Linux - Which would be best for what I need?

[RoGuE|SaBeR]

Ok I think I'm gonna give linux a try for a little box on my network. It's a pentium 60 with 1.7gb of hard disk space, 50mb Ram, modem and a network card.

Basically I want to set it up as a small dhcp server which also runs the 56k modem all the time. So - which flavour of linux am I looking for?

Looked at a few firewall / dhcp only versions of linux but I want to mess around with a full distro. I'm still in 56k dail up land so would be better to know what I'm looking for before I ask people to get me some versions of linux.

[directhex]

interesting situation. i'd usually say debian for a low spec ultra-lightweight box such as yours, but with only dialup you can't do a .deb install, and you DON'T want all 13 CDs

hrmmm...

slackware, perhance?

[Steve]

I have a version that installs off floppies - I'm unable to remember what it's called though, lol. I know that it's a mod of slackware using only the "a" set of files.

Directhex - What! Not suggesting Mepis?

[directhex]

on a p60, with a 1.7 gig disk? no, not really. that'd be silly.

[Steve]

on a p60, with a 1.7 gig disk? no, not really. that'd be silly.

Where's your sense of adventure?

I tried loading knoppix (well, the damn small version) on a 486 with 8MB RAM.

I got about as far as "booting knoppix" and then got "out of memeory, terminating process xxx - sh"

[RoGuE|SaBeR]

Ok getting a mate to download the 2 slackware install discs. Charging me for the privilage!

So much for free open source

[domwg]

Hmmm, I was once trying a project similar to that.

Have you seen/considered Clark Connect? It's essentially a stripped down version of RedHat that performs just some of the server based antics RedHat has.

[gamezfreak]

Gentoo.

[directhex]

on a 56k modem?

compiling from scratch on a P60?

o_O

[Craig]

Gentoo.

You did read his post yes?

Ive used Gentoo alot and i like it, but ive seen quite alot fanbois of Gentoo going around reccomending it to people when it isnt suitable for them. If youd like to compile Gentoo (even a stage3) on a P60 yourself, be my guest! But youll be 80 by the time it finnishes. Id give something like a Debian install with no tasksel run. Or maybe even an old version of Slackware!

Cr4iG

[DaBeeeenster]

Yeah - grab a version of slackware from around 1998!

[RoGuE|SaBeR]

Ok aquired slackware today off a mate. Version 9.1 though - the newest one

Will it be like a snail on the P60?

Will attempt to install it later - have to go visit a mate who had an op so linux will have to wait!

[gamezfreak]

Ah sorry, didn't realise the machine you was installing on was an old'en.

You'll be sitting there for weeks compiling away !

Get something cut down, like Vector Linux or something.

[Scrumpyjack]

Interesting I am a Linux noob just looking to try it

[directhex]

if you just wanan get a taste for what you can do with linux, you want a livecd of some sort (knoppix, morphix, slax, mepis, etc etc etc), www.distrowatch.com is a good place to look. a livecd will give you an idea of things without touching your hard disk. if you then decide you want to take a closer look, then come back for suggestions about something to install on a more permanent basis (debian, gentoo, slackware etc if you enjoy being kicked in the groin; mepis, fedora, lindows, lycoris etc if command prompts scare you)

[Scrumpyjack]

I have been told that redhat 7.0 is a good option if you can run without a GUI