Low resources PC: Pentium MMX

[Klinux]

I have a PC with:

Pentium MMX processor aroun 200 Mhx
64 MB of RAM

Which window Manager will run on it fine?
I am seeking this since years now, everybody consideres XFCE low resources, or they suggest Fluxbox.
Well Windows 98 is super fast on that PC, and Fluxbox is certainly not that userfriendly and rich like explorer of Win98. Even WinXP+SP2 runs on it (slow).
I would like to install Linux on it and not Windows 98 (because there is no easy thing like mylivecd on windows ;-) ).
Which window manager can I use there?
I would like something easy as XFCE (or explorer) and fast enough to internet and watch movies on internet.
In the past I had tried Puppy Linux, but its not suited for that, Puppy runs totally in RAM and I don't think that's good, btw, it does not even boot.
Should I try JWM with PClinuxOS???
Or IceWM? (<-- not much user friendly)

What to do??

Thanks

[Tuxfriend]

I'd stay away from something this old, and get me from ebay a used PC. They only cost a few bucks.

If you still plan to use PCLinuxOS on a 64-MByte rig - can't be done. Even with a low-RAM DE, you'd need at least 256 MByte RAM to get PCLinuxOS Live CD going.

EDIT: As a suggestion, Puppy Linux or SliTaz might fit the bill.

[Klinux]

The problem is not buying a new pc I would have done that time ago, the problem is I have a hardware, and its there somewhere in the corner, and I want to live it up.
Why can PClinuxOS not boot there, while WinXP does?
I have already tried Puppy, and it was nogo I will try the other distro you suggested.

Thanks

[jaydot]

these days the minimum spec for most operating systems is 1ghz and 256mb ram.  anything less and most won't run.  the lowest spec machine i was able to run pclinuxos on was 233mhz and 128mb ram.  it ran like thick treacle moving uphill.  an additional 128mb of ram perked it up and using minime instead of the full pclinuxos also perked it up a little.

you can get a machine that old running linux, so long as you are careful to choose your version of linux and make sure that you can get a kernel compatible with the machine.  several small distributions are available and may offer legacy kernels, among them dam n small linux, puppy and others i forget.

try distrowatch for a comprehensive list of distributions available, or search around for legacy kernel linuxes.

[Crow]

I know the feeling, I have a Pentium 200 MHz maxed out to 256 MB it run Puppy but you need an old version

Look for old versions of Slackware, I downloaded some but have not tried yet, in fact I didn't remember that project    and right now I will use all my free time in the Edu project

Here you can download Slackware 8.1   http://alphageek.dyndns.org/linux/slackware-mirrors.shtml   will it work??   you tell me, please  

[Neal ManBear]

Did you try PCLinuxOS-LXDE-Mini? Or PCLinuxOS-Openbox?
http://ftp.nluug.nl/ibiblio/distributions/pclinuxos/live-cd/english/preview/

[Crow]

Neal, remember that is a Pentium MMX 200 MHz, I don't think the kernel will support it

[Tuxfriend]

Neal, remember that is a Pentium MMX 200 MHz, I don't think the kernel will support it

No, it won't, and there's no legacy kernel in the repos.

[Was_Just19]

Put Win 98 on it and everyone will be happy.

[Village Idiot]

agghh. Don't do that to it. 

Yeah, as JD said, I wouldn't go any lower than 1000mhz cpu cos its just the pits. I have a small HP with a 1000mhz cpu and 256megs of ram. It will boot just fine and that's about it. What I do though is use it mainly as little server for doing mundane tasks, and I log in and run apps and the terminal across the network from a nearby machine. With out the overhead of the desktop PCLinuxOS runs surprisingly good on it.

[DeBaas]

My good.......
Found about ten pages on Google for "linux for old PC"
Don't have this old workhorses anymore, in my memory the old TinyMe was doing a great job, but there is no support or update anymore. Even those old ISO's are hidden on the net.

[Neal ManBear]

Do a search on the forum for YouCanToo's archives of PCLinuxOS's old releases. If you don't mind old and unsupported, that is.

[Hootiegibbon]

I suspect that uness you can get 128 megs in that machine and get a 256meg swap partition going even the previous versions would struggle or be too slow to be of use

On a system with those specs, you are looking at possibly DeLi Linux or perhaps Byzantine Linux or similar, with the age of machine and processor, I would search for older distros with Linux Kernels of the 2.4 branch (as the initial ram disc for any 2.6 based kernel may be too large)

The other option would be to  explore alternative OS's

But be assured that machine is far from relegated and there are options with what you install on there

Jase

[skyhawk]

See the Deli Linux home page at:

http://www.delilinux.de/

where you will see:

"DeLi Linux surprised me by turning the old 486 into an usable system [...] the Pentium III was extremely responsive, being even faster than my main AMD64 system running Fedora Core 6 [...] As far as lightweight Linux distributions go, DeLi is one of the best."

"I still have my first Intel machine, a 486DX2 66MHz system [...] it currently runs DeLi Linux as a workstation for my mother who, despite being technophobic, loves it and has no problems."

I have not tried it myself, but from the documentation it looks like it is the solution for your ancient PC. Better yet, get hold of a used Pentium IV (I got one for $60 US) and install a 2010 PCLinuxOS release. You will be very happy.

[OldJimbo]

As Crow said you can add RAM (if you can find a free source, because typically you'll only have one DIMM slot), and then older micro distros will work.
I'd beware of Win95/8 because without updates, they're pretty much impossible to defend.
People are trashing much higher end machines so unless you are wanting to learn about minimalist installs, then you are wasting time - and money.
Those old machines had low power requirements, but the power supplies were also darned inefficient in most cases. So it could well pay to find a newer machine in order to save on power bills. Just a few dollars, but we always have the idea that the ancient machine in the corner is free. When you plug it in, it isn't free any more.
I spent my lunch hours keeping lots of those machines clean. I'd strip every one and clean and oil fans, even in the power supply. If you don't have the experience to safely clean inside power supplies that old, then I hope you don't run the machine at night with loved ones in the building.