows 95 is much more compact, efficient, and feature-rich that any comparable version of linux in existence today, is that about right?

:P

Yes, a fifteen year old OS that came with recommendations of 8 MB or more will probably run better than modern ones that can barely fit a kernel into that.

Feature rich, maybe not...

(Look at /boot; vmlinuz is about 4mb and initrd is 8mb. I think both of these files are compressed.)

[cavedog]

Put DOS based BBS software (I thinking WWIV) and start your own little internet!

You never know when the governments will take over the Internets!

[Old_Grey_Wolf]

So, what I'm hearing is that Windows 95 is much more compact, efficient, and feature-rich that any comparable version of linux in existence today, is that about right?

:P

Windows 95 may have been compact and efficient. However, it was not feature-rich, nor was it designed to be multiuser, nor designed to be networked with other computers in a secure way. Cross platform compatibility also comes with the cost of size.

[K.Mandla]

Send it to me. I'll put it to work. :twisted:

[witeshark17]

Don't listen to any of those that say 'throw it away'; it's a sweet classic. I wish I would find something like that! Edit: actually, if you don't want it, PM me, maybe we can arrange something...

[lostinxlation]

Very early version of Slackware or Debian.

[Windows Nerd]

I had a look at blueflops, but I would have no idea where to get an early version of Debian or Slackware. I don't mind the CLI (I should be practicing with it more to be honest). Somebody last page mentioned something about DOS, care to elaborate? I sorta found the acronyms confusing.

Edit: @ witeshark - MINE! It is a precious collection in the geek category!

[tjwoosta]

Id say try a cli install of netbsd. You might be able to get irssi and links working if your lucky :P

[tnat]

Put a basic Linux with firehol, dnsmasq an wvdial + some scripting on it. And you have your simple router.

[consindo]

Keep it in fantastic condition and then do something with it in 10 or so years

[lostinxlation]

http://www.debian.org/distrib/archive
http://slackware.mirrors.tds.net/pub/slackware/

Better not to install X window and do everything on console. Use it as a firewall or something.

[murderslastcrow]

Just turn it into a fileserver or something. DSL is the only modern distro that would run on it.

Also, you can probably pay 1 dollar for a computer with more memory than that.

[Ender985]

You could maybe try one of this supersmall-but-modern OS like Kolibri (http://www.kolibrios.org/).

[3rdalbum]

Either take it to a recycling center for safe disposal (this computer was made before RoHS, it probably contains environmentally-unfriendly substances) or keep it safe for years, so some day when a patent troll tries to sue another company for infringing an obvious patent, you can boot up your Windows 95 computer to prove "prior art" :-)

[matthewbpt]

Try and put MCC Interim Linux on it, the first linux distro! If you can call it that lol. They have some QEMU images herehttp://www.manlug.org/content/blogsection/5/71/ maybe there's some way to make them into floppy images, or maybe there are floppy images floating around somewhere on the net. If you do install it be sure to post pictures!

[madhi19]

I say keep it that way. Don't change anything after all it probably almost a museum piece so in a decade or two it probably going to fetch a great price on Ebay! You might end up on the Antique roadshow!

[98cwitr]

hook up and external DVD drive and see if it'll play COD MW2...jp, if it has no nostalgic value to you id chunk it.

[samalex]

If it has a serial port, which I'm betting it does, throw FreeDOS on it with Telix and use it as a dumb terminal for a Linux server or desktop. It would be great to use for IRSSI or other command line apps. You can also write scrips to throw stuff to the serial port and have all sorts of fun! Monitor RSS feeds, get email updates, etc.

Systems like this are great! I have a Tandy Laptop (8088 processor w/ 20 Meg HD) I plan on doing this with as soon as I can get my server back up (we just moved to a new house).

These old laptops make for great toys !

Sam

[kio_http]

Depending on the C.P.U, Windows 3.1 should run fast and if CPU is good enough then Windows 95 also.

I voted linux. I would advise you to use KOLBRI (http://www.kolibrios.org/)
It will give a LOT of functionality for a small system like that!

[koolblue3]

Hi,

At the most you might be able to run a CLI only Linux on it, like a minimal Debian or Ubuntu install. I wonder if "Tiny Core" would run on it though?:confused:

[beetleman64]

It sounds like your CMOS battery is flat, this is easy enough to replace in a desktop, but can be a pain or even impossible to replace in a laptop.

