I'd like to set up one of my old 486s or early Pentia as a print server for my home network. The target machines are too old to run a stable version of Windows (that would be NT4 SP6a minimum, 2000 SP3 preferred--any DOS-based 9x version is out of the question) so I figure now is the time to finally start looking at Linux. My question is, what distribution(s) might work in my situation?

The candidate distro will:
- be easy to configure for someone with tons of computer experience but close to zero *nix knowledge.
- include the basic networking services (file and print sharing, maybe pop3 and smtp).
- be reliable enough to run headless for weeks at a time.

Suggestions?

Oh, and I know about the Linksys standalone print server module--if I didn't have a rack full of obsolete computers already, I'd look into it, but I'd rather use what I have and not spend any more money.

I would go with Mandrake. It's easy to configure and stable ;)

*But if your computer is that old I wouldn't install a GUI ;)

Originally posted by DisneyFan25863
I would go with Mandrake. It's easy to configure and stable ;)

*But if your computer is that old I wouldn't install a GUI ;)

These old boxes ran Win 9x well enough in their day. I won't use 9x for my services box because it's not stable enough to run for long periods without attention--and it doesn't do well headless. How's the Mandrake GUI resource-wise?

Originally posted by Andrew
How's the Mandrake GUI resource-wise?

Pretty hard on the resources, so I recommend using a command line. ;)

Originally posted by DisneyFan25863
Pretty hard on the resources, so I recommend using a command line. ;) I'm gonna have to agree with DF on this one. If you wanna learn how to run UNIX or Linux, command line is the way to go.

Originally posted by Andrew
How's the Mandrake GUI resource-wise? Actually, it depends on what windows manager you want to run.

I'm still a *nix newbie, but here's what I understand. In order to run any kind of GUI you have to run X. Or basically an X server. X is pretty resource friendly. Once X is installed and running then you have a windows manager that actually gives you the GUI. These are potentially the resource hogs. But there are some managers that use very little resources. In fact, there are some that are so bare bones that they just look like a command line, but allow you to open programs like internet browsers in an X environment.

I installed linux on my old Mac (Performa 6115CD, one of the earliest PowerPCs) that has only 24 MB of installed ram and a 66 MHz processor. When I try to run KDE or GNOME (both resource pigs) my computer turns into a molasses churn. It slows to a near crawl. But when I run Afterstep (http://www.afterstep.org/) it moves along just fine.

Here's a listing (http://www.plig.org/xwinman/) of many of the windows managers for X.

Linux is a tweaker's paradise. Especially with how supple these windows managers are.

I'm very much a *nix noob as well, but I understand Debian Linux is pretty good. If you head on over to knoppix.com (http://www.knoppix.com) they have a full-fledged Debian-based distro that runs off of a bootable CD. You can download the ISO, burn it to a CD and you're all set. It autodetects just about everything and includes pretty much all the standard software, including several window managers.


-Mox