Linux

[Anoobis]

ok i have an old computer:
AMD K5 450mhz i think
pc100 56mb ram
5 gig HD
no graphics card inbuilt or seperate

Can i install linux? it had win98 on it fine for many years. not quite good enough for UT (average 1fps)
if i can run linux which version (free plz) and where can i get it from. any other ideas on what i can do with this machine?

[Vendor]

Yes you can run linux on this machine.

However I suggest you pop some sort of graphics card, and probably a network card in too ;) - a PC without any output is not a great deal of use!
Drivers - most hardware Just Works.

There are many different distros you could use on this machine, but I would suggest Mandrake for its ease of use. With quite a low RAM, a liveCD probably wouldn't be such a good idea, and you will need to run EITHER with no window manager, or a fairly lean one such as IceWM. It is fairly easy to pop IceWM on a Mandrake box.

Possible uses: firewall, email and web browsing (as linux is immune to windows exploits, it will reduce your exposure to malware on your main box). Webserver is easy. p2p filesharing apps. DVD transcoding is easy too - especially as you can set it to run at the lowest priority using unused CPU cycles.

As to finding downloads, google for "mandrake torrents", or look somewhere like here : http://torrentreactor.net/sections.php?id=42

[Anoobis]

thanks vendor!
yeah i forgot to say i had a network card. i'll have another proper read of your post later when i'm with my own computer
thanks