I realise I'll be shot for saying this, but there really is little point in doing anything in particular with it. Even the lightest distros would struggle on that spec, but installing DOS sounds like a good idea.

[forrestcupp]

What's with the limited poll and lame suggestions?

Here are some good suggestions:


Nightlight
Extreme laptop frisbee
Booster seat for a tall, but not tall enough, child
Hang it in your window with an adjustable length cord for when the sun is right at that annoying spot
Use it for a hockey puck on the ice
Just carry it around along with your real laptop so people will think you're awesome enough to need two laptops

[Icarus_Complex]

You could try Tiny Core Linux, however, it would still be way to frustrating to use. I tried the same thing with a laptop with similar specs. It's a headache, throw it away.

[Sporkman]

What's with the limited poll and lame suggestions?

Here are some good suggestions:


Nightlight
Extreme laptop frisbee
Booster seat for a tall, but not tall enough, child
Hang it in your window with an adjustable length cord for when the sun is right at that annoying spot
Use it for a hockey puck on the ice
Just carry it around along with your real laptop so people will think you're awesome enough to need two laptops


If you drop it off the top of a building, then measure the time it takes to hit the ground, you can use that time measurement to estimate the height of the building.

[Penguin Guy]

Turn it into a server with a blog about how you turned it into a server.

[forrestcupp]

If you drop it off the top of a building, then measure the time it takes to hit the ground, you can use that time measurement to estimate the height of the building.

Now you're talking. :)

[Tharkun]

I think you should wipe the drive and send it to someplace that recycles old computers/laptops.

[donkyhotay]

Put linux on it of course! Seriously, what kind of answer were you expecting on a linux forum? Second option would be one of those computer recycling centers that build new computers out of old computers, toss linux on them and donates them.

[MCVenom]

Try to see if you can dual-boot Linux and Windows 95 (probably an older version of Linux, I might suggest an old version of Mandriva or Red Hat. I think those meager specs will need something coded in it's own time, though you might find an ultra-small modern Linux that works :P). I love Linux, but having good old working Windows 95 on an old but working laptop is nothing to scoff at either! :P

[MCVenom]

8Mb RAM! 1Gb HDD! Good luck finding a GUI-based Linux system to work - my old desktop struggles with a CLI version of Ubuntu 6.06 and it has 64Mb RAM and a 3Gb HDD.
Ubuntu is a relatively new OS, that's only a four year old OS no matter which way you cut it, it be like getting XP to run on it, even if you somehow managed to remove the UI and defaulted to the command line only, it still wasn't made with that low specs in mind. Windows 95 is 15 years old. So get a 15 year old Linux OS :p

[The Real Dave]

I dunno has it been mentioned yet, but Kolibri OS will happily run on that :) 1.44MB of Cute (http://kmandla.wordpress.com/2010/02/08/kolibri-1-44mb-of-cute/) ;)

[Windows Nerd]

If it has a serial port, which I'm betting it does, throw FreeDOS on it with Telix and use it as a dumb terminal for a Linux server or desktop. It would be great to use for IRSSI or other command line apps. You can also write scrips to throw stuff to the serial port and have all sorts of fun! Monitor RSS feeds, get email updates, etc.

Systems like this are great! I have a Tandy Laptop (8088 processor w/ 20 Meg HD) I plan on doing this with as soon as I can get my server back up (we just moved to a new house).

These old laptops make for great toys !

Sam
Okay, here are all the suggestions so far-yes I have decided to put Linux on it, why else? Other than throw it out, I wants my bragging rights!

Kolbri OS (Kolibri as it has also been spelt)-Works with the specs, has a floppy image.
DOS-FreeDOS->Will definately work with specs
Tiny Core-Not sure what RAM req's are, never heard of this one before.
Very Early Version of Slackware or Debian->Dunno
cli install of netbsd-Some are saying 8megs is too little RAM
Damn Small Linux-It's dead,as far as I know, 16megs of RAM is the smallest it will run...
MCC Interim Linux on it, the first linux distro->Will work
Puppy Linux-Probably not going to work, too big.
BasicLinux-Yep
Blueflops-Will work.
Turn it into a fileserver-Can't see this happening, as I have bigger flash drives for 10 $.

