David L Norris wrote:
On Sun, 2003-11-30 at 21:02, Jim Taylor wrote:
I live in a rural area and am getting people interested in Linux. We're
thinking of starting up a Linux club, and I'd like to know of the
experiences of others in sizing a system to run Fedora -- that is, the
LOW END starter system suitable for a start-up Linux club.
Depends on the use of the computer. Epiphany, Evolution, Gnumeric,
Abiword, and similar lightweight programs work well on slow machines. Large programs like OpenOffice and Mozilla would not work so well on a
slow system.
I think some work needs to be done on the package sets and dependencies
in Fedora Core. None of the provided packages sets (Personal,
Workstation, etc) work well as a desktop on older hardware.
I've managed to build my own custom install CD with only a basic system and GNOME. The install CD is about 355 MB. It consumes 1 GB of hard disk space after install. Once installed you can add any additional software you need from the full 3 CD set or the YUM repositories. This system is running GNOME and various office applications very well on a Compaq Deskpro 75 MHz with 64 MB RAM. Also, F10 at the graphical login screen will allow me to open the XDMCP host chooser and login to a faster machine over the LAN using the P75 as a dumb X display.
I was thinking of:
-motherboard with 2xUSB, serial port(s), and whatever else comes with
motherboards these days (low end) like integrated 10/100 Ethernet
- AMD processor, 700 MHZ (that seems to be the low-end in the shop I
visited)
- graphics adapter (2D graphics, maybe "gee-whiz gaming graphics" ?)
- 30GB hard drive
- basic tower case, 200 to 300 watt power supply, not-too-noisy fan
That would be a wonderful system, I think. Especially if you take the time to remove/disable all services you don't need. Removing unused services (sendmail, etc) from the default install will greatly reduce the RAM requirements.
David,
Where can I read about the steps that required to make the reduced install CD. That sounds like something I'd like to set up.
Kind regards,
Mike
