Re: Laptop 386dx40 with 4 MByte and 40 MByte

[star@starshine.org (Heather Stern)]

On Wed, Nov 20, 2002 at 02:09:59PM +0200, Michelle Konzack wrote:
> Hello laptop.deb's, 
> 
> I have gotten a NEW OLD LAptop and I like to install Debian. 
> MS-Dos 6.2 was no problem, but... it's a Microsoft product. 
 
> Which Version of Debian is recommended ? 
> bo, hamm, slink, potatop or woody ? 
 
Ouch.

40 MB is a tight fit, but Base itself is still smaller than that 
(don't get me started though; the default text editor is eeeeeevil :( )

However, memory will be your downfall.  Not sure the installer will
load in that.  There are HOWTOs that aim into this space, and perhaps
there is one specific for Debian on a budget.  But you'd better think
"35 MB" or "32 MB" because you *will* want to have swap space.

Tricks I can think of for more efficiently using that space, cost
memory.

You are not going to manage Lyx or probably even X on that kind of 
system without a dev environment to build things into totally stripped
configurations, and then I wouldn't go holding your breath.   lynx for 
browsing, elm+me for mail (it costs less memory than mutt, which would 
be nice) and perhaps you can squeeze in svgalib and zgv so you can see 
an occaisional picture.

For a sense of scale... non Debian, but:

Ton's RtBt (a one floppy distro) suggests 8 MB - and we know it's cuz he
uses a RAMdisk, so maybe it could be convinced to not do that when
working off hard disk;  floppy distros that use X often want 16 and use 
two floppies.   So the disk space isn't the real problem, not at all.

* Heather Stern * star@ many places...
                * Starshine Technical Services -*- 800 938 4078