[Novalug] how install linux on old pc with 64mb RAM

[Ed T. Toton III]

Thus spake Navjeet:

> I would like to install a lightweight linux distro (DSL, Knoppix etc.) 
> on an old PC with 64 MB RAM. The PC does have a cdrom but I cannot find 
> anything in the the BIOS (Award bios) to make it boot from cdrom. I am 
> not sure if upgrading the bios (if available) can enable this feature. 
> It does have a 3.5" floppy drive. What are possible options for me given 
> this hardware. Also would it realistic to run x windows on this 
> hardware?

As other have pointed out, there are floppy images you can get that will 
allow you to boot the CD.

You can also do what I did on some of my older laptops that didn't have 
USB or CD drives at all:  Stick the disk in another more modern machine, 
perform the installation there, and then put the disk back into the older 
pentium. With laptop disks, this can easily be done with an IDE adapter. 
In your case it sounds like a regular desktop system, so that probably 
doesn't apply.

DSL is an excellent choice for lower-end hardware such as that. I have it 
installed on a laptop with 48 MB and another with 80. DSL uses fluxbox as 
its window manager, which is very lightweight. 64 MB won't be ideal, and 
web browsers will be very sluggish, but it'll work.


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- Ed T. Toton III, RHCE --|-- www.necrobones.com -- ed.toton.org -
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