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Linux minimum disk space?

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Wally Sanford

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Nov 13, 1999, 3:00:00 AM11/13/99
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I have an old Gateway 386 with a 200 MB hard drive. Redhat
Linux 4.2-6.1 will apparently not fit on that disk. Is there a Linux that
will? I am just seeking to install the minimum configuration to see if I
can, I don't need to do anything useful on it.

Thanks.

--
Wally Sanford
Sanford Consulting
email: wsanford<nospam>@mindspring.com

David Megginson

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Nov 13, 1999, 3:00:00 AM11/13/99
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"Wally Sanford" <wsan...@mindspring.com> writes:

> I have an old Gateway 386 with a 200 MB hard drive. Redhat Linux
> 4.2-6.1 will apparently not fit on that disk. Is there a Linux that
> will? I am just seeking to install the minimum configuration to see
> if I can, I don't need to do anything useful on it.

You can get Linux onto a floppy if you want to -- for one example, see

http://linux.davecentral.com/4510_sysutildist.html

Linux itself is very small, but some of the programs people use with
it (XWindows, Netscape, Emacs, GCC, WordPerfect, Star Office, Quake,
the FlightGear flight simulator, etc.) are not.

That said, I've installed later versions of RedHat in far under 200MB
-- just use a custom install and disable as much as possible (you can
always add it later if you need it). I've also done a lot of useful
development on a 386SX notebook with a 120MB hard drive only a few
years ago (I even ran XWindows and frequently recompiled the kernel).


All the best,


David

--
David Megginson da...@megginson.com
http://www.megginson.com/

Mike Kenzie

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Nov 13, 1999, 3:00:00 AM11/13/99
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"Wally Sanford" (wsan...@mindspring.com) writes:
> I have an old Gateway 386 with a 200 MB hard drive. Redhat
> Linux 4.2-6.1 will apparently not fit on that disk. Is there a Linux that
> will? I am just seeking to install the minimum configuration to see if I
> can, I don't need to do anything useful on it.
>

I have a slack 1.1.59 running on a 386-33 with 8 meg of RAM and a 80 meg HD
I got it running originally with only 2 meg.

I also have SuSE 5.2 with X on a 400 meg drive

My last install of SuSE 6.2 is 7 GIG!

Yves Bellefeuille

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Nov 13, 1999, 3:00:00 AM11/13/99
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On Sat, 13 Nov 1999, "Wally Sanford" <wsan...@mindspring.com> wrote:

> I have an old Gateway 386 with a 200 MB hard drive. Redhat Linux 4.2-6.1
> will apparently not fit on that disk. Is there a Linux that will? I am
> just seeking to install the minimum configuration to see if I can, I
> don't need to do anything useful on it.

Of the major distributions, Debian and Slackware require about 25 to
35 Mb of disk space for a minimal installation, while Red Hat and SuSE
require about 125 Mb.

--
Yves Bellefeuille <y...@storm.ca>
Ottawa, Canada
Francais / English / Esperanto
Maintainer, Esperanto FAQ: http://www.esperanto.net/veb/faq.html

Kenneth P. Turvey

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Nov 13, 1999, 3:00:00 AM11/13/99
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On Sat, 13 Nov 1999 08:09:22 -0500, Wally Sanford <wsan...@mindspring.com> wrote:
>I have an old Gateway 386 with a 200 MB hard drive. Redhat
>Linux 4.2-6.1 will apparently not fit on that disk. Is there a Linux that
>will? I am just seeking to install the minimum configuration to see if I
>can, I don't need to do anything useful on it.

Debian will have plenty of room assuming you don't install everything
under the sun. I would be very surprised if Redhat wasn't the same way.
Are you sure you didn't choose to install more than would fit?

--
Kenneth P. Turvey <kt-...@SprocketShop.com>
--------------------------------------------
I wake up each morning determined to change the World... and also to
have one hell of a good time. Sometimes that makes planning the day
a little difficult. -- E.B. White

Andrew J. Norman

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Nov 14, 1999, 3:00:00 AM11/14/99
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FYI:
A minimal install working install of Redhat (or Slacware) can be
done in 80megs of disk space (note this is a very stripped down
installation and does not include some of the large default packages or
compilers) More over the best you can do using the current Redhat install
program (without any modifications to packages) is about 120megs. If you
need to go under this you need to enter the expert mode and remove some of
the packages immediately after they are installed (good candidates include
the documentation and some of the libraries that are not normally needed
unless very specific packages are installed) Using this method you can in
fact a valid system on a zip or LS120 disk, so your machine should be no
problem.

--
Andrew J. Norman
______________________________________________________________
Dept. of Physics Phone: 757-221-3571
College of William & Mary nor...@physics.wm.edu
______________________________________________________________

On Sat, 13 Nov 1999, Wally Sanford wrote:

> I have an old Gateway 386 with a 200 MB hard drive. Redhat
> Linux 4.2-6.1 will apparently not fit on that disk. Is there a Linux that
> will? I am just seeking to install the minimum configuration to see if I
> can, I don't need to do anything useful on it.
>

Paul Grayson

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Nov 15, 1999, 3:00:00 AM11/15/99
to
Wally Sanford wrote:
>
> I have an old Gateway 386 with a 200 MB hard drive. Redhat
> Linux 4.2-6.1 will apparently not fit on that disk. Is there a Linux that
> will? I am just seeking to install the minimum configuration to see if I
> can, I don't need to do anything useful on it.
>
> Thanks.

Four years ago I installed the then current Slackware version on a
386-SX with a 40MB hard disk, with 6MB of RAM. This was installed as a
DNS server as a temporary measure, and as of March this year was still
installed (and could still be running today).

Slackware allows the installation of separate sets of packages - A is
the base system, AP text applications, X bare X system, D development
and so on. You only need to chose the components you want. The install
process also indicates how much disk space each package will consume.

Redhats installation process is less friendly - certainly up to 5.2. It
does not indicate what exactly you are installing, even if you purchased
offical package with a manual.

--
Paul Grayson, Ripon, North Yorkshire, UK.

No Microsoft code was used in generating this message - can you say the
same?

Robert Wiegand

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Nov 16, 1999, 3:00:00 AM11/16/99
to
Wally Sanford wrote:
>
> I have an old Gateway 386 with a 200 MB hard drive. Redhat
> Linux 4.2-6.1 will apparently not fit on that disk. Is there a Linux that
> will? I am just seeking to install the minimum configuration to see if I
> can, I don't need to do anything useful on it.

I installed a copy of Debian (including X Windows) on a 100M Zip disk.

--
Regards,
Bob Wiegand bwie...@sesd.cig.mot.com

Shawn D'Alimonte

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Nov 16, 1999, 3:00:00 AM11/16/99
to
Robert Wiegand wrote:
> I installed a copy of Debian (including X Windows) on a 100M Zip disk.

I got the Debian base setup on a 44MB Syquest cartridge. Pretty much
just the base system with a few other packages. This was Linux/68k that
I was trying on an old Mac without much HD space.

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