What to do with an old machine.
in [UK Linux]
|
Prev: Linux equivalent of Telnet?
Next: File encryption
From: Neil Sluman on 4 Jan 2008 13:29 I recently resurrected an old machine. A K6-2 running at 300MHz. Seems I might as well install Linux on it. Trouble is, I have no idea what to do with this thing. Anyone have any thoughts? It's too slow for video. And doesn't really have enough disk space to use as a file server. (Yes, I know you have no idea what I'm interested in. I'm after random ideas here!) Also, what linux distribution I should use? The CPU is in the Pentium family so anything targetted at Pentium Pro or Pentium 2 or better isn't going to work.
From: Chris Whelan on 4 Jan 2008 13:33 Neil Sluman wrote: > I recently resurrected an old machine. A K6-2 running at 300MHz. > Seems I might as well install Linux on it. Good idea. > Trouble is, I have no idea what to do with this thing. Anyone have > any thoughts? It's too slow for video. And doesn't really have > enough disk space to use as a file server. (Yes, I know you have no > idea what I'm interested in. I'm after random ideas here!) > > Also, what linux distribution I should use? The CPU is in the Pentium > family so anything targetted at Pentium Pro or Pentium 2 or better > isn't going to work. Perhaps you should give us an idea of what other machine(s) you have, what they are used for, what OS(es) they run, and what general interests you have? It would also be useful to know how much RAM the machine has, as this can affect the ability or otherwise to run live distros. As for distributions, have a good look at Distrowatch.com. Puppy, DSL and Vector would be what I would suggest. Chris -- Remove prejudice to reply.
From: Neil Sluman on 4 Jan 2008 13:58 On Jan 4, 6:33 pm, Chris Whelan <cawhe...(a)prejudicentlworld.com> wrote: > Neil Sluman wrote: > > I recently resurrected an old machine. A K6-2 running at 300MHz. > > Seems I might as well install Linux on it. > > Good idea. > > > Perhaps you should give us an idea of what other machine(s) you have, what > they are used for, what OS(es) they run, and what general interests you > have? It would also be useful to know how much RAM the machine has, as this > can affect the ability or otherwise to run live distros. This has 512 Megs of RAM. Really quite a lot for a machine of this age. My usual machine is a Windows XP desktop. Use it for programming and general internet type stuff. Does dual boot to Linux but I tend not to use it too much because I don't really have a need. That and its network card doesn't work in Linux. Really I'm after ideas of what it could be used for. I'd quite like to learn something new. Might set it up as a web server and play with whatever web development technology has come into existence since I last played with this. > As for distributions, have a good look at Distrowatch.com. Puppy, DSL and > Vector would be what I would suggest. Shall have a look at those. Puppy looks promising.
From: Paul Sherwin on 4 Jan 2008 15:00 On Fri, 04 Jan 2008 10:58:05 -0800, Neil Sluman wrote: > On Jan 4, 6:33 pm, Chris Whelan <cawhe...(a)prejudicentlworld.com> wrote: >> Neil Sluman wrote: >> > I recently resurrected an old machine. A K6-2 running at 300MHz. >> > Seems I might as well install Linux on it. >> >> Perhaps you should give us an idea of what other machine(s) you have, >> what they are used for, what OS(es) they run, and what general >> interests you have? It would also be useful to know how much RAM the >> machine has, as this can affect the ability or otherwise to run live >> distros. > > This has 512 Megs of RAM. Really quite a lot for a machine of this age. > > My usual machine is a Windows XP desktop. Use it for programming and > general internet type stuff. Does dual boot to Linux but I tend not to > use it too much because I don't really have a need. That and its > network card doesn't work in Linux. I use Damn Small Linux on low spec machines like this. It really does run well and you'll have plenty of spare memory. Just boot the live CD and follow the instructions to do an HD install. Any disk bigger than 200MB will do for a basic installation. Forget any distro with the big Gnome or KDE window managers, and don't try to use OpenOffice unless you're very patient. You could use it as a server for a simple website. DSL comes with the Monkey webserver which is very fast on old hardware - much less capable than Apache but fine for basic sites. BTW, there aren't many network cards that *don't* work with Linux, so maybe you should investigate this issue a bit more. Paul
From: Mike the Brewer on 4 Jan 2008 15:22
"Neil Sluman" <squigs(a)postmaster.co.uk> wrote in message news:cf22e5b8-3c73-422b-9282-db973cbf0ef2(a)l6g2000prm.googlegroups.com... | On Jan 4, 6:33 pm, Chris Whelan <cawhe...(a)prejudicentlworld.com> | wrote: | > Neil Sluman wrote: | > > I recently resurrected an old machine. A K6-2 running at 300MHz. | > > Seems I might as well install Linux on it. | > | > Good idea. | > | > | > Perhaps you should give us an idea of what other machine(s) you have, what | > they are used for, what OS(es) they run, and what general interests you | > have? It would also be useful to know how much RAM the machine has, as this | > can affect the ability or otherwise to run live distros. | | This has 512 Megs of RAM. Really quite a lot for a machine of this | age. | | My usual machine is a Windows XP desktop. Use it for programming and | general internet type stuff. Does dual boot to Linux but I tend not | to use it too much because I don't really have a need. That and its | network card doesn't work in Linux. | | Really I'm after ideas of what it could be used for. I'd quite like | to learn something new. Might set it up as a web server and play with | whatever web development technology has come into existence since I | last played with this. | | > As for distributions, have a good look at Distrowatch.com. Puppy, DSL and | > Vector would be what I would suggest. | | Shall have a look at those. Puppy looks promising. I use several old machines. Pentiums at 200 or 400 mgz in my radio shack They have programmes like WinWarbler and Seatty, to decode amateur digital modes such as PSK and RTTY, and commercial teleprinter transmissions. Seatty is for marine HF such as sitor and weather fax. I have found these run well on Win 95/98 but have not tried them with Linux. Nevertheless a very interesting hobby ( I am a short wave listener....not licensed to transmit.. although WinWarbler is able to send if needed, as is CWget, a morse code program. I run old ex-military receivers...nothing expensive. Maybe this will give you some thoughts. |