Now, as to why I quoted this poster: I have some questions for you.

1) What is Telix?
2) What do you mean by serial port? It doesnt have many ports. It's a laptop.

Scott

[witeshark17]

I had a look at blueflops, but I would have no idea where to get an early version of Debian or Slackware. I don't mind the CLI (I should be practicing with it more to be honest). Somebody last page mentioned something about DOS, care to elaborate? I sorta found the acronyms confusing.

Edit: @ witeshark - MINE! It is a precious collection in the geek category! I knew it! That's it! It's now my quest to find a similar laptop! :guitar: DOS = the ancient IBM Disk Operating System.

[MCVenom]

Okay, here are all the suggestions so far-yes I have decided to put Linux on it, why else? Other than throw it out, I wants my bragging rights!

Kolbri OS (Kolibri as it has also been spelt)-Works with the specs, has a floppy image.
DOS-FreeDOS->Will definately work with specs
Tiny Core-Not sure what RAM req's are, never heard of this one before.
Very Early Version of Slackware or Debian->Dunno
cli install of netbsd-Some are saying 8megs is too little RAM
Damn Small Linux-It's dead,as far as I know, 16megs of RAM is the smallest it will run...
MCC Interim Linux on it, the first linux distro->Will work
Puppy Linux-Probably not going to work, too big.
BasicLinux-Yep
Blueflops-Will work.
Turn it into a fileserver-Can't see this happening, as I have bigger flash drives for 10 $.

Now, as to why I quoted this poster: I have some questions for you.

1) What is Telix?
2) What do you mean by serial port? It doesnt have many ports. It's a laptop.

Scott
Don't forget an old Mandriva or Red Hat! They'll give you an interesting look back to how desktop Linux was before Ubuntu ;)

[Windows Nerd]

I knew it! That's it! It's now my quest to find a similar laptop! :guitar: DOS = the ancient IBM Disk Operating System.
I know what DOS is, I meant what type of DOS (later I rembembered "Oh, right FreeDOS")

[Windows Nerd]

Don't forget an old Mandriva or Red Hat! They'll give you an interesting look back to how desktop Linux was before Ubuntu ;)
Yeah, I'll have to add that to the suggestions.
Here comes the even more trivial question: What Linux Distro from these two and the 10 or so I listed above should I use? The hard part is determining that: Which ones can install from floppy? I know Blueflops does.

[Brandel Valico]

I have not read the other posts. So this may have been mentioned.

I voted Other (Stick a Linux OS on it and donate it to a school or church or non-profit org. Or heck just give it to someone you think would like having one. Thats what I do with any old spare computers I get ahold of. (Mind you I first do check to ensure I or others don't have a use for it. But if not I just give it away to the first person I meet who wants it.)

[lostinxlation]

Yeah, I'll have to add that to the suggestions.
Here comes the even more trivial question: What Linux Distro from these two and the 10 or so I listed above should I use? The hard part is determining that: Which ones can install from floppy? I know Blueflops does.

http://slackware.mirrors.tds.net/pub/slackware/slackware-3.3/INSTALL.TXT

Slackware3.3 has an instruction doc with floppy install and hard drive install.

Min requirement for slack3.3 is 4MB. 8MB being suggested, though.

I'm sure Debian from the 90's can do it, as floppy install wasn't uncommon back then.


However, no matter which distro you install, you cannot do much with that machine.. 486/25 is too weak to run today's application and the best you can do is using it for some dedicated purpose like router/firewall or such.

[MCVenom]

Yeah, I'll have to add that to the suggestions.
Here comes the even more trivial question: What Linux Distro from these two and the 10 or so I listed above should I use? The hard part is determining that: Which ones can install from floppy? I know Blueflops does.
Mandrake, actually! Forgot all about the name change!

An old Slackware or Debian version should definitely run on that; But forget Mandrake, actually. Much too big. As for Red Hat Linux, I don't know if you'll be able to find an old version for it. :(

So I re-cast my votes for Slackware, or Debian.

[kmsalex]

i tried out tinycore and kolibri in virtualbox i relay liked both, but when i set the ram to 8mb and video to 1mb(the lowes you can set it) tiny core refuesed to boot siting lack of memory.
Kolibri booted but oddly left out the background...but it defiantly worked.

