Linux OS for a really old computer?

Question

i need a linux OS for computers running about 32 megs of ram + i want to make a 4mg ramdrive on the linux box. any linux OS choises out there?

im doing free basic (FBide) programing and im gonna program a 3d world that people can access online and do things interact with the local AI mobs and building things with a simple element physix engine. well thats the idea but im gonna use some of the other computers for array data base and caculations. im gonna set it up to run the programs from the ram drives to make up for the slower hard drives

well i need a linux that will be a good choice for this thanks!
i have checked out damn small linux or DSL but any thing elese be better? if i have to boot off cd's it ok just as long as i can set up a ram drive.. a consol os is not so bad eather just need network access. thanks for anything.. im wondering if my old dos 6.55 or windows 3.1 will work..mmm if might be an idea.
thanks for the help and if you have intrest email me! -sam

Answer 1

A recent Linux Magazine article recommended Vector linux for a minimal system. I actually installed it on an old Win98 box with similar specs to yours. There were problems with the install that I didn't have time to fix this time, but I will return to the issue again.

Answer 2

FD I use linux everyday as my comps are on linux and your computer here is really old would need some upgrading if you want decent performance. probs i have is your really old HD will probably NOT support the linux file system too old clusters will be damaged and watching movies online with this prehistoric video card is out of the question. the idea is to have it work DECENTLY. my advice is to get a more recent hd like a 80 gig used one but in good condition and a used nvidia or ati card. install say UBUNTU install the proprietary drivers with an improved card. CPU is ok but computer will be slow

Answer 3

If your a new user start with something like pclos. I am not sure about 32 megs but I have have had some real junkers running beautifully on linux. For programming and 3d graphics there is nothing better (in my opinion). PCLOS is easy to install and somewhat easy to understand, and it is a good solution for an old box. But this is my opinion you can't go wrong with any distro you choose they are free you can try them all !!!

Answer 4

Your hardware is minimal. If you get Linux, get it without the GUI (windows). It will be torture to use any windowing system on such a computer. But command line (and vi or emacs editor) will work fine. Besides the popular linux distros, take a look at BSD also.

Answer 5

Slackware 0.92 would get lost on such a large fast computer. (It runs fine on a 486DX33 with a few megs of RAM.)