RE: 386/4MB RAM?
On 29-Mar-99 Vincent Murphy wrote:
> i want to install linux (debian if possible) on a 386SX with 4MB RAM
> and a 51MB HD. it will have an ISDN terminal adapter and a 3c509
> network transciever. can i use debian? if i can't, how do i go about
> it? i'm open to suggestions about other (*BSD?) kernels.
Linux is installable and usable on such a machine, including networking.
(I actually started off with 386DX/25, 4MB RAM, 40MB HDD and got useful
work done: 5MB swap, 25MB occupied by Linux and applications, and 10MB
left over for user files).
However, you will have to limit yourself to installing only the minimum
components you need, and of course no X.
I don't know whether Debian's installer will work in only 4MB RAM. I
don't think Red Hat's will. I did once, owing to a memory failure on a
laptop which normally has 20MB RAM but was only seeing 4MB, install
SuSE-5.2 to the full extent I wanted (including X, but it did have 500MB
HDD!), but it had to work at it all night once the packages were slected
(it was using the swap heavily). So your mileage may vary.
Probably, in such a tight space, you may find it more straightforward to
install from a distribution like SlackWare, where it is easier to copy
the distribution components you need onto floppies and carry on from there
(with 50MB HDD you're only going to be able to install some 15-20
floppies' worth of stuff), and the installation manager is very compact.
Sláinte, and the best of luck!
Ted.
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E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding@nessie.mcc.ac.uk>
Date: 29-Mar-99 Time: 11:33:20
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