will liniux run on a 486

[superphlydaddy]

I'm new to linux and would like to know if there are any minimum system requirements?

Specifically, I have an old 486 that I would like to install linux on. What type of performance should I expect? Will linux offer more program versatility and speed than windows (95 or 3.1)? Is there a particular release that ould be better for an old machine?...Or should I just send my old dinosaur to the trash heap?

[Whipping Boy]

Linux will run just fine on a 486. I had it running on my 486 for a year and a half until the motherboard went bad a couple of months ago. However, unless you want to install a crappy UMSDOS distro then you'll need at least 16 megs of RAM--you can get some cheaply.

Slackware is probably what you want for a 486 (but I'm a bigot in that regard). Depending on how big your hard drive is, you may or may not be able to use X (I couldn't). But that doesn't matter, because the console is much better anyway plus a 486 may not be fast enough to be able to use it decently.

[irlandes]

http://www.ibiblio.org/vectorlinux/

[sans-hubris]

I highly suggest staying away from the big commercial Linux distros (e.g. Red Hat, SuSe, Mandrake, Corel, Caldera, etc.) since most of those assume you have a Pentium or better. The bare bones Linux distros (e.g. Debian, Slackware) will be more difficult to learn, but will run great on your 486.