Asking for Helpful Suggestions

[RandomGoon]

I am a complete Linux noob, let's get that out of the way first. A friend of mine gave me a copy of Knoppix and I've gotten quite interested in it. Up till now I've been a M$ user and have heard all the proponents of Linux saying how grand it is and want to experience it for myself. Now here's the thing...I've got an ancient system that's not doing more than being a dust collector/paperweight. I figure I can reload it as many times as I want and not interfere with what goes on my main system. Yes, yes, Knoppix runs completely from the CD and won't muck up the current HD load unless I make it do so. What I'd like to know are general suggestions of which Knoppix distro that'd be best suited for my system, running off the hard drive.

Here's the guts of the thing:

Pentium 133
48MB RAM
2GB hard drive
8x CD-ROM
STB Lightspeed 128 (ET6000 based) video
Dual voodoo2 (SLI) cards (best thing on this thing actually)
USR 33.6K modem
Ensoniq Soundscape card

I just reloaded Windoze 98 on the machine to see if it still works (and it does). It's an old Gateway machine that my sister used for college but she has a nice new machine and didn't want this one anymore.

So, all that being said, any suggestions for this random goon?

[Durand Hicks]

Two things for starters, more ram and a larger hard drive. The hard drive option is upgradable but I wouldn't go for something more than 10-20gb if you can find one anywhere. The ram is going to be more of a problem, I bet the system used simms and those are expensive compared to dimms/sdram. If the ram can't be found for cheap, get the hard drive and make a swap partition on it as large as 1.5 - 2 GB. It's more than most folks needs, but with limited memory and if you're going to run KDE, you're going to need the swap space.

[Loper]

What I'd like to know are general suggestions of which Knoppix distro that'd be best suited for my system, running off the hard drive.

Here's the guts of the thing:

Pentium 133
48MB RAM
2GB hard drive
8x CD-ROM
STB Lightspeed 128 (ET6000 based) video
Dual voodoo2 (SLI) cards (best thing on this thing actually)
USR 33.6K modem
Ensoniq Soundscape card

I just reloaded Windoze 98 on the machine to see if it still works (and it does). It's an old Gateway machine that my sister used for college but she has a nice new machine and didn't want this one anymore.

You will be limited to an 8.4 GB drive, at most (due to BIOS limitations), unless you can pick up a used PCI IDE controller somewhere. Considering the age of the machine, the $30 cost for a new one is prohibitive. You can probably find some used RAM somewhere, like a computer trade show in your area. If you are installing to a HD, you will be able to get by with another 48 MB of RAM for a total of 96 MB (more would be better, of course).

[RandomGoon]

Thanks for the tips...I was however trying not to sink more cash in this system. I think I can scare up another HD but the memory could be problematic. The board has 4 SIMM slots that are completely populated (one 16MB pair and one 8MB pair) but I'll see if I can scare up some different sticks somewhere. Thusfar, though, it seems this box ain't much more than it already is

[Cuddles]

RandomGoon,

Sorry Knoppix didn't work out for that system... Usually, Knoppix supports a lot of machines that "Windows" won't, can't, or has been left in the dust by "Windows".

Shame too...

If you don't want to keep some of the "ancient" parts of the machine, may I suggest selling them on "EBay" - I am sure that you will find "many" people looking for those "hard to find" parts, and considering that EBay is an auction, you might get a few bucks to buy "newer" stuff

As for using Knoppix - why not use the Knoppix Live CD on your current machine? You can use the CD to explore Linux/GNU, and as long as you don't go mounting and touching hard drives in your booted system, you are completely safe. Using the CD is a great way to see "whats under the hood", so to speak, of Knoppix....

When your done working in Knoppix, just tell Knoppix to shutdown, just like "Windows", remove the CD, and you are back to your "working" Operating System. Knoppix was designed for that. If/when you are ready, Knoppix can be installed to your hard drive, and can be run as a "full-blown" Debian Linux/GNU Operating System. (thats nice too)

Just some thoughts,
Cuddles

[Markus]

How about a lighter remaster on knoppix?
Some of these run on quite minimal hardware:
http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/
http://featherlinux.berlios.de/
http://www.flonix.com/

The story on Damn Smalls page about running it on a 468 with 16 Mb ram has got me even thinking about putting my old 386 DX40 back to work

[RandomGoon]

Cuddles: Thanks but I've not tried Knoppix on that machine yet to find out whether it'll work or not...I need to get around to making a boot floppy as that system's so old it won't boot to CD As for using Knoppix on my main system, well the wife's using that for business and I don't get a lot of time on it; I built it for her to use anyway. What can I say, I'm whipped and any of my friends'll tell ya the same :P

Markus: Now that's more like what I was intending. I lighter flavor that'd work on an old box! I'll just have to burn those flavors and see what works best!

Again, to all that've replied, thanks a ton for the input!

'Goon

[RandomGoon]

Grabbed DSL and made a boot disk. It works like a champ on this machine...okay, maybe not like a champ but it does alright And as for Knoppix itself? Forgeddaboudit! We're talkin' snail's pace here

Now to just get it installed to the hard drive so I don't need to have the CD in the drive.

'Goon

[OErjan]

i have knoppix on a p1 100 with 72M ram and it works ok.
i have dropped KDE and use icewm as windowmanager, much lighter on resources.

[RandomGoon]

Interesting...how do I go about switching from KDE to IceWM? I'm still a noob after all.

'Goon