Convert Old PC to Linux - Minimal Requirements???

Richard Steiner · External Since: Nov 09, 2006 Posts: 37

Here in comp.os.linux.hardware,
TechieGrl <cschaller.DeleteThis@gmail.com> spake unto us, saying:

>I have an old, old Gateway. Probably about 10+ years old now. It's a
>PII 400MHz with 128 RAM and currently a 10GB hard drive.

That machine is twice as fast as this one. Literally. Smile

>Before I get rid of it I wanted to ask if there's enough here to
>salvage and turn it into a Linux file server.

Sure. It'd make a good firewall box, too.

Use Samba (smbd) to share your filesystems, and they'll look like
Windows drives on the LAN.

--
-Rich Steiner >>>---> http://www.visi.com/~rsteiner >>>---> Mableton, GA USA
Mainframe/Unix bit twiddler by day, OS/2+Linux+DOS hobbyist by night.
WARNING: I've seen FIELDATA FORTRAN V and I know how to use it!
The Theorem Theorem: If If, Then Then.

Richard Steiner · External Since: Nov 09, 2006 Posts: 37

Here in comp.os.linux.hardware,
Nicolas George <nicolas$george@salle-s.org> spake unto us, saying:

>Dances With Crows wrote in message
>
><slrnfbgveu.n5l.danSPANceswithTRAPcrows.TakeThisOut@crow202.dyndns.org>:
>> You'll want to install something light like Damn
>> Small Linux or possibly Xubuntu, though.
>
>Definitely not. Installing such a limited thing as Damn Small Linux on
>such a powerful machine.

Older versions of DSL came with Synaptic (it could be installed after
the default LiveCD boot, giving access to all sort of software.

I'm not sure about the most recent versions.

--
-Rich Steiner >>>---> http://www.visi.com/~rsteiner >>>---> Mableton, GA USA
Mainframe/Unix bit twiddler by day, OS/2+Linux+DOS hobbyist by night.
WARNING: I've seen FIELDATA FORTRAN V and I know how to use it!
The Theorem Theorem: If If, Then Then.

Shadow_7 · External Since: Nov 01, 2006 Posts: 130

On Tue, 07 Aug 2007 15:56:32 +0000, Nicolas George wrote:

> Shadow_7 wrote in message <pan.2007.08.07.15.21.17.TakeThisOut@yaNOhoo.comNULL>:
>> Perhaps they have a really nice monitor
>
> A monitor on a file server?

Well, not to imply it's always gonna have a monitor. But for those times
when the power goes out and the UPS fails, or other issues arise. You'll
need a monitor or some sort to get the box back into commission. There
are monitor-less options like running from a live CD, or using some sort
of ssh method of configuration. But even those run into issues on
occasion.

Rikishi 42 · External Since: Oct 27, 2005 Posts: 177

On 2007-08-08, Floyd L. Davidson <floyd.TakeThisOut@apaflo.com> wrote:

>>>or from an IDE drive any larger than 40Gb.
>>
>>IME, if /boot is on its own partition located somewhere in the first 1024
>>cylinders, you should be able to boot nearly any drive. I've not yet tried
>>booting an LBA48 hard drive on older hardware, but I've had Linux booting
>>without a drive overlay on drive/motherboard combos that would need a drive
>>overlay if you had put Windows on it instead.
>
> Still, *that* particular motherboard won't boot from a larger disk.

Use a accepted size disk to put your system and swap on. Use any size disk
as second, to put your data on. Don't configure the second HD in your bios,
just set it to 'none'.

--
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The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.
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Rikishi 42 · External Since: Oct 27, 2005 Posts: 177

On 2007-08-09, Floyd L. Davidson <floyd RemoveThis @apaflo.com> wrote:

>>>>>or from an IDE drive any larger than 40Gb.
>>>>
>>>>IME, if /boot is on its own partition located somewhere in the first 1024
>>>>cylinders, you should be able to boot nearly any drive. I've not yet tried
>>>>booting an LBA48 hard drive on older hardware, but I've had Linux booting
>>>>without a drive overlay on drive/motherboard combos that would need a drive
>>>>overlay if you had put Windows on it instead.
>>>
>>> Still, *that* particular motherboard won't boot from a larger disk.
>>
>>Use a accepted size disk to put your system and swap on. Use any size disk
>>as second, to put your data on. Don't configure the second HD in your bios,
>>just set it to 'none'.
>
> (You did realize that I was describing to someone else,
> who asked _if_ it could be done, just exactly _how_ that
> system has been running for 10 years now...)
>
> Whatever, you don't have it right.

Looks like I might have missed part of the conversation.
I thought it was about booting problems with large drive on older systems.
Got that from this line:
>>> Still, *that* particular motherboard won't boot from a larger disk.

So, my point was merely: if you do have that kind of problem, it's easily
circumvented by using an accepted drive as first one. The second (an any
number of others) can be any size, and need not to be configured in the bios.

Suggestion to put the swap on it, was just because I did it on my (very
small) server. Probably not required, I agree.

Sorry to have interrupted a topic on some very advanced server
configuration.
(multiple swaps? Never thought of that, must try.).

--
There is an art, it says, or rather, a knack to flying.
The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.
Douglas Adams