Foster Reed: Another Linux Question

[Foster Reed]

After reading the threads on this page, and hearing of all the problems relating with Windows products, I'm thinking of testing out Linux for a change of pace. I don't do any gaming and admit my computer is essentially obsolete. I have 6 year old IBM Aptiva with an AMD K6-2 380 Mhz processor, 256 MB RAM, and an 80 GB HDD. I just replaced the hard drive (original was only 4 GB) so I have about 75 GB free and am currently running Windows 98SE. Any suggestions for a distro that will work with a computer such as mine with only limited resources?

[Cool DeFrost]

>I have 6 year old IBM
> Aptiva with an AMD K6-2 380 Mhz processor,
> 256 MB RAM, and an 80 GB HDD. I just
> replaced the hard drive (original was only 4
> GB) so I have about 75 GB free and am
> currently running Windows 98SE. Any
> suggestions for a distro that will work with
> a computer such as mine with only limited
> resources?

PCLinuxOS

[Parker]

If you've read all the threads on this page, then you already know about SimplyMEPIS (www.mepis.org), which I think is about the coolest Linux distro around. You system has adequate RAM, which is the most important thing. Just for kicks, I installed SimplyMEPIS on my resident dinosaur computer I keep around to play with (Pentium MMX 233 Mhz, 128 MB RAM, 10 GB HD). While it won't break any speed records, it works just fine. It is accessing the hard drive almost constantly, so I imagine that merely adding more RAM would speed things up considerably.

SimplyMEPIS boots from a "live CD," meaning that to install it, you first just boot the CD, and it installs the system running off the CD. This way, you can "preview" it and check for any hardware incompatibilities before you do anything to your system. Assuming everything works, you start the installation script to install it to your hard drive.

The QParted disk partitioning utility is included, which will allow you to install it peacefully alongside your Windows partition. When you boot up, you will be presented with a menu giving you the choice of booting Windows or Linux.

It doesn't give you a whole lot of guidance for using QParted. What you want to do is create two Linux partitions, one about 4 GB for the / (root) partition, and another about 10 GB for the /home partition. Also create a 512 MB Linux swap partition.

You can download the MEPIS CD from the website, assuming that you have a high speed Internet connection and a CDROM burner. If not, you can order a CD from the website for the princely sum of $9.95. If you are active duty US military, the developers will send you a free CD.

MEPIS Linux