FOAK: Paging the linux beardies

I have an old PC that acts as a server (apache, exim, spop3d, and
bind). It has a 633MHz Celeron CPU and 128MB of ram. It has been
running Red Hat linux 7.3 for as long as I can remember (i.e. many
years...)

The hard disk is making unpleasant noises and I think it might die soon.

So, I am replacing the HDD with an 80GB one. Should I just use my
ancient Red Hat CD or is there a better alternative? I don't care about
graphics or GUIs - the machine just sits in a cupboard.

Is there a modern distro which targets using shonky old PCs as servers?
Most of the ones I've looked at either want more than 128MB RAM, or
they are more concerned with pretty GUIs and desktop apps like
OpenOffice which I'm not bothered about.

 

Have a look at CentOS.

 

CentOS 5 - as has been said elsewhere.

Soy.

 

You may have some luck here http://distrowatch.com/

 

I used this page to make some comparisons...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Linux_LiveDistros

I tried Damn Small Linux and SimpleMEPIS - both supposedly aimed and
shonky old PCs. On my old PII w/ 128MB RAM box, MEPIS wouldn't even boot
from the CD, and I couldn't just force an install. DSL booted into
command line mode, but wouldn't run a GUI - something I was wanting to do
at the time. Again I couldn't force an install.

This "try the live, before you install" is all well and good, but for old
PCs with slow CD drives and little memory, it doesn't work so well. As I
had nothing on the HD I was willing to try an install straight off to see
if I liked it, but I just gave up as the requirements at the time passed,
and I moved on to painting the bedroom instead.

PS I don't have a beard - hope this is OK.

 

Do you *want* to reinstall and set up? If not, boot of a live distro CD
and dd the old disk onto the new one.

Make the new disc bootable (though you may not even need to do that)
then plug the new in where the old was.

JD

--
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Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
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Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

Other than the likes of DSL, any up-to-date headless biased server distro
should *just* match your shonky spec

A random search gives:

<https://help.ubuntu.com/8.04/serverguide/C/preparing-to-
install.html#id2550947>

as an example.

 

Ubuntu 6.06 LTS. It's what I run on one of our webservers and that box
makes your PC look modern..

By default it doesn't install all the GUI stuff unless you customise
the install to tell it to. Just select 'Install LAMP server' from the
boot menu, answer a few questions and Robert is your fathers
cross-dressing auntie.

Phil

 

Hmmm... Clever. I didn't realise that was an option. I'll probably go
with a fresh install just for the "life experience"[1] - one thing I
neglected to mention was that the current HDD and the complete install
used to be in an old 133MHz Compaq P5. That machine died suddenly so I
tried removing the disk and bunging it straight into another machine
(totally different set of hardware). Amazingly, it mostly worked
although I have to type "modprobe 8139too" whenever I reboot the box
before the network works.

Also, my cavalier attitude to keeping everything up-to-date probably
means I'd benefit from a fresh install.

Ta for the info.

[1] I think that's the polite way of saying "for shits and giggles".

 

Magic. I think I'll go with this option as I have a small amount of
experience with Ubuntu (I played around with a liveCD of Greedy Gonads
or whatever it's called a while back).

Didn't realise Ubuntu would be happy to install on such low-spec h/w.

Thanks for the help everyone.

 

It's not really kept very busy - it's the primary DNS server for a
domain, handles a few hundred incoming SMTP connections per day (mostly
spam, natch), and does a bit of webserving on the side (including SSL
for remote webmail access using Iloha, and a phpBB forum). No samba or
NFS or anything like that.

5:33pm up 42 days, 3:28, 2 users, load average: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00

I'd be lost without it though.

 

My headless server now runs 8.04 albeit with quite a lot more RAM.

So far, so good.

 

Slackware.
Just pick the bits that you need - easy.

 

Really? I'll have a rummage. Just as well I don't use SMB[1] then.

[1] No need, see?

 

I have done it several times to get off shonky discs. Very painless.
- one thing I

Linux tends to be like that.

Arse. I thought 'for shits and giggles' *was* the polite way

--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 145 2.0 Cloverleaf 156 V6 2.5 S2
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

Indeed. I'm migrating all my current linux boxes here at work over to
one version[1] and it's possibly the one I'll use. Mind you most of the
linux boxes are P4's with 256M RAM so I may just stick to 6.06 LTS.

Phil.

[1] To make them easier for people other than me to look after in case
I meet a bus face-on one morning. Or leave.

 

That's a kind offer, thanks. I'll stick with my existing box though -
it's like an old friend, although it's a bit like Boycie's paintbrush
in Only Fools and Horses ("it's lasted me 20 years, but its had four
new handles and five new heads").

However, although it doesn't help with diminishing your hardware stack,
if any of those Compaq's have got a couple of 128MB or greater 168pin
DIMMs in them that you wouldn't mind losing, I'll post you an SAE and
some beer tokens for them...

 

Cue the pedants!

 

Trigger's broom.

--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 145 2.0 Cloverleaf 156 V6 2.5 S2
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

Heh. I've got a few like that.

Hmm, I think they're all pretty much down to the usable minimum I'm
afraid.