Operating systems for really, really old computers

[Zero Prime]

I would add more RAM, but RDRAM costs way to much.

[K.Mandla]

Ouch. You're right. RDRAM was a bad thing, start to finish.

On the other hand, I once found two or three machines with RDRAM sticks in them, and made a pretty penny off them.

[-grubby]

This is the only one I ever heard of, aside from the old Minix.

http://elks.sourceforge.net/

How much RAM memory does it have? How big is the HDD? FreeDOS+OpenGEM, or perhaps KolibriOS or Contiki, and join the GUI revolution. Do let us know how you get on too. I'm interested as to how these perform on machines such as these.

+1. If you get FreeDOS and OpenGEM working, that would be fantastic.

You could probably just install "OpenGEM Complete" on top of IBM DOS.

Agreed, Gem neat.
http://gem.shaneland.co.uk/

oh well sorry to disappoint you guys but it is on the ground now all taken apart (even the power supply) don't ask.

[Wiebelhaus]

Here's some suggestions in order of their size (as a compressed image rather than install or memory requirements).

Not Linux but worth mentioning
(<2Mb) KolibriOS (based on MenuetOS) a GUI OS
(~11Mb) FreeDOS + OpenGEM - DOS compatible GUI
(~23Mb) ReactOS - Windows compatible but still in alpha
(~30Mb) KolibriOS CD version (based on MenuetOS) a GUI OS

Under 50Mb
Distros under 50Mb fit onto a MiniCD.

(~3Mb) Mungkie - (aka 2diskXwin)
(12Mb) Grey Cat Linux - Slackware based with IceWM
(<15Mb) SliTaz with JWM
(<50Mb) DamnSmallLinux - based on Knoppix, but with Fluxbox
(44Mb) Jinx - with Opera 9, Flash, Textmaker and Planmaker.
(<50Mb) Austrumi - A business card size bootable live CD Linux distribution based on Slackware.
(<50Mb) MeanPup -A live distro based on Puppy
(<50Mb) Mitrax -A live distro based on Slackware
(<50Mb) Luit - XFCE and ROXFile

Under 128Mb

(<100Mb) NimbleX sub100 - Slackware based with KDE
(<100Mb) Puppy Linux - live with IceWM (see also eBoxPup, IcePup, LitePup, MiniPup, PizzaPup, SafePup and XPuppyPro)
(84Mb) DamnSmallLinux-Not - distro using Knoppix hardware recognition with Abiword and Gnumeric.
(<128Mb) DeLi - Desktop Light
(<128Mb) SLAX Popcorn Edition- A smaller version of SLAX with Xfce
(<128Mb) FeatherLinux - Knoppix based distro with Fluxbox

Under 256Mb

(177Mb) TinyMe - based on pcLinuxOS, but with Openbox
(182Mb) Kurumin 6 Light - Knoppix based, with KDE
(~200Mb) PUD - based on Ubuntu
(~200Mb) Slax - Distro based on Slackware using KDE
(223Mb) TinyFlux - based on TinyMe, with Fluxbox
(230Mb) Kanotix CpxMini, Kanotix, but with Fluxbox
(241Mb) Wolvix Cub
(<250Mb) Featherweight- based on Feather Linux, but with KDE
(<256Mb) Flash Linux- Gentoo-based, initially designed to run off of a 256Mb USB key.

Under 700Mb
Distros under 700Mb fit onto most CD-Rs. These should still run in 128Mb RAM on a Pentium III level machine.

(278Mb) AliXe - Slax based with Xfce
(300Mb) Fluxbuntu - Ubuntu 7.10 based with Fluxbox
(410Mb) AntiX - MEPIS based with Fluxbox
(551Mb) Kanotix Lite with KDE
(614Mb) SaxenOS 1 - with EDE
(626Mb) MEPISLite - MEPIS based with KDE
(662Mb) eLive - Debian based with Enlightenment
(699Mb) SAM - A LiveCD based on PCLinuxOS, but with Xfce.

The best out of the lot , hands down.

[motang]

Extremely informative list. I dind't know more than half of the OS that you have listed.

[stranger]

You've got several Slackware-based systems on there, but I don't see any mention of the options Slackware itself gives you. First, there's zipslack, which fits on a 100MB zip drive or a FAT partition. And, starting with 12.0 Slackware has USB and PXE installation instructions. The USB instructions are for a 24MB partition. PXE is for a network install.

Plus, you can just install Slackware and install a very lean set of programs. It takes a little choosing, but I've installed it with basically X and Fluxbox with a half-dozen main programs -- firefox, etc. -- on an ancient AMD K6-2 laptop. It ran very well with that, considering. I also considered just downloading an older version of Slackware that was smaller and lighter, then upgrading just the parts I needed to. In the end, it was easier to go with the current version, but that is an option.

If you remember back to MS's attempt to discredit the idea that Linux runs on anything, the one distro (IIRC) that ran OK on a 486 was Slackware. It takes a bit more doing that Ubuntu, of course, but once it's set up, it's a great system for an older box.

[ganoderma]

I've successfully installed and run Vector Linux 3.2 onto a Pentium 66 (yes an old 5 watt cpu) - the hard drive was 500 mb; I partitioned the disk and installed the linux by storing the Vector code on the dos side, and used a boot floppy to call it - the CD rom didn't work. I've also installed Damn Small Linux on a 486 DX 50 machine (240 mb hd). Yes, you can do both, but you will need 16 mb of memory to do so with any kind of a gui.

ganoderma

[fajro]

Ubuntulite FTW!

[darrelljon]

Managed to get over 860 diggs for this topic. Woo hoo! Will try and add some more OS soon.

[init1]

I've become quite fond of Minix recently. It runs CLI on my newer and older laptop, but not X. It will run on as little as 8MB RAM, but has no trouble with 512MB.
http://www.minix3.org/