Small Unix install

Good morning,

I am looking for a small install for an old laptop. I have
an old but
quite reliable Toshiba 330CDT that used to be my personal
laptop. I ran
FBSD 3.x/4.x on it for years but it has been wiped and in a
closet for
years. I want to use it again just to access a few web
forums and read
my email. I don't do POV RAY or 3D, I don't need Open
Office, I don't
watch any Tubes. Mutt, Fluxbox and a minimal browser would
make me happy.

I don't have the time or inclination to roll my own again.
PCBSD can't
finish the install due to only having 96mb of memory.
Desktop BSD wants
more than 4gb of drive space just to complete the install.

I currently have 98SE on it only consuming 300mb and it runs
fine, but
it's 98SE ;^) Does anyone know of anything ready to install?
BSD, Linux,
I don't care.

Thanks,

DAve
-- 
Google finally, after 7 years, provided a logo for
veterans. Thank you Google. What to do with my signature
now?
_______________________________________________
freebsd-questionsfreebsd.org mailing list
http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-que
stions
To unsubscribe, send any mail to
"freebsd-questions-unsubscribefreebsd.org"

Quoting DAve <dave.listpixelhammer.com>:
> I am looking for a small install for an old laptop. I
have an old but
> quite reliable Toshiba 330CDT that used to be my
personal laptop. I ran
> FBSD 3.x/4.x on it for years but it has been wiped and
in a closet for
> years. I want to use it again just to access a few web
forums and read
> my email. I don't do POV RAY or 3D, I don't need Open
Office, I don't
> watch any Tubes. Mutt, Fluxbox and a minimal browser
would make me happy.
>
> I don't have the time or inclination to roll my own
again. PCBSD can't
> finish the install due to only having 96mb of memory.
Desktop BSD wants
> more than 4gb of drive space just to complete the
install.
>
> I currently have 98SE on it only consuming 300mb and it
runs fine, but
> it's 98SE ;^) Does anyone know of anything ready to
install? BSD, Linux,
> I don't care.

Is there a reason a standard installation of FreeBSD 4/6/7
won't work 
for you? Just do a minimal install of the OS from CD or
network then 
install [parts of] X, fluxbox, and your other apps from
ports or 
packages and away you go. You could weigh the benefits
[possible memory 
savings] of compiling your own kernel against the time and
disk space 
required, but you shouldn't ever have to build world or
ports unless 
you feel so inclined, especially now that freebsd-update is
part of the 
base system.

JN

_______________________________________________
freebsd-questionsfreebsd.org mailing list
http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-que
stions
To unsubscribe, send any mail to
"freebsd-questions-unsubscribefreebsd.org"

On Dec 28, 2007 10:56 AM, DAve <dave.listpixelhammer.com> wrote:
> Good morning,
>
> I am looking for a small install for an old laptop. I
have an old but
> quite reliable Toshiba 330CDT that used to be my
personal laptop. I ran
> FBSD 3.x/4.x on it for years but it has been wiped and
in a closet for
> years. I want to use it again just to access a few web
forums and read
> my email. I don't do POV RAY or 3D, I don't need Open
Office, I don't
> watch any Tubes. Mutt, Fluxbox and a minimal browser
would make me happy.
>
> I don't have the time or inclination to roll my own
again. PCBSD can't
> finish the install due to only having 96mb of memory.
Desktop BSD wants
> more than 4gb of drive space just to complete the
install.
>
> I currently have 98SE on it only consuming 300mb and it
runs fine, but
> it's 98SE ;^) Does anyone know of anything ready to
install? BSD, Linux,
> I don't care.

Yes, there's plenty of options for very small Unix installs.
Those
you've tried have been the modern desktop-oriented
distributions of
FreeBSD and they of course don't shoot for the older class
of systems.
Unix has resisted bloat

For example, I've put a smaller OpenBSD build on my Soekris
that I run
for a firewall on my cable connection. Fits in 22 MB:

# df -h
Filesystem     Size    Used   Avail Capacity  Mounted on
/dev/wd0a      236M   22.1M    202M    10%    /

Granted your desktop build will be plenty larger, but 300 MB
is
certainly achievable. Follow the advice for a minimal
installation of
the vanilla FreeBSD 6.x or 7 + whatever packages  you need
and  you'll
be rolling.

You can find similar options in any of the BSDs and
GNU/Linux.

