Best Libre os for a old computer?

You could install Trisquel without a desktop environment (by doing a net-install). I don't know if the amount of space taken up by a base install is too much for a 256 MB hard drive or a floppy disk, but anyway, it's something you could try.

That seems like a very old computer. Congratulations for the considerate spirit of anti-consumerism. I don't think that much modern graphical software is developed targeting systems with a small RAM capacity such as 12 MB (or MiB). Running old software is also problematic because it's unmaintained, so you would be on your own for the problems you may find if you used versions of the software contemporary to your computer.

I suggest that you ask for suggestions in the X11 mailing lists; they may help you to tune a graphical setup to minimize resource usage. You can also run a modern environment with a console setup; any general purpose GNU/Linux distribution can do that, such as Trisquel. Some GNU/Linux distributions target small systems, such as the FSF-approved LibreCMC and LibreWRT (I haven't used them); maybe you can use them or ask in their communication channels for recommendations. They're likely to know about how to run on limited hardware.

However, I think that the issue is mainly about which software packages you install and how they're configured, rather than which distribution you use.

Bear in mind that some software compiled for x86 may need instructions not present on your computer. That software will crash in your computer (The CPU interrupts the kernel for an invalid exception and the kernel terminates the program. I don' know what would happen if the kernel attempts to execute an invalid instruction, however). If so, you will need to re-compile that software.

I think that computers have been getting more energy efficient since their appeared. For doing intensive computation (Such as compiling a large program), it will be more energy efficient to do so in a modern computer than the old compute you're talking about. I mention this because you're concerned about wasting.

Instead of installing from a floppy disk you can try booting from the hard disk. Bear in mind that initiating but not finishing an installation may make your system unbootable, so you may end using a floppy disk anyway. I wrote a message where I gave pointers about how to install from the hard disk, but I can't find it. I pointed to the manual of installing Debian (Trisquel is indirectly based on Debian). See <https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/amd64/index.html> and search for “hard disk”.

You could try this one, is an awesome distro http://rlsd.dimakrasner.com/ I don't know why it is not in the FSF distro, maybe the author didn't asked it, seems even the kernel is linux libre.

ok so i have tried many distros all of them have failed as i dont think my prosessor works with them
so i am left with a few options

1. install slackware 1.0(and buy about 30 floppy disks to do so)

2.
keep working on the os i am making
in NASM and then 40 years later use the beta version

3.
keep trying to find a libre os that will run on it

Trisquel netinstall + icewm is a very good option, moreover, the complex structure of a Debian package allow to install the software you need while it reduces the memory comsumption.

KolibriOS is currently entirely consisting of libre software, though only because of circumstance.[1] So that's something you could use. Just make sure to watch out for any changes in this circumstance.

[1] http://board.kolibrios.org/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=2925

i decided to use mikos

thanks for all your help
and btw the reason why i am not using debian is it requires 32mb of ram even in cli
if anyone finds a gnu/linux distro that works on old prosessors and works with 12mb of ram please let me know!

i made a modifed version of mike os (free os)
so that pepole can use mike os in freedom
i did this by removeing all refrences to mike os in the program and replaced them with free os

mike os is almost free but stops you
commercialy redistributing it without permission
becuase of this line in the license:

* Neither the name MikeOS nor the names of any MikeOS contributors
may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
without specific prior written permission.

so i removed the name MikeOS in every source file
and dont put any restrictions of the name free os

here is a download on my webserver:
http://92.19.232.58:82/files/freeos.tar.gz

i will also attach the file in this comment

From taking a glance at its page, MikeOS seems like a only for fun project rather that a practical operating system. It seems like everything is developed from scratch, so I guess that it's fully free but you should do your own research. Since it's small, you can check the files to evaluate whether it's fully free or not. However, you won't be able to run most programs there, not even recompiling, since most depend on non-standard C features, such as POSIX, and some on GNU libc extensions.

I don't know what model your CPU is as you haven't told, and I'm not a computer historian, so I wouldn't be able to give more information even if you said what CPU model you have. However, I think that it's at least a 386 because you have more RAM that what can be addressed in 16-bit mode. If so, you may succeed in running a modern distribution but you will have to recompile all the packages you intend to use, and even patch the kernel, as most distributions assume newer instructions (Refer to the documentation for details).

I insist that you can also ask for more information in other forums or mailing lists, where people may be able to help you with more specific knowledge. Also consider asking in the MikeOS about your hardware, and what you would need to do to run a GNU/Linux distribution on it.

Maybe reusing an old machine is not worth your time, effort and frustration. Bear in mind that you won't be able to compile large programs in a reasonable time in that machine, and even if you waited all the time it takes, it'd use much more energy than a modern computer would.

You can easily obtain more recent computers from consumerists. You may even get one for free if you ask your friends to give you the computers they'd otherwise thrash.

Regards and good luck.

tomlukeywood

There is other OSI, small enough to fit your need for that particular PC.

Everything depends on the size of your physical memory available of your PC and processor.
I had the exact problem last year with an old laptop, the memory was 512kbs, yet, I was able to find an OSI that will fit.

Be aware that some of them, are not going to be totally free software.

I can't recommend you a specific one, because this is Trisquel forum and someone will get their feelings offended and sensitivity level over rated. You could send me an E-mail, then I will be more likely be happy to help you.

Wow.....just as I thought my Compaq TC1000 was slow.

You've got an amazing project going there, tomlukeywood!

i found debian buzz(1.1) here:
http://archive.debian.org/debian/dists/buzz/main/disks-i386/1996_6_16/

i made a easy to download .tar.gz file here:
http://92.19.232.58:82/files/1996_6_16_debian_buzz.tar.gz

the documentation said it would run on 3mb ram!!(just tested in