16 Nov
2005
16 Nov
'05
5:16 p.m.
On Thu, 17 Nov 2005 00:38:07 +0000 (GMT)
ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell) wrote:
It is small for any 'modern' version of Linux. Most 'distros' now are
being built with compile options that don't even allow it to run on a regular 386.
There isn't the same problem for Net or OpenBSD. Probably one of the reasons I like
the BSDs more than Linux: the fact that they support as 'equal' all those old
architectures 'keeps them honest' and keeps the install system from by default
installing a horrendous amount of bloat. I have the same basic compliment of binaries,
built from the same source tree, on a little old Sparc IPX and on a Pentium III system.
Early versions of Linux are reaching the age where they are 'technically' on topic
here.
That is
exactly why I did not buy the 3 ed. Minux has been re-wrtten
from a 8088 to a 386+
in the 3rd ed. 8 meg of ram min is needed, 16 recomended. I was buying
BLETCH!!!
That means it wouldn't run on this PC (too little RAM), for all I am
running an old version of linux with no problems.
The reason I bought Minix in the beginning was that it would run on my
PC/XT machine (the only PC I had at the time). And I learnt a fair bit
about OSes and enough C to be dangerous by playing about with it.
8MB and a 386 is not a small machine!