which version of Linux for a 386 ?

[frankdowling1]

For a 386 with 6 mb of Ram what would experienced Linux users recomend to run ?
A GUI would be nice if possible ?

thank you very much
:eek: :confused:

[Exodus2001]

A very old version of Slackware will be your best bet.

http://slackware.com/getslack/

I would give something like version 3.x a try. Good luck because you will need it.

[sharth]

I would like to mention something. Wtih the new version of gcc (or glibc, not sure), most distros have stopped supporting i386 due to an incompatiblity. Your best bet is going to be to go with an older version of a distro.

I would also go with a i386 optimized one as well. Red hat and mandrake I believe are i486. Debian is i386 (woody and previous are, sarge is questionable). Slack is another good option, as well as gentoo (if you got the time)

[frankdowling1]

Thanks for the rapid reply.
What does the phrase "Good luck because you will need it."
mean ?
:confused:

[Exodus2001]

It's going to be very difficult to install a linux OS on a computer that old. It's going to be a totally text based installation and I'm sure you will have to set-up almost everything manually. Linux WAS just for geeks in those days.:p

[lugoteehalt]

It does my heart good to see someone using an old computer - saw someone with 1 Gig of ram on here the other day.

If you can't have a GUI, apparently I wouldn't know, then why not try the small, friendly program 'screen'. Jump from window to window, split the screen, copy and paste between screens, etc. See my wonderful 'How I Did It' (http://justlinux.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=100532)

[phil_r]

A few years ago at a place where I worked a technican setup Slackware onto a 486 with 16Mb of ram. No X-Windows at all, all text based. Just acted as a firewall and a company mail relay.

That was in '98 and he was using the latest version of Slack at that time...

Phil (who's glad he doesn't work there any more!)