DS
_______________________________________________
freebsd-questionsfreebsd.org mailing list
http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-que
stions
To unsubscribe, send any mail to
"freebsd-questions-unsubscribefreebsd.org"

John Nielsen wrote:
> Is there a reason a standard installation of FreeBSD
4/6/7 won't work
> for you? Just do a minimal install of the OS from CD or
network then
> install [parts of] X, fluxbox, and your other apps from
ports or
> packages and away you go. You could weigh the benefits
[possible memory
> savings] of compiling your own kernel against the time
and disk space
> required, but you shouldn't ever have to build world or
ports unless you
> feel so inclined, especially now that freebsd-update is
part of the base
> system.
> 

Time and effort. I barely use the internet personally and I
didn't want
to spend the time to setup a new install, ports, kernel,
etc. I do that
60 hours a week for a living, it ceased being fun for me a
long time ago.

Darren Spruell wrote:
> Yes, there's plenty of options for very small Unix
installs. Those
> you've tried have been the modern desktop-oriented
distributions of
> FreeBSD and they of course don't shoot for the older
class of systems.
> Unix has resisted bloat

It was the off chance I could install them and just not use
the parts I
didn't need. I figured it was a long shot but it only took
30 minutes
during lunch to find out if they would work. All of my
machines are
servers, web/radius/SQL/ftp/email/bacula/streaming/etc. I
spend all day
in terminal sessions, my experience with X in the last 7
years is
minimal ;^)

I may just have to spend the time to do an install, install
some ports,
configure X, configure the wireless card, and configure
printing.

I appreciate the responses, thanks.

DAve

-- 
Google finally, after 7 years, provided a logo for
veterans. Thank you Google. What to do with my signature
now?
_______________________________________________
freebsd-questionsfreebsd.org mailing list
http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-que
stions
To unsubscribe, send any mail to
"freebsd-questions-unsubscribefreebsd.org"

Erik Cederstrand wrote:
> DAve wrote:
>> Good morning,
>>
>> I am looking for a small install for an old laptop.
I have an old but
>> quite reliable Toshiba 330CDT that used to be my
personal laptop. I ran
>> FBSD 3.x/4.x on it for years but it has been wiped
and in a closet for
>> years. I want to use it again just to access a few
web forums and read
>> my email. I don't do POV RAY or 3D, I don't need
Open Office, I don't
>> watch any Tubes. Mutt, Fluxbox and a minimal
browser would make me happy.
>>
>> I don't have the time or inclination to roll my own
again. PCBSD can't
>> finish the install due to only having 96mb of
memory. Desktop BSD wants
>> more than 4gb of drive space just to complete the
install.
>>
>> I currently have 98SE on it only consuming 300mb
and it runs fine, but
>> it's 98SE ;^) Does anyone know of anything ready to
install? BSD, Linux,
>> I don't care.
> 
> You could try Damn Small Linux. The main problem with
using old laptops
> is finding a browser that doesn't hog memory. The only
on I've found
> (apart from Lynx) is Dillo, but it doesn't support
CSS.

Yep, Dillo fails on most of the web forums I want to read.
As I
responded to another reply, I am a ASCII kinda guy in a
Multimedia world.

> 
> Another option if you really want FreeBSD is to search
the FTP archives
> for a FreeBSD 3/4 install CD and go from there. They'll
have the
> packages ready to install. Just beware of the security
implications of
> using old releases.

I still have a full four disk set of FreeBSD 3.2 ;^)
Security
implications! Ha! A bit of tuning here, a firewall there,
kill some
daemons off, I wouldn't worry. Safer than Windows.

I spent (wasted IMO) the better part of 8 hours this weekend
installing
FreeBSD and Slackware on the laptop with disappointing
results. X was
incredibly slow with all browsers, my pcmcia card isn't
working, my
wireless card is unsupported. But....

I work from home, I have VMWare on my work laptop, I
installed PCBSD in
VMWare. I was downloading mail and reading a forum in under
15 minutes.
I am happy. I will keep an eye out for a cheap/used
replacement laptop
for personal use.

Thanks everyone who responded, and have a happy New Year.

DAve

-- 
Google finally, after 7 years, provided a logo for
veterans. Thank you Google. What to do with my signature
now?
_______________________________________________
freebsd-questionsfreebsd.org mailing list
http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-que
stions
To unsubscribe, send any mail to
"freebsd-questions-unsubscribefreebsd.org"