Re: Linux-2.4.20 on a 4 MB Laptop

John Bradford
2003-04-09T16:21:04Z

> > What I want to know is if this happens just because of the low memory (4MB) or
> > if there is another reason for this behaviour.
>
> There must be another reason, I'm running a 80486/4Mb (Compaq Contura)
> with 2.4.20 just fine. Even networking is present. You need lots of
> swap, though.
>
> > What do you think: What are the minimum requirements for Linux on such a
> > laptop (no X, of course, very simple setup): 8MB, 12MB?
>
> The very minimum? 4Mb + lots of swap. To make it closer to usable, I'd
> say 8Mb. Altough, I had this setup on my Contura: Contura connects to
> the main box via plip, another laptop (old Thinkpad) connects to Contura
> via ppp, and Contura NATs it through the main box. Meanwhile, I could
> run mutt, reading e-mail, and zile, editing some documentation. Both
> from screen. And I've been logged into the machine via ssh.
>
> It was a bit slow, but worked. So 4Mb _is_ enough, even for running
> Debian sid.

I missed the original post in this thread, but I can confirm that
2.4.18, 2.4.19, and various 2.5 kernels have worked fine on 4 and 8 MB
RAM, 486 laptops here.

I demonstrated X, the Apache webserver with support for PHP, and Lynx
running in 4 MB of RAM last year.

Quite a lot of useful work can be done in 8 MB RAM, with no swap, and
that allows you to spin down the disk and make the batteries last
longer, (on a laptop).

Have a look at:

http://grabjohn.com/low_spec.php

for some configuration suggestions.

John.