Re: Compact version for running on 486/33 or /66 with 8->32 Mb ram
Robert Parker wrote:
>While worming through the pages I found a reference to
>a compact verison of Debian installation that was
>designed to work on a 486. I have not been able to
>find the link since, after 3 days of looking. Is there
>anyone that can direct me to the site where I can get
>more information on the deployment of DEBIAN on a
>relatively small 486 system? Or was my image an
>illusion of too many hours starring at a screen.
I have slink (Debian 2.1r3) running on 2 486DX2/66 boxes, one with 32MB RAM
and a 2G disk and the other with 12MB RAM and ~700MB of disk. The first is a
full-blown internet box serving 3 dialin modems and running web, cache, news
and mail servers. The other is mainly a mail server at the moment. I may
turn it into a firewall/gateway one day. These are stock standard Debian
installations, done initially from a CD then updated over the net. You can
install just about everything useful (barring X) and get change from a 200MB
disk. That includes everything you need to build a kernel.
In my experience the key to getting good performance out of a 486 box is to
stuff as much RAM into it as you can manage. The later motherboards that
will take 2-4 16MB 72pin SIMMs are the best deal, but older ones with 30pin
SIMMs will do, especially if you can score some 4MB SIMMs. I've run Debian
succesfully on 486 boxes with 8MB of RAM, console only. I've run X and
Netscape on a 486 with as little as 16MB, and it *was* painful at times, but
not fatally so. Of course I now have an AMD K6-2/350 with 64MB and I'd never
go back :-).
I also have slink running on an Amiga 2000/030 with 5MB RAM and 236MB of
disk. It does nothing but consume electrons at the moment, but it runs, it's
on the net, and it does the sentimental side of me good to see the old
workhorse do more than just prop up a monitor. One of these days I'll set up
a web site and ftp archive on it.
Frank
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