*EDIT*
well poking around a little more in kolibri i relised only a few of the apps are loaded and the ones that are loaded will freeze up after a few clicks.
i think 8mb might just be a little slim. adding 2mb to a total of 10mb gives me a fully responsive desktop, then again thats alot easyer to do a VM then on a real box.
maby you should just put it back in the closet for another decayed or so. it will probably be worth something then.

[Shining Arcanine]

I voted "Put it back in the closet and sell it as an antique in 15 years", but my suggestion is that if you want to have some fun with it, you can do a backup image of the hard drive with dd and try installing a tiny Linux distribution on it.

It should be possible to custom tailor OpenWRT (http://www.openwrt.org/) for it on a modern system and do a special compilation of OpenWRT just for it. After installing OpenWRT on it, you might be able to get gnome and firefox running, although at that point, you are starting to move out of the area for which OpenWRT was designed, so you will probably need to compile Firefox for it outside of OpenWRT's package manager.

Then after you are finished playing with it, you can back-up your OpenWRT installation by imaging it, and then reimage Windows 95 back onto the system.

[5dolla]

make it a dedicated 24-7 primordial life pc

[Windows Nerd]

Yeah, I'll start with old version of slack or debian. Then go to bluelops, then kolibiri, then tinycore. If none of those work, well, I'l be damnned.

I'll post pictures as soon as I can find time and such.

[forrestcupp]

2) What do you mean by serial port? It doesnt have many ports. It's a laptop.Lol. People don't know what serial ports are anymore.

The old guys remember when we had to use serial mice and we connected two computers together with a serial null modem.

http://www.ergocanada.com/ergo/tips/serial_port.jpg

[praveesh]

Try menuetos .( http://www.menuetos.net/ )

It fits under 2mb . It is feature rich . Can play media using mplayer . Can use internet using built in web browser .

[Windows Nerd]

Lol. People don't know what serial ports are anymore.

The old guys remember when we had to use serial mice and we connected two computers together with a serial null modem.

http://www.ergocanada.com/ergo/tips/serial_port.jpg
Oh lol, I thought it was a vga port...silly me. Yeah...I started to use computers in about 2000 so didn't recognize it as a serial port. I checked and it does indeed have a serial port, but no ethernet port. How the hell do I get online with this thing?

[blueturtl]

Do something truly DOSsy with it... like play DooM or other retro games.

[Paqman]

The hdd size is madness!


I often laugh when I remember the 202MB hard drive in my first PC.

I say put DOS on that bad boy and enjoy a bit of old school gaming nostalgia. Either that or shoehorn the most powerful system you can into the case, for lulz.

[samalex]

Oh lol, I thought it was a vga port...silly me. Yeah...I started to use computers in about 2000 so didn't recognize it as a serial port. I checked and it does indeed have a serial port, but no ethernet port. How the hell do I get online with this thing?

If you have another system with a serial port you can connect both together with a serial cable and null modem then using getty and pppd you can get online that way. Here's a how-to on Linux.org:
http://www.linux.org/docs/ldp/howto/PPP-HOWTO/direct.html

It's been years but I've done this several times in the past. You won't be connected at blazing speeds, but it should be simple to do given you have Linux on both the laptop and server.

Another option is if the laptop has a PCMCIA port you can add a network card or even a Wifi card if you can get drivers to work. The PCMCIA Proxim Orinoco wireless cards have been well supported in Linux for years, and anymore you can probably find one for next to nothing on EBay.

Update: Yup EBay has TONS of them listed for $20 or less - http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=p3907.m570.l1313&_nkw=Proxim+orinoco - or you can pick-up a Null Modem or Null Modem Cable for under $20 from Radio Shack - http://www.radioshack.com/search/index.jsp?kwCatId=&kw=null%20modem&origkw=null%20modem&sr=1

Sam

[Windows Nerd]

If you have another system with a serial port you can connect both together with a serial cable and null modem then using getty and pppd you can get online that way. Here's a how-to on Linux.org:
http://www.linux.org/docs/ldp/howto/PPP-HOWTO/direct.html

It's been years but I've done this several times in the past. You won't be connected at blazing speeds, but it should be simple to do given you have Linux on both the laptop and server.

Another option is if the laptop has a PCMCIA port you can add a network card or even a Wifi card if you can get drivers to work. The PCMCIA Proxim Orinoco wireless cards have been well supported in Linux for years, and anymore you can probably find one for next to nothing on EBay.

