Re: [K12OSN] minimalist distro

[Tom Brown <tbrown michiana org>]

At 11:06 PM 12/15/03 -0800, you wrote:
> I have a new community center who has been donated about 20 computers. The 
> best being a 486 with 64m ram and a 1.2 gb. They have no network but are 
> requesting the grants to be able to buy the equipment and hardware needed. 
> They would like to use the above pc for a single workstation until they 
> get set up. They are going to be using the k12 distro when all is said and 
> done. Is there a distro that has a gui and oo.o  that will run halfway 
> decent with the pc. any one have any Ideas?? Please help...
> Thanks
> Shawn


Sorry to respond so late to your inquiry.

FREE GEEK Michiana distributes obsolete stand-alone computers to low income 
families and individuals. We use Vector Linux 3.2 on Pentium cpus for our 
FreeBoxes. After much testing we determined that VL is the best all round 
distro for old computers. VL has several versions, all of which run on i386 
or better platforms. The installer will run on as little as 8-16mb of ram, 
and we have installed VL 3.2 successfully on several low resource 486 laptops.

http://www.freegeekmichiana.org/
http://www.vectorlinux.com/

The default VL kernel is for pentium/ide (pentide). Be sure to download the 
i386 kernel (ide or scsi) or an iso (VL 2.0) with the i386 kernel.

http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/vectorlinux/veclinux-3.2/kernels/
http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/vectorlinux/iso/

You will want video cards with at least 1mb of ram, 2mb is better. Old 
video cards may only resolve at 640x480 at 8 bit color. With more video ram 
you can get 800x600 at 16 bits. If you have only 256kb or 512kb, you'll be 
severely restricted with X-windows and may not even be able to run an X 
server. Some video cards may not have X drivers or servers.

http://www.xfree86.org/

You'll want 32mb of system ram or better to run apps comfortably. You can 
run VL on 16mb. But who would? The minimum install footprint for VL 3.2 is 
less than 450 mb. So the minimum hard drive for a VL install would be about 
550 mb. This leaves little room for user files.

Forget OO on a 486. VL lacks an office suite: no spreadsheet, presentation 
software or database app. But VL will get you by until you can find more 
robust computers. If you have a 300+ mhz system with lots of system ram, 
install VL SOHO which comes with OO.

Tom