New Linux box

[martinultima]

Got a new Linux box!! (Junky old system I got from a friend, originally he wanted to use it as a server.) Obviously, running Slack...Specs:

• Pentium 166MHz
• 32MB RAM
• 2.5GB disk
• USB 2.0 - four ports - PCI card
• ISA sound and network (not currently working)
• 802.11b wireless - USB adapter
• Slackware 10.0 w/X11 and Fluxbox, + OpenOffice.org 1.1.2

Thing actually works rather nicely, albeit slow. And it still has 500MB set aside for Windows 98 SE, although I haven't gotten around to installing it yet. There's still about 300-400MB left free.(Yes, I most likely am insane, but it's fun to do stupid things like this! )

Edited January 13, 2005 by martinultima

[BarryB]

Way to go!!!! And it's not crazy, all the best people I know..get machines and throw Linux on them ...But your right it sure is fun...and think ..e more boxes=more fun...at least that's my motto

[havnblast]

What else is there to do - I can't wait for enough parts to come in and build a working linux box. I'm always short on hard drives and monitors tho. I got a PII400 just waitin for a home. I need a bigger place

[linuxdude32]

Got a new Linux box!!  (Junky old system I got from a friend, originally he wanted to use it as a server.)  Obviously, running Slack...Specs:

• Pentium 166MHz
• 32MB RAM
• 2.5GB disk
• USB 2.0 - four ports - PCI card
• ISA sound and network (not currently working)
• 802.11b wireless - USB adapter
• Slackware 10.0 w/X11 and Fluxbox, + OpenOffice.org 1.1.2

Thing actually works rather nicely, albeit slow.  And it still has 500MB set aside for Windows 98 SE, although I haven't gotten around to installing it yet.  There's still about 300-400MB left free.(Yes, I most likely am insane, but it's fun to do stupid things like this!  )

Nice! You might want to avoid using OpenOffice.org though. From the system requirements:

Pentium compatible PC, 64 MB RAM, 300 MB available hard disk space

I can't imagine running it with less that 128 MB of RAM. Even with 256 MB it's still a pig to load though it runs fine with 128 or 256 MB once loaded.I'm trying to think of the word processor that's included with D*** Small Linux. It'd probably run pretty spiffy on that system.

[b2cm]

StarOffice 5.1 would be perfect for those specs.

[steel]

sounds like a really nice machine and as far as word processors go abi word is excellent for something like that ... i think thats the beauty of it all when you dont have much resources and you have to rely on tricks and knowledge to make it do what you want it to do, its more fun that way... unless your used to kde then going into fluxbox or xfce or afterstep will be shell shock

[linuxdude32]

Abiword would probably run fine, it's pretty fast, but.... you'd have to install the Gnome libraries for that. Not sure how much hard drive space you'd have left after all that. Found the name of what DSL uses:Ted-GTKOf course you could just go console apps for everything. Then it'd run really fast

[steel]

Of course you could just go console apps for everything. Then it'd run really fast

Now your talking J i seen somwhere online the specs for loghorne and i was sheesh thats insane thats why i love linux, i dont play games on it and i always loved small light weight windows managers and best part is you can tweakit to your own style so its that much nicer ... and its fun

[Bruno]

Don we all love new ( old ) toys ?? . . . Great martin !! Bruno

[BarryB]

I'm thinking DSL or Feather or 3.2 Vector would be great for that machine..might just surprise you with the speed.

