hd space needed for install.

[jdharm]

If this is a copy of my previous message, sorry for the double post, but the link to the first one keeps going to someone else's message. Don't know if its my machine or the forum's.

As I was saying: From what I have learned from starting to dabble with linux I thought I understood that linux was the better OS for older machines because it was simpler and more compact, therefore more efficient on a given computer that Windows would be on the same machine. Then how is it that I can squeeze Win98 on a 250MB hd, but I need at least a gig for Madrake7? Is there any way to trim the fat from the install and strip the OS down to the bare essentials? Is that a bad idea? I won't mess with it if the more experienced among you think I shouldn't.

[Craig McPherson]

That's something of a poor comparision. The Linux kernel, the utilities needed to boot it, the most common shells, a decent text editor, and all the basic file management utilities will fit on a single bootable floppy disk. A fuller system with all the utilities and programs considered standard to a UNIX system would easily fit into 40MB.

However, since almost all Linux software is licensed under software licenses that allow for free redistribution, distribution manufacturers include close to every piece of Linux software ever written. Naturally, you don't want to install it all.

All distributions have some mechanism in place for choosing what software to install. Some may have more elaborate selection systems than others. Debian, for example, has the most advanced: the "base system" installs into less than 40MB, and includes the basic suite of tools as well as software to connect to nearly any sort of network so that you can install all the other software you want over the Internet if you don't have local installation media. From there, you can select from nearly 10,000 other packages to install, with advanced dependency management to make sure everything works with everything else.

If unsure about how your particular distribution allows you to specify how much software to install, consult your distribution's documentation.

[Malakin]

For someone new Mandrake 8 (as opposed to 7.x) is a lot easer to slim down thanks to a much better installer.

8.1 might even be better although I haven't tried it since it's still in beta. Not for long though.