Arch Linux

montecristo

Member

From: Toronto, ON

Registered: 2009-02-08

Posts: 9

Old Hardware

I have several old laptops lying around in my basement, and they're not really good for much, they run Win95 right now, 133Mhz processor, and RAM's pretty low too. Any idea what linux distro I could put on them? The only obstacle with them is, no onboard LAN, or Optical drive, so I can't imagine how I'm going to get it on them. Any ideas?

Lexion

Member

Registered: 2008-03-23

Posts: 510

Re: Old Hardware

You can put arch linux on them with a flash drive.  But if you want something smaller, you could try damn small linux (DSL).

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urxvtc / wmii / zsh / configs / onebluecat.net
Arch will not hold your hand

Renan Birck

Member

From: Brazil

Registered: 2007-11-11

Posts: 401

Website

Re: Old Hardware

133MHz processor? I guess it's a 133MHz Pentium, and those are i586, therefore they will not run Arch (which is optimized for i686).

Maybe Slackware would be the way to go.

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x64 Arch + KDE|last.fm|twitter|blog|git|stack exchange|AUR

mvdvarrier

Member

Registered: 2008-10-04

Posts: 47

Re: Old Hardware

Hello
Look for Slackware versions 9.x. I have installed it with out GUI in an old pc with 166 MHz Pentium with 16MB RAM . You can make use of their Hard disk space (if any) for storing some files.
Wish you good luck
mvdvarrier

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mvdvarrier is a Warrior; Born to Expedite!!!

afonic

Member

Registered: 2007-06-21

Posts: 53

Re: Old Hardware

I would use DSL (DamnSmallLinux). Works fine at a P200MMX I have.

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Your source for video guides!
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Currently using: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 @ 3.5GHz, 2GB RAM, Asus P5E, nVidia Geforce 8800GTS, Arch Linux

bwh1969

Member

Registered: 2008-01-05

Posts: 151

Re: Old Hardware

Yes... the only way to go if you want to run X is use DSL.  It uses fluxbox.  I have an old Fujitsu laptop, 200 MMX with 96 MB ram.  It doesn't run all that fast, but it does run acceptably.  It takes some learning because of the way you "install" packages is kind of foreign... but ingenious for the way the newer packages [exensions] are integrated (old packages were tar, new versions are like squashfs or aufs in how they are loaded). 

You can't run firefox 3, or if you figure out how, it won't run well.  You'll be stuck with ff1.5 or 2 BUT there is an opera 9.X package and Opera is a good browser.  There are Open Office extensions as well as a slew of other things that make an old computer into something useful.

montecristo

Member

From: Toronto, ON

Registered: 2009-02-08

Posts: 9

Re: Old Hardware

I found a card thats going to help connect me to the web. I'm gonna try DSL just because of the size. Easier if I have more room on an already small hard drive. Thanks for all your help.

Gullible Jones

Member

Registered: 2004-12-29

Posts: 4,863

Re: Old Hardware

Debian + LXDE.

Obi-Lan

Member

From: Finland

Registered: 2007-05-23

Posts: 179

Re: Old Hardware

Be a masochist and put Gentoo.

ogronom

Member

From: Toronto, Canada

Registered: 2008-05-06

Posts: 123

Re: Old Hardware

Deli linux
http://www.delilinux.org/

desktop oriented linux for old hardware
Uses pacman

Alphalutra1

Member

Registered: 2006-09-16

Posts: 59

Re: Old Hardware

netbsd.  works on a ton a platforms, many of which are low powered and don't have a lot of RAM.  you can even compile updates on your linux computer using therefore build.sh

Cheers,

Alphalutra1

evr

Arch Linux f@h Team Member

Registered: 2009-01-23

Posts: 554

Re: Old Hardware

Be a masochist and put Gentoo.

haha, i can't even imagine how long that would take

proc

Member

From: Italy

Registered: 2006-11-27

Posts: 71

Re: Old Hardware

Why not Archlinux ? 
Take a look at http://code.google.com/p/archlinux-i586/
(This is my little project)