Re: Installing Debian with only 64mb RAM

[llcfree <llcfree@gmail.com>]

On Mon, 2015-04-20 at 13:03 +0400, Norbert X wrote:
> 
> So I suggest to choose Debian-based distribution on Distrowatch.com
> for the old computers with i386 arch
> ( http://distrowatch.com/search.php?ostype=All&category=Old
> +Computers&origin=All&basedon=Debian&notbasedon=None&desktop=All&architecture=i386&status=Active ).
> For example wattOS may suite all needs.

Unfortunately, "based on debian" is not the same as debian, one loses
the amazing quality, stability, security and community support typical
of debian.

I looked myself a while ago for a pure blend debian distribution for a
very low resource machine and I ended up with building it from bottom
up, starting with a base system.

As already pointed up, the basic problem is the linux kernel moving
forward, often without maintaining backward compatibility with older
hardware. Thus, first make sure that the kernel supports your hardware.
You may need to re-compile the kernel if it does not.

If you can live without graphics you are done. If you need a graphics
environment, then you should choose the one that does not exhaust your
limited resources. Do the same for any application you install and run.
So, focus of what you want and can do with the little old beast, and
only install what you need.

> According to gentoo wiki Pentium II is i686
> ( http://www.gentoo-wiki.info/Safe_Cflags#Pentium_II ). You can try
> other Debian-base  distro - AntiX on it.
> 
> If Debian-only solution is not really needed you can choose from other
> distros ( http://distrowatch.com/search.php?ostype=All&category=Old
> +Computers&origin=All&basedon=All&notbasedon=Debian&desktop=All&architecture=i386&status=Active ). In that case Puppy Linux looks as the best solution.

I was very pleasantly surprised by slitaz:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SliTaz_GNU/Linux
http://www.slitaz.org/en/

It is extremely light, it boots on almost eveything and even provides a
very elegant graphical interface. 

The only drawback: it is not debian (:

It would be great to have something like slitaz as part of debian,
perhaps even only a "cookbook" about how to build it would do (maybe the
recipe for debian is there somewhere and I missed it?)

In any case, the easiest way is to download a live distribution and boot
from it. If you end up with a text or graphical console, you have a
chance, if not, simply go to the next candidate.

Loredana