Help for Linux on bare-bones 386

[jrv at vanzandt.mv.com (James R. Van Zandt)]

Bill Horne <bhorne at banet.net> writes:
>I've a 386 with 8MB Ram, 5.25 floppies, a 40MB hard drive, with a
>monochrome monitor. Please tell me if it's a viable platform for
>"home office" use, running Linux.

8 MB of ram is enough if you don't run X.  40 MB is too little disk
space.  One option you might consider: get a CDROM drive and a CDROM
with a "live" filesystem, so you don't have to put /usr on the hard
disk.  (I have not set up this kind of system, so I can't help with
the details.)  This will be slower than a hard disk, but still faster
than the 8088.  I would set up at least 4 MB of swap space, to allow
emacs.

For a character-based spreadsheet, check out oleo and sc.

>5. How much of a learning curve will an experienced DOS user have in
>stepping up to Linux?  My sister has never used a "point and drool"
>interface, so she's used to using a command line, but I don't want to
>give her a system that's going to need several months to master:  she
>has five kids and little spare time.

>6.  How much of a learning curve will *I* have to climb in order to
>get this system working?  I have used UNIX at school, and know the
>basic commands, but I haven't programmed in years and have never
>assembled an OS from source.  What time commitment should I plan for?

You both have a lot to learn, but you will not need to do any
programming.  I suggest picking up a copy of "Linux for Dummies".

Incidentally, my rule of thumb is: to make it faster, buy more
memory.  to make it easier to administer, buy a bigger disk.

		 - Jim Van Zandt
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