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Antique Distros?

Posted by Cliff on from the linux-for-older-machines dept.

An anonymous reader asks: "I've got an old 486 that isn't doing anything (it has RedHat 6.2 on it and even that barely works), and I have been considering installing an even older distribution to make it more usable. I'm looking for something I can download still, has a good bit of programs, has X, and is still a relatively reasonable download for a 56K modem. I would like to download the distro with my new computer, then burn a CD or do something like that to install it on my old computer. The computer is a 486 at 33Mhz with 16MB RAM and a 1.5GB HDD. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated."

2 of 96 comments (clear)

  1. What's the point? by Tuxinatorium · · Score: 0, Troll

    Why bother to mess around with obsolete computers when you don't need to because you have a new one? It's a total waste of time. An old 486 might contribute about 0.1% of the processing power to the distributed computing project of your choice compared to a cheap Athlon XP 2000+, and it might be able to run minesweeper on Windows 3.1 or Linux 2.4 Whoop-dee-doo. Unless you're an antiquiphilic, throw away (or recycle) your old boxes.

    --
    Repeal the DMCA!
  2. Openbsd 3.2 or Basic Linux by Noodlenose · · Score: 1, Troll
    Ignore those Slackware comments: It's tricky to install and a monster to download.

    Instead go for Openbsd, which is dead easy to install, secure and perfect for low-end machines.

    If you're dead keen to run Linux, why not go for Basic Linux which I used successfully on a 386 with 8MB.

    Cheers,

    Dirk