Re: donated computers lab setup

Norm <maillist@xxxxxxx> · Sat, 30 Dec 2006 00:03:06 -0800

Norm wrote:
Kam Leo wrote:
On 12/29/06, Norm <maillist@xxxxxxx> wrote:
Kam Leo wrote:
> On 12/29/06, john s. <john@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> jim tate wrote:
>> > Alan wrote:
>> >>> Good Will Industries used to slap FC3 on theirs, in Roanoke 
VA. Great
>> >>> people to do so. They'd sell an entire outfit for $100. I doubt
>> FC5 or
>> >>> FC6 would install though. Happy New Year to you, too. Ric
>> >>>
>> >>
>> >> A small FC6 install will drop fine onto a 128MB box although for a
>> small
>> >> box its quicker to set up an image on a larger box, make sure it
>> has the
>> >> right i586 etc kernel/glibc installed and then rsync it using an
>> >> external
>> >> disk caddy
>> >>
>> >> A base system with X, xfce, sylpheed, abiword should be quite
>> >> acceptable,
>> >> just avoid all the heavy gnome/kde stuff.
>> >>
>> >> Alan
>> >>
>> >>
>> > Yeah, will I can't FC6 to install on a HP omnibook laptop 
because of ,
>> > only 128meg of memory.
>> >
>>   Noticed the same thing with mine. Installed okay with 384mb.
>>
>
> Since version 10.1 OpenSuSE requires 384 MB of memory to run in live
> mode. It's really a crying shame: There are so many old boxes with 256
> MB or less memory and I cannot demo either of the top Linux distros on
> them.
>
> How do you convert people if they cannot try out the product? What
> other live distros are in the same boat?
>

I ran Core 5 successfully on 128 of RAM; slower than I would have liked,
but then the box was free   So I could not complain at the speed.  I
found another 128 RAM and run core 6 on the same box, once again faster
would be nicer but it works well enough in most cases, the only stumble
is when I use Yum and the box seems to have a tendency to hang  the Yum
process, don't know if this is hardware or a Yum issue but not really
more than a minor inconvenience.
I have also successfully installed SUSE 10, Ubuntu 6.10 and Debian Sarge
on the same box all work well enough that I would not hesitate to
install on a box that is to be donated.
Currently I am using the box as a dual boot Ubuntu/core 6  (also bumped
the hard drive to 30 gig and installed a newer cd rw drive))as my prime
box rather than a newer faster and better box contaminated with XP (wish
I could upgrade the box to  any Linux version but business interest
require I stay with an inferior system on one box)

I was referring to running the "Live" DVD; i.e. trial/test/demo,
nothing installed on HD. Let me know if you can find a recent disto
that will run on your 128 and 256 MB boxen.

I checked  out Ubuntu  6.10 (the most recent) as a live cd first and 
then installed it for my dual boot on the box with 256, give me a few 
moments and I will test the live disk with 128, should give the live FC6 
disk a try as well but don't feel like downloading it at this time.
I did find one issue when I was testing a number of newer Live CDs after 
the initial boot sequence my monitor would go dead or not receive input 
but the CD drive would still be working, if I gave things a few minutes 
and then the screen would display correctly - this may be an issue 
related more to my LCD monitor than the actual box but as it did not 
affect things in the long run who cares.

With 128 of RAM the Ubuntu live cd  (using a linux kernel 2.6.17.10)will 
boot but takes too long to be considered usable, my guess is an install 
with 128 would be an overnight project.  I have run several live distros 
on the 256 and all are with in the usable range as a entry level Desktop 
.  I am not sure of the history of the box other than knowing it has 256 
of RAM (according to it 261 and the BIOS is dated 1997)
An out of the box + upgrade install of Ubuntu took about 4 minutes to 
boot to an open office document with 128 of RAM and a FC6 took about 10 
minutes but to be fair to FC6 it is a heavier install with more services 
running, FC6 took about 4 minute to boot to the same point with 256 of RAM.
If Ubuntu 6.10 actually installs with 128 of RAM it is usable as an 
entry level Desktop.  My guess is any current release Distro will also 
work, but the install process may feel like it takes for ever.  If I had 
a decent server class ox available I would set this box up as a thin 
client but it works well enough as a lab/personal use box for now.