I'm wondering if there is a very light Linux version that will still
run on an old P4 machine. (Intel 2.66 Ghz with 512 meg Ram).

I like Lubuntu. It's Ubuntu's core OS with LXDE, a lightweight window manager

>It also has a collection of smaller, lightweight apps.

I run it on a 1.7 GHZ Pentium 4 laptop, and it runs nicely. It idles in 200

>megs of RAM.

That sounds not too bad.
Forgive me if my knowledge of Linux is out of date. Is this a version that
has to be compiled or does it just install in a working condition.
Am I likely to have a hard time finding dial-up modem support for it ?

When I last tried a version of Puppy I was able to avoid dual booting
and such and simply make a boot CD that accessed files already saved to
the hard drive with the specific setup info I guess..
That seemed handy at the time, a way to try it out without totally
reworking the computer.

Thanks for your input.

Rob
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I'm wondering if there is a very light Linux version that will still
run on an old P4 machine. (Intel 2.66 Ghz with 512 meg Ram).

I run Slackware, a fairly simple OS. I'm sure it'll run on your 2.66 Ghz Inte

>Nothing wrong with that CPU type and speed. The RAM is a little low but I'm
>sure you can still run an X desktop in that although it may be a little slow
>from swapping.

I've saved your suggestion.. Even if I've only briefly run Linux in the
past I've always kept the Linux conference active on my BBS feed so I
could follow what's been going on to a point.

My impression of Slackware from earlier comments was it's requires a more serious effort, steeper learning curve, to operate than some others.
(Not exactly Windows user friendly) Is that fair or am I mistaken ?

I may get more involved with it if I start running some version for
a while again. Back in the early 80's I was doing things like writing
my own Operating System text front ends for DOS and my own games and
such so I wasn't afraid to get into complex command line work, it's
more that I don't want to have to learn a whole lot to get something
up and running before I find out if it's the way I want to go..

Thanks for your ideas though. I've saved that information in case
it ends up being a good way to go.

Rob
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Re: Linux For P4
By: ROB MCCART to POINDEXTER FORTRAN on Sun Nov 18 2018 12:39 am

That sounds not too bad.
Forgive me if my knowledge of Linux is out of date. Is this a version that has to be compiled or does it just install in a working condition.

It works out of the box, can be booted from a USB stick or a DVD. Once it boots, it puts you into a live environment running off of the removable media and lets you try it out or install it.

Am I likely to have a hard time finding dial-up modem support for it ?

Dial-up PPP support? Not sure if it supports it out of the box, but it's possible. Network Manager, the system tray tool doesn't seem to have support built-in, but I remember writing scripts to nail up a PPP connection, wouldn't be that hard.

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>RM> Is this a version that
>RM> has to be compiled or does it just install in a working condition.

It works out of the box, can be booted from a USB stick or a DVD. Once it

>boots, it puts you into a live environment running off of the removable media
>and lets you try it out or install it.

I wondered a bit about that. I had a quick look online and seemed to be
seeing install files small enough to fit on a CD, let alone a DVD..
..but they mentioned that to install it would require 5 gig of disk
space so it was sounding a little expansive once it gets going..
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>RM> Is this a version that
>RM> has to be compiled or does it just install in a working condition.

It works out of the box, can be booted from a USB stick or a DVD. Once it

>boots, it puts you into a live environment running off of the removable media
>and lets you try it out or install it.

I wondered a bit about that. I had a quick look online and seemed to be seeing install files small enough to fit on a CD, let alone a DVD..
..but they mentioned that to install it would require 5 gig of disk
space so it was sounding a little expansive once it gets going..

I know this thread is a few months old, however ... have you gotten a Linux install up and running yet? I have installed Raspbian PC on some very old X86 architectures. Though Slackware 14.2 runs well, for a GUI Desktop I would suggest Raspbian PC.

https://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-to-run-raspberry-pis-raspbian-os-on-a- pc/

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I know this thread is a few months old, however ... have you gotten a Linux

>install up and running yet? I have installed Raspbian PC on some very old X8
>architectures. Though Slackware 14.2 runs well, for a GUI Desktop I would
>suggest Raspbian PC.

I looked into the suggestions but I think the biggest problem might be that
I would require Dial-Up support, and I'm not sure 'modern' Linux distros support that. I primarily wanted to find browser and eMail support for
a computer currently running a sort of hybrid Win 98/ME system which
precludes using new eMail programs or Browsers that support HTTPS access.

