I got some old 486dx33-isa computer as a present. it has 2400 baud internal, optics at 8000 cdrom, 2x 200 mb at hdd, isa ne2000 included. <snip> As we write 2001 already, what use has one still got for such an old thing to be used under linux console environment.

hope you don't treat this as a joke-question.

well, as someone still running a 486 as his main webserver from a single 200MB HD I don't see this as a joke :-) I have it running XFree with IceWM, though that was more to see if I could get it working, and still fit everything I needed onto the HD.

I shall today give you more information as I did before to rise possibility of adequate answers:

486 runs with 4 mb - is that enough for gateway-firewall-routing purposes?

I'd say it was enough, as for most individuals nothing larger is needed. You should be able to have it running quite happily, though personally I'd recommend a distro of a similar age to the box, running a 2.0 kernel, as this will give you something that will fit your hardware as well as running at a reasonable speed. My webserver runs slackware 3.6, but this is because it only has floppy disk drives, and slackware 3.6 all fitted onto 1.44 floppies. You'll probably have to work out what packages you want before starting the install, as 400MB isn't much space, but with a little thought, and some trial and error, you should be fine. Have Fun, Jim. -- James McBoyle /"\ James.McBoyle@ireland.sun.com \ / ASCII Ribbon Campaign Software Engineer X Against HTML Mail QED SunConfigs / \

Oliver Ob wrote:

after again more and more differences oon the german list, on trustfully come to you and ask you...

I got some old 486dx33-isa computer as a present. it has 2400 baud internal, optics at 8000 cdrom, 2x 200 mb at hdd, isa ne2000 included.

Now the question:

As we write 2001 already, what use has one still got for such an old thing to be used under linux console environment.

Server, of course. The main server here is: 486/33 12MB RAM 180MB HDD SMC Ultra network card And it does this: firewalling/routing/NAT DNS DHCP mail diald NTP

hope you don't treat this as a joke-question.

Certainly not taken as such.

I shall today give you more information as I did before to rise possibility of adequate answers:

486 runs with 4 mb - is that enough for gateway-firewall-routing purposes?

4MB of RAM shouldn't be a problem for gateway-firewall-routing. You may not want to do *everything* that I do above, though, unless you aquire an 8MB stick of RAM. You can also use these as email terminals. You could have one sitting in every room of the building where you live ;-) I've got a whole stack of these things which are in the process of being 'beowulfed'. There's another use if you've got a few... Bye, Chris -- __ _ -o)/ / (_)__ __ ____ __ Chris Reeves /\\ /__/ / _ \/ // /\ \/ / ICQ# 22219005 _\_v __/_/_//_/\_,_/ /_/\_\