[lug] Linux on older hardware

[Bonnell, Doug]

I'm thinking that some people get confused on the difference between
Linux and X Windows. Generally speaking, Linux runs fine on older hardware,
but X Windows and all of it's applications and utilities can be a real
problem.

Older machines have less memory and less hard disk space unless they
have been extensively upgraded. A lot of old machines can't support any
more than 64Mbytes of memory and their BIOS code will not like the very
large, modern hard disks.

I have a copy of Essential Debian that fits Apache and a nice, console
only, interface in about 60Mbytes of disk space. No X, no Gnome, etc.

Certainly, X and one of the simpler window managers will work. The problem
is the major distributions want to load in a gigabyte of X based utilities
that probably aren't needed. Couple that with very old video hardware and
you are asking for disappointment.

Doug