Edited January 13, 2005 by BarryB

[steel]

yeap i agree with Barry about Vector here is a link to the min system requirements for vecmaybe even 4.3 which i use myself and love

VL 4.3 Hardware RequirementsThe minimum hardware requirements to run VectorLinux 4.3 are a 166 MHz Pentium class processor with 32 MB of RAM memory, and just 850 MB of hard disc space (*).To have a more comfortable experience with VectorLinux 4.3 we would recommend a 233 MHz (MMX) processor with 64 MB of memory as a minimum.(*) 835 MB of space for the installation plus 64 MB of swap space is the very minimum.Extra space would be required for additional applications and / or your personal files.You can find more information about features and requirements for the different versions in

here is a link to download all versions of vector linuxyou can even try the live cd to get a feel of it first if you like

[steel]

i just thought of something concerning older computers, lets suppose you had an old computer around and a old 20 gig hardrive is there a way that it could see or read the 20 gigs??? reason i asked is because some years ago i bought a bigger hardrive for an old computer and it couldnt read the whole thing so i was stuck with only 8 gigs ..

[teacher]

Someone with more knowledge will have to answer but I know that there are BIOS changes to allow them to recognize larger HDs. So it is possible but not the easiest thing to do.

[BarryB]

Maybe this will help Many of the later size barriers and limitations that you will encounter are due to limitations in BIOS code, therefore they can be similarly overcome by upgrading or flashing the BIOS to a later version that can handle larger drives. All new BIOS's today enable Interrupt13h extensions to overcome the 8 GB size barrier. An upgrade to a current BIOS date will also address other BIOS code problems such as the one that causes the 32 GB size barrier commonly seen in the various Windows versions.

Edited January 14, 2005 by BarryB

[steel]

can be similarly overcome by upgrading or flashing the BIOS to a later version that can handle larger drives

wow Teach was right not easiest thing to do, so i guess your either stuck with a limited hardrive or go through the hassle of upgading your bios, or simplier replace it completly, though that maybe there was software that made it possible to enable large disk support, remebered awhile back a freind had to use EZ software but he said it messed up his computer more than anything else

[linuxdude32]

A Flash BIOS update doesn't have to be hard. The hardest part (and the most critical) is finding out the manufacturer of the motherboard so you can get the right one. You don't get this from the brand associated with the BIOS (such as Phoenix, AMI, Award, etc.). Then you make a floppy from it (the bios update software or tells you how to do it) and then boot form the floppy while holding some combination of keys. I did it on my old Pentium machine both for the motherboard and the video card. It fixed a bug on the video card and allowed the maximum processor speed to be 200 Mhz (from 133 Mhz before it). You just need to be careful while doing the update and follow the instructions to the letter. It's also good to have a backup of the existing BIOS too in case the new BIOS doesn't work.

[linuxdude32]

here is a link to download all versions of vector linuxyou can even try the live cd to get a feel of it first if you like

Nice! I might try this one myself. Thanks for the tip.

[Bruno]

If even 3.2 is still available for download I would opt for 3.2 on older systems with little memory and CPU. Why ? Because during the install you can choose between XF421 and XF336, the 336 is an older version of XFree that needs less CPU and MB memory.Quote from the install notes:

If you have a fairly recent computer get xf421.bz2. If you are using a very early pentium (60, 75, 100) or a 486 system get xf336.bz2.

Source: ftp://ftp.nluug.nl/pub/os/Linux/distr/vec...3.2/install.txt Bruno

[steel]

If even 3.2 is still available for download I would opt for 3.2

hi Bruno i seen it and i downloaded the 3.2 myself if i ever get that old computer connected sometime, i also noticed soho not really sure what the diffreence is i only tried and used vector 4.3 myself and still use it and love it

[Bruno]

Hi SteelEvery version, 3.2 . . 4.3 . . has a base version and a SOHO version, the difference is that the SOHO has KDE and is more geared to office applications . . . . the size in download is therefore also more then double that of the base versions Bruno

[steel]

Every version, 3.2  . . 4.3  . . has a base version and a SOHO version, the difference is that the SOHO has KDE and is more geared to office applications .

ohhhhh ok i get it now thanks Bruno, i love the plain version and if you want to you can always add your own stuff, so no soho for me plz

[linuxdude32]

The SOHO version (at least recent ones) seem to have higher requirements too (64 MB RAM and a minimum 300 Mhz PII, I think). That's probably because of the inclusion of OpenOffice.org. I haven't tried it yet, just read that in the comparison chart where they compare all the versions.

