Click to See Complete Forum and Search --> : Gentoo 2005.0 install on old Pentium 2 (i386)
graza
08-19-2005, 07:39 AM
I've very recently installed Gentoo 2005.0 on an old Pentium 2, 64Mb Ram, 4Gb hard drive.
Great learning experience for me as I followed the Gentoo install documentation. Quite a difference from installing SuSE which seems to hand everything to you on a plate via YaST.
Anyway, managed to get Gentoo up and running but because the box is antiquated everything takes ages to compile when I "emerge" new software. I have broadband internet so that's not a bottleneck.
I'm very impressed with Gentoo but am I right in thinking it's probably not a good choice using old hardware ?
Nope, it's not a very good choice for old/slow hardware, it takes time to compile everything..
WhiteKnight
08-19-2005, 09:18 AM
Yup... Actually all source based distros are not recomended for old/slow systems... Getting new software just takes too long
I agree with the other two comments EXCEPT if you have multiple boxes at home and can setup distcc. distcc spreads compiling out over many networked boxes (sort-of like a cluster) and greatly speeds it up.
graza
08-19-2005, 10:29 AM
I agree with the other two comments EXCEPT if you have multiple boxes at home and can setup distcc.
distcc sounds totally cool but don't feel ready to take the plunge into distributed computing just yet, although I also have SuSE 8.2 running on another Pentium 2 box on my home network.
From the advice so far I think for the time being I'll put another distro on my old computer and go for Gentoo when I get some better hardware. Thanks.
Icarus
08-19-2005, 11:48 AM
I have a web/file server running Gentoo on a P100 w/46MB RAM, runs great (hits swap often :p) but ya, if you don't have the time to wait for the big compiles it isn't the best idea...I try to update it monthly so it takes only a weekend to update :D
soulestream
08-19-2005, 01:31 PM
I also recently took the gentoo road with a PII 450.
Its an extra box in which I use for testing/playing around with OSes.
If it was my main box however, I would use something that didnt need the compile time.
See my signature :)
soule
Lucas_Maximus
08-20-2005, 06:06 AM
Also it maybe worth looking into this www.archlinux.org
Good distro, i686 compiled. If you fancy compiling something yourself, you can use the arch build system. Runs really fast. Sort of like Gentoo and sortof like Slackware.
Excellent package manager as well.
doogiehowser
08-24-2005, 07:56 PM
I have a web/file server running Gentoo on a P100 w/46MB RAM, runs great (hits swap often :p) but ya, if you don't have the time to wait for the big compiles it isn't the best idea...I try to update it monthly so it takes only a weekend to update :D
OMG! You have a Web server AND File server on a P100?? :eek: How many people can use it before it slows to a crawl? What do you host on it?
And to think I have a P166 w/32megs that is about to be thrown out in the garbage. I can't figure out anything to use it for anymore.
Lucas_Maximus
08-24-2005, 09:40 PM
I still use my 486 to browse the web. It works quite nicely, chugs along. Kinda attached to it.