[techtalk] Small Linux distributions?

[James Sutherland]

On Sun, 29 Apr 2001, Neale Green wrote:

> Could anyone advise me of, and/or point me in the direction of (URL) some
> preferred Linux distributions for operations on systems with limited
> resources, please?

I don't know of any dedicated "small" distros - there are a couple of
"micro" distributions like Coyote Linux (Linux firewall/router on a
floppy), but that's TOO small for normal use of course...

An installation of a "normal" distribution should be small enough, though,
depending on what you need from it...

> I'm currently working with a slightly modified old 486 DX2/50 laptop with 24
> MB memory, 200 MB disk, and no CD-ROM, trying to get a mobile Linux box for
> a project. The lack of Laptop means that I need to either do a Floppy
> install ( difficult with the size of today's distributions ), or download
> one of the smaller distributions onto the disk (I have a boot disk which
> will let me get a MS Network connection via a PCMCIA Ethernet card).

If you have a PCMCIA NIC, you should be able to use RedHat's network
installation (last time I did this, there was a distinct boot disk for
PCMCIA NICs, as opposed to PCI/ISA/other). Have you tried that?

> I'm running RedHat on my other Linux boxes, but I can't find any way to
> download what I need to the laptop to install RedHat ( can't point to a
> network drive for the install process, RedHat wants a local dev address ).

The PCMCIA boot disk should do this with RedHat; it'll be a tight fit in
200 Mb, but you should be able to fit a basic installation on?


James.