UNIX for Old 486 Boxes

Hi Ethan: I'd suggest a 3.x version of FreeBSD. I recall from the day that a few megs of RAM will get you support for 10-20 simultaneous users. You can run all the usual servers and services. I used a 3.x box to teach an introductory UNIX class for a couple of years at a Vancouver-area technical college. I can make you an ISO if the FreeBSD site doesn't have 3.x still available. Kevin Message: 17 Date: Sat, 8 Jun 2013 01:38:58 -0400 From: Ethan Dicks <ethan.dicks at gmail.com> To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Subject: What versions of Linux (or UNIX) are good on old 486 boxes? Message-ID: <CAALmimn9vrAuMHiuXZyyv6TZ6sNKBEot0JLbg1LUE9GbDcmqFQ at mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Hi, All, Going through stuff on the shelf and I've run across a couple of 486-based fully-integrated LCD/touchscreen machines. One is a SCAN Corporation SCANtouch Model 3000, the other is a Planar Systems box. Similarities include limited memory (2x 72-pin SIMM sockets on the SCANtouch or 4x 30-pin SIMM sockets on the Planar, both with "double-sided SIMM" support, so 64MB or 32MB max respectively), one ISA socket (no PCI), onboard NE2000, serial, parallel, 2.5" PATA disk... these systems will run MS-DOS, of course, and Win95 (the touch screen on the SCANtouch is old enough that it apparently doesn't work with Win98 mouse drivers, according to forum posts I dug up). I really don't care about running DOS or Win95 on a touchscreen/LCD machine, and the practical alternative is some flavor of Linux or UNIX. What I'm having difficulty digging up is when the break from low-mem/pre-Pentium systems happened and what distros are on which side of the divide. RedHat 7/8/9 require a Pentium and 64MB minimum 486, it was Yggdrasil (and before that, some early form of Slackware on a 386). So... anyone have a "go-to" Linux distro for sticking on a 486? I know RedHat 5.2 will work - that's what's on my PS/2-E (w/486SLC and 12MB of free mem I was recently discussing). Any other choices? At one time, when a Dell P-133 Latitude laptop was my main machine, I ran Solaris 7 on it (because it was a better choice than Linux at the time) even though it still had some issues (and workarounds) with the NeoMagic video chipset and the 3Com 3C589 PCMCIA NIC. I suspect this is likely to have similar "challenges". I've dug up full specs on the Scantouch 3000 innards - PCM-4890 integrated CPU board, NE2000 (Realtek RTL8019) Ethernet, C&T 65545 video chipset w/800x600 max LCD resolution, Sharp LM10V33 VGA (640x480) 10.4" color LCD, VIA VT82C496G chipset, , PC104 sockets... so I have little concern about getting *something* working with it. Getting 10-year-old RedHat working on a Pentium-class machine isn't a real challenge, but it's been long enough since I've really fiddled with 486s that specific memories of system configuration are getting a bit fuzzy. At one time, over 15 years ago, it was a daily thing knowing the ins and outs of what the 486 could and couldn't do, before CPUs and memory and clock speeds took off like a rocket, and when 4MB was ordinary, but more than 16MB was uncomfortably expensive for hobby gear. Helpful suggestions wanted. Thanks, -ethan