I'm not sure how upgradable Linux distros tend to be without a full reinstall. I did try a Puppy Linux version several years back which looked promising
(It's still on this machine but I think requires a Boot CD to run it) but
even then there was minimal Dial-up support.

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I know this thread is a few months old, however ... have you gotten a Linux

>install up and running yet? I have installed Raspbian PC on some very old X8
>architectures. Though Slackware 14.2 runs well, for a GUI Desktop I would
>suggest Raspbian PC.

I looked into the suggestions but I think the biggest problem might be that I would require Dial-Up support, and I'm not sure 'modern' Linux distros support that. I primarily wanted to find browser and eMail support for
a computer currently running a sort of hybrid Win 98/ME system which precludes using new eMail programs or Browsers that support HTTPS access.

Most Linux Distros have dial-up support. I do know that Raspbian PC (https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/pixel-pc-mac/) has dial-up support, though it does depend on what type of modem you are using (winmodems do not work (very well if at all) under linux) and will always require some hands on configuration, there are many articles concerning this subject. Typically pppd is used for modem use. https://www.aboutdebian.com/modems.htm

I'm not sure how upgradable Linux distros tend to be without a full reinstall. I did try a Puppy Linux version several years back which looked promising
(It's still on this machine but I think requires a Boot CD to run it) but even then there was minimal Dial-up support.

Most Linux Distros are Live Up-gradable ... Debian compatible (Debian 9, Ubuntu, Raspbian PC, etc) using apt-get update && apt-get upgrade commands and install packages is as simple as apt-get install <package-name>. I use Slackware 14.2 which is not as easy to update.

Hope this helps

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I know this thread is a few months old, however ... have you gotten a Linux

>install up and running yet? I have installed Raspbian PC on some very old X8
>architectures. Though Slackware 14.2 runs well, for a GUI Desktop I would
>suggest Raspbian PC.

I looked into the suggestions but I think the biggest problem might be that I would require Dial-Up support, and I'm not sure 'modern' Linux distros support that. I primarily wanted to find browser and eMail support for
a computer currently running a sort of hybrid Win 98/ME system which precludes using new eMail programs or Browsers that support HTTPS access.

PS: I have an ancient PCI modem in my PC (I don't use it because I haven't had a landline for almost 10 years LOL :-) Again, I use Slackware 14.2 with KDE 4.14.21 Plasma Desktop, which comes preconfigured with KPPP Internet Dial-up Tool (the modem drivers are detected by the kernel on boot-up and the appropriate modules are loaded as /dev/modem ) I am not sure what you mean by 'make phone calls' but I assume you mean to use internet dial-up?

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I looked into the suggestions but I think the biggest problem might be tha

> > I would require Dial-Up support, and I'm not sure 'modern' Linux distros
> > support that.

Most Linux Distros have dial-up support.

Thanks for your information. I'm keeping notes from this if I decide to
try to get things going with Linux again.

I'm not sure how upgradable Linux distros tend to be without a full

> > reinstall. I did try a Puppy Linux version several years back which looked
> > promising

Most Linux Distros are Live Up-gradable ... Debian compatible (Debian 9,

>Ubuntu, Raspbian PC, etc) using apt-get update && apt-get upgrade commands a
>install packages is as simple as apt-get install <package-name>.

What I meant by upgradable, and maybe you are answering what I asked, was
if You have a version of Linux running that is several years old, and you
may prefer the older distro for a very old computer, is it possible to just replace the Browser and maybe eMail programs with newer ones or would it involve downloading a full OS version ?

I believe when I looked into the version of Puppy Linux I was trying out several years ago they supported Dial-up but only at 14.4k.. If you
wanted 56k support you had to pay for it (better drivers I assume)..

The problem with dial-up and virtually all new computer programming is that
no one ever thinks someone is still out there on dial-up and so distos of everything are huge. Web pages that I could duplicate using 100k of data
often take 3 or 4 meg to load.. No one worries that a simple browser is
50 meg because that's takes just seconds on high speed, but where I live
most of the year a 50 meg file would take me 7 hours to download assuming nothing interrupted that download and you had to start over. One 35 meg anti-virus program I had to download 5 times to finally get a working copy.

I guess I'll have to decide if it's worth getting into the finer points
of a whole new Operating System since Linux in general doesn't self
install a lot of stuff and in newer distros, things from older distros
tend to be dropped so legacy support gets less and less over the years.
Having had computers since about 1983, Apple and PC, I've had to work my
way through a lot of changes so I'm sure I can manage it if I have to..

Thanks for your input..

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