Update: Yup EBay has TONS of them listed for $20 or less - http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=p3907.m570.l1313&_nkw=Proxim+orinoco - or you can pick-up a Null Modem or Null Modem Cable for under $20 from Radio Shack - http://www.radioshack.com/search/index.jsp?kwCatId=&kw=null%20modem&origkw=null%20modem&sr=1

Sam
I does have a PCMCIA port...and I have an old card. Lets see if the rest of the computer likes them...I have yet to figure out how the hell I am going to find some floppies and a way to get the install image ON the floppies. Should be fun, and there is a holiday monday :)

[samalex]

I does have a PCMCIA port...and I have an old card. Lets see if the rest of the computer likes them...I have yet to figure out how the hell I am going to find some floppies and a way to get the install image ON the floppies. Should be fun, and there is a holiday monday :)

I'm not sure if Ubuntu supports this, but back in the day I used to do all my Linux installs with a bootable network disk which could connect to an ISO located on an NFS share. That was one of the awesome options of Red Hat 9 and prior (the 2003 and back versions) that I loved. The CD had a floppy image (bootdisk.img) that could boot the computer and in most cases find the network card (even PCMCIA from what I remember). After plugging in some basic network info and the NFS server it would mount the ISO on another system and start the install.

If Ubuntu supports this then you're set, but from what I've read Fedora still does. That's one option. I'll admit, in Windows (at least XP and prior) you could format a drive, copy the guts of the CD to the computer, and run the setup to install Windows. I don't know if it's quite that simple under Linux, but it'd be nice if it were.

Sam

[Old_Grey_Wolf]

...I have yet to figure out how the hell I am going to find some floppies and a way to get the install image ON the floppies. Should be fun, and there is a holiday monday :)

I did a Google search. You can still get external floppy drives with a USB interface for $20, and floppy disks. You could make the boot floppies with another computer. I have a USB floppy drive, and downloaded DOSBox. I have used it to play some old floppy DOS games.

Have fun. :lolflag:

I got a 486DX2 running a few years ago. Once I proved who was boss, and got it working, I took a hammer to the hard drive, and gave the thing to a recycling center.

[Windows Nerd]

Sorry for the long reply, but I've been busy fooling around with my desktop custimization and conky for the past week in the spare time I have...I will get back to this project as soon as I finish.

Scott

[Stancel]

What about Red Hat? That was first released in 1994. I don't know how available that version is though.....I don't know what it looks like but I would guess it doesn't look much different from Windows 95.

[ronnielsen1]

I remember when my dad bought a computer many many years back, it had a 19gb hard drive. The man in the shop said "you will never ever fill that up in your life time" lol

I have this 200 Meg hard drive from my old 486 that I've kept just to remind me that I bragged to the wife how huge it was and that I'd never be able to fill it up. I keep the contents in a 50 Meg file now for dosbox.

[Windows Nerd]

What about Red Hat? That was first released in 1994. I don't know how available that version is though.....I don't know what it looks like but I would guess it doesn't look much different from Windows 95.
Actually I got a Red Hat 6.2 disk from my neighbour...it was the oldest he had. I tried it out in Virtualbox first and an install takes some 500mb of space, so I may have to find an older version yet, or find an old Debian version.

[WinterRain]

Actually I got a Red Hat 6.2 disk from my neighbour...it was the oldest he had. I tried it out in Virtualbox first and an install takes some 500mb of space, so I may have to find an older version yet, or find an old Debian version.

What about Tiny Core? It's only 10mb.

[witeshark17]

Wow! O_O That is a classic! :)

[Windows Nerd]

Wow! O_O That is a classic! :)

Yeah. He has been using Linux for 10 years...and has a custom built machine that will kick the average computer from best buy's *** for 10 years! Well, if the hardware lasts for 10 years (he has his processor running at about a 50% overclock :O, stable).


Anyways:

I tried out Menuet and Kolibri OS to see if the RAM is enough. Menuet refused to boot in a VM, but Kolibri did. Kolibri is based off of Menuet; but Kolibri refused to load unless it had 12 MB of RAM. At 8 it would not boot. I am going to try the oldest version of Debian out there when I have time...which will be Sunday (I know, right? Commitments take over life...grrr)