linux on old pc

Sixty-four MB RAM is too small to run KDE or GNOME, the popular desktops. It's really too small to run Firefox or Thunderbird. It's too small to even load Openoffice.org. But you are in luck. Your motherboard can handle 768 MB (three modules) and the upgrade is pretty cheap.

I have a customer with a similar machine, 500 MHz Celeron with 256 MB RAM. Firefox, Abiword, and Thunderbird run okay on the KDE desktop. Openoffice takes 20 seconds to launch. The flash player is a little jerky but you can watch Youtube clips. To run those programs in 256 MB, you need a swap partition. With 768 swap is still nice, but you could get away without it.

So if you want to run something on it right now, try www.damnsmalllinux.org. If you want it to be a fun machine, buy some more RAM. I got a pair of 256 MB PC133 modules for $40 on ebay recently.

"I would like to use this pc as a backup and or test machine for running different distros."

That's a great idea. A test machine lets you mess around without breaking your work machine. And when your work machine's motherboard flakes out you can just stick your work drive in the test machine and keep going. There is one problem. The original power supply on that system is too small (135 watts) to support a second hard drive reliably. It's a funny little supply; the case is too small for a standard 300 W ATX PC power supply. But you can find a 200 W supply that will fit. If you just have one hard drive, blow the dust out of the case and supply every year and you'll be fine.

"Also I don,t have the bootdisc, would this be a problem?"

The boot disk that came with the computer would definitely be a problem. It's got a crappy operating system on it. If you find it, write "this stuff sucks" on it with a Sharpie and mail it to Redmond. Don't ever stick it in your computer.

Look up Damn Small Linux.

Bob

Steps of installation of linux is too long so i am leaving a url chk it out.....!

http://linuxera.com/content/view/93/1/


zed

My girls use the same model of pc although they have about 400mb of ram and they use ubuntu without a problem on it and have done so ever since we discovered Ubuntu last summer.
I`ve used puppy in the past too and it`s really good for the sort of specs you have.

Hi crothers 63,
I agree with the advise you have already received, my reason for adding to it being that a friend of mine was given a 766MHz, 20Gig, 128MB RAM machine with Win Me on it. It works very well with Linux Puppy 2.15 ("multisession"), although it did not enable his BJC-3000 printer. I advised adding a 256Mb SDRAM "stick" and installed Ubuntu 7.04 after zero writing the HD to get rid of a recalcitrant Me and its partitioning. Ubuntu found and configured the printer; the machine works like a breeze, and immediately went on line with ADSL , i.e. your machine sounds worthwhile with say a total of at least 256Mb RAM, or at least 128MB if you are happy with a "subcompact" like Puppy..
Cheers