[NCLUG] Necessary Intro & Questions

[Mike Loseke]

Thus spake Michael Riversong:
> 
> Based on some correspondence, i'd like to try installing an older 
> version of SuSe or Debian on the two older computers that are now 
> running Corel.  I tried installing Mandrake 7.0 which somebody donated 
> to the school, but that didn't work at all.  So, does anyone here have 
> experience installing various distributions on older machines?  And, 
> does anyone have one or more of these that they would be willing to 
> donate to our school?

 Generally, the older hardware runs the current releases pretty well. The
biggest concern is disk space, really, with RAM being secondary.

 E.g., I have a 386/40 that has been running RedHat for about as long as
RedHat has been around (FreeBSD before that). It has 32MB of RAM and 2
hard drives, 200MB and 500MB. You have to be careful installing packages
on low-diskspace systems but other than that it runs fine for what I need
it to do.

 Your systems are probably better off than this particular config so
unless you are specifically trying to use various older versions of the
various distros there's really no reason to try to dig up the older ones.
I'd say give current RedHat a try for ease of use and installation. Lots
of folks here use debian which may or may not work for your particular
needs but is worth reading up on. Both can be downloaded in pieces or as
ISO images for burning or mounting so there are several ways to get your
hands on them at little or no cost (except bandwidth).

 Hope that helps.

-- 
   Mike Loseke    | Sometimes insanity is the only alternative.
 mike at verinet.com |