Best OS for Compaq Presario 1230 Laptop (233MHz/32MB)

**Petro Dawg** · August 22nd, 2012

I found a distribution called ttylinux, I've never tried it before, but it looks like there are about 6 distributions to choose from. I believe these use a command line interface only and are supposed to be able to run on as little as 28MB RAM.

You'll probably have to use Lynx (text based web browser) to surf the web, and you would have to become more familiar than I am at terminal commands. I'm sure it would require some additional research, but definitely a fun project if you are up to it.

**NekoMaster** · August 23rd, 2012

Originally Posted by Petro Dawg

I found a distribution called ttylinux, I've never tried it before, but it looks like there are about 6 distributions to choose from. I believe these use a command line interface only and are supposed to be able to run on as little as 28MB RAM.

You'll probably have to use Lynx (text based web browser) to surf the web, and you would have to become more familiar than I am at terminal commands. I'm sure it would require some additional research, but definitely a fun project if you are up to it.

I don't like command line only OS'es because theres usually no support for mice and its hard to get games running. Also this laptop may be used by my sister and she's a total noob when it comes to linux.

For now I installed Windows 98 but browsing on it is really really slow, and most of the time websites dont load up in Internet explorer 6 (which is to be expected since it doesnt support all the new stuff)

**lykwydchykyn** · August 23rd, 2012

I'll save you some time here: You are *not* going to get a satisfactory Linux-with-X11 experience on this hardware. No distro will give it to you.

DSL is pretty much the only hope you have if you want Linux, and even then there just isn't a lot of linux software that's going to run on that little amount of RAM.

FreeDOS might be an option; It has a GUI that makes Windows 98 look futuristic, or you can run it command-line; but it's supposedly fully DOS compatible, and there is a treasure trove of old DOS freeware floating about the 'net (not to mention the attics and garages of anyone over 30).

I don't think AROS, Haiku, Syllable, or any of the other crop of new non-Linux free OS's will run on that hardware. Menuet or KolibriOS might, but if you find anything useful to do on those systems you're doing better than I am.

EDIT: Actually, check out LightDOS. It's a FreeDOS distribution that comes with a nice, reasonably modernish desktop. It's system requirements fit your hardware, and it's only a 6MB iso.

EDIT2: DOScore, a.k.a. Aura is another DOS-based option.

**Random20210831** · August 23rd, 2012

Puppy Linux are best for your laptop.

**angryfirelord** · August 25th, 2012

The newer distros today are going to have a hard time running on 1990s hardware. I'd say first try a Debian minimal install and see if you can use something like IceWM.

If you're feeling ambitious, OpenBSD is another choice.

**?#Yhf%*&** · October 29th, 2012

Originally Posted by lykwydchykyn

I'll save you some time here: You are *not* going to get a satisfactory Linux-with-X11 experience on this hardware. No distro will give it to you.

DSL is pretty much the only hope you have if you want Linux, and even then there just isn't a lot of linux software that's going to run on that little amount of RAM.

FreeDOS might be an option; It has a GUI that makes Windows 98 look futuristic, or you can run it command-line; but it's supposedly fully DOS compatible, and there is a treasure trove of old DOS freeware floating about the 'net (not to mention the attics and garages of anyone over 30).

I don't think AROS, Haiku, Syllable, or any of the other crop of new non-Linux free OS's will run on that hardware. Menuet or KolibriOS might, but if you find anything useful to do on those systems you're doing better than I am.

EDIT: Actually, check out LightDOS. It's a FreeDOS distribution that comes with a nice, reasonably modernish desktop. It's system requirements fit your hardware, and it's only a 6MB iso.

EDIT2: DOScore, a.k.a. Aura is another DOS-based option.

As the developer of LightDOS, I would have to say it's not quite ready for anything more than emulator use. The only way to install it at the moment is to write the USB image to a hard disk. But you are more than welcome to test it

**doorknob60** · October 31st, 2012

Any modern distro or kernel will have a hard time running with only 32 MB of RAM. I had a similar Compaq with 64 MB of RAM, and even 4 years ago when I was trying to put Linux on it, everything with a 2.6 kernel used too much RAM for comfort. DSL was the only one that ran decently. Once I upgraded the RAM to 192 MB (the max), I was able to use Debian 4 (later 5) and Openbox/LXDE. If it's possible to find some more RAM for that somewhere, you'd have many more options.