Floppy

[bscott at ntisys.com]

On Sun, 14 Mar 2004, at 1:37pm, ps121 at usaexpress.net wrote:
> Got a friend who is interested in trying out Linux.  Has an old 386 to
> play with which doesn't have a CD drive.  Was wondering if anyone has an
> old version out there on floppies?

  Eeesh.  I don't know if that's really a good way to try out Linux.

  Any old distribution is going to be seriously different from "modern"  
Linux.  A lot of the older software had some serious deficiencies and
outright bugs.  Bug fixes, security updates, and peer support will be
non-existent.  And your friend will miss out on all the legitimately new and
interesting features in more recent software.

  If you really want to put Linux on that i386, I would say find a way to
put a "modern" distribution on it.  Pick a distribution that gives you the
option of running a more "minimalist" set of software.  Red Hat is a poor
choice for this kind of thing; Debian is pretty good.

  As far as *how* to actually get Linux installed, there are a few ideas 
that spring to mind:

  - Install a CD-ROM drive.  Boot install floppies, then chain to CD.
  - Install a network card.  Boot install floppies, then chain to network.
  - Take the HDD from the i386 out, put it in another computer, install,
    then put the HDD back in the i386.

  Something else to consider:

  An i386 is just plain *slow*.  Sure, it will run, but anything in the X
Window System will likely be unusable.  The character-cell terminal CLI
stuff will do well for day-to-day stuff, but even compiling new software
will take ages.  If your friend is comfortable with the concept of
traditional command-line Unix, it will do okay, but if your friend is
thinking about how Windows 98 on his 500 MHz Pentium III runs, this isn't a
good idea.

-- 
Ben Scott <bscott at ntisys.com>
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