Old Hardware whit Linux

[abelinux]

Hi,
I need some help, about installing Linux Os
on old 486 dx2 50MHz and 8Mb ram.
This Pc have to go on intranet whit Unix Os,and may be Linx Os in future.
What is the best and thin distribution,just to reuse this old Pc.
Thank everybody can help me.

[mattmorrow]

Most distributions should be able to fit your hardware. However, you won't have the RAM to run X at a reasonable level of performance. There are several Linux-on-a-floppy versions out there; some with networking capabilities. I assume that your hardrive is also comparatively of small capacity. Whatever distro you use, you'll need to minimize the packages that that you install. And also minimize the number of processes, daemons, etc. that are started on boot-up. It might be easier to start with a "fatter" machine, load Linux with a default configuration (like a "workstation" configuration), and use that to learn the OS (how to connect to the internet, how to change runlevels to use/not use X, which packages you need, which you do not, etc). Once you're comfortable with Linux out-of-the-box, you'll better understand how to build your own "thin" system.
HTH

[ph34r]

Slackware or Debian, but actually installing may take some monkey work. I have run both (am still using Slack) on a 486sx33 with 4mb of ram - slow, but works.

The actual install process takes 12mb of ram though, so you need to do some monkeying around to get it installed. Check the 4mb-Laptop HOWTO at www.linuxdoc.org (http://www.linuxdoc.org) for some starting tips.