*nix on "classic" systems

[Jim MacKenzie]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Chris M" <chrism3667 at yahoo.com>
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" 
<cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Sent: Tuesday, April 10, 2007 1:09 PM
Subject: Re: *nix on "classic" systems


> Some people (possibly many) complain about how
> bloated Linux is these days. Is it possible to get by
> on an older distro (w/the net being what it is these
> days)? Features you can do w/o, but w/o security and
> "fresh" source code might not be such a good idea.

You can still run Debian sarge (the second-last version; it was the most 
current release until a few days ago) with a 2.2.20 kernel.  Even with a 
2.4.x or 2.6.x kernel it isn't that bloated.  It runs fine on my 486sx25 
with 32 MB of RAM, and would run okay with 16MB.

I've always felt the BSD distributions are better if you want something 
really bare and basic, though.

Jim