[martinultima]

Obviously, you people aren't crazy enough I actually thought a while about OOo, and yes I am quite familiar with its requirements and speed issues... but I really wanted to avoid GNOME for once, and honestly I don't really like Ted or SIAG or any of the others all that much. And the top-secret satire I've been writing that no one knows about is saved in OOo format... whoops, now you know what I've been up to! ;)I think that OpenOffice is actually quite usable despite the high system requirements - it's rather slow, yeah, but it works just fine even with Mozilla, Gaim, RXVT, and other junk loaded at the same time. The worst thing IMHO is probably XScreenSaver, because it just sucks up all the system's power - Fluxbox fortunately disables it by default.And I did think a while about whether to use Slack 10.0 or not. Honestly, I'd prefer having the latest version for too many reasons to list here, and besides, I had a nice four-disc CD set that I purchased that I'd never used... and no, I never buy operating systems, I burn them. Slack is obviously my favorite.By the way, bit off topic, but... I've also managed to set up my computer so that it can recieve e-mail and I can use a program like mutt instead of always having to log into GMail. My address is multima (at) martinultima.kicks-ass.net.

Edited January 17, 2005 by martinultima

[linuxdude32]

Tried Vector Linux 4.3 (regular version, not SOHO). It runs very speedy. And noticed that it comes with Abiword as well as a couple of other editors, nxedit and something else I don't remember. Also has Mozilla and gaim included and a choice of window managers. I used XFCE since I wanted to see just how fast it could go. It uses Sylpheed for email. Total install was under 900 MB not including swap.Top-secret satire, huh? Sort of like Maxwell Smart?

[martinultima]

Thanks for the info about Vector... going to have to try it sometime if I have the time.Top-secret satire? What top-secret satire? I don't know anything about a top-secret satire, especially not one called 2104 that's about a bunch of guys with unpronouncable names like Zstyom Iayozs who are fighting against

[Bruno]

Obviously, you people aren't crazy enough   I actually thought a while about OOo, and yes I am quite familiar with its requirements and speed issues...I think that OpenOffice is actually quite usable despite the high system requirements - it's rather slow, yeah, but it works just fine even with Mozilla, Gaim, RXVT, and other junk loaded at the same time.  The worst thing IMHO is probably XScreenSaver, because it just sucks up all the system's power - Fluxbox fortunately disables it by default.

Good call Martin, just squeeze to get the max out of that box . . . . !! Bruno

[martinultima]

Do you think a similarly-equipped box would make a decent Web server? My friend and I have been considering starting our own Web hosting business or something like that, and he has a bunch of machines like this one lying around, so if we can assemble it...[This isn't going to be a very big Web site or anything, it's just a couple personal homepages and possibly a few other miscellaneous odds and ends, nothing demanding.]

[Bruno]

From what I understand you do not need a high power box to run a server . . . but your ISP should allow traffic over ports that many ISPs block because they do not want you to do your own hosting. Bruno

[linuxdude32]

Bruno's correct. If it's just for low bandwidth pages, you don't need much horsepower. If a website starts to get really busy, you need RAM, lots and lots of it and fast hard drives. If you're going to be hosting multiple websites, check to see what your upload speed to the Internet is (ADSL and Cable tend to have much slower upload than download speeds). And likely, you have a dynamic IP so you're going to need a reliable dynamic DNS service.

[martinultima]

Got everything covered then Road Runner lets me run a Web host, my friend and I have used our desktop systems before, and I know how to set up my router. Upload speeds aren't really a big thing, our sites are almost never visited, and we won't host any large files - there's a reason BitTorrent was created, we'll just use that for downloading stuff. And I use DynDNS.org and set it up to automatically update my address every time I (re)connect to my network, so that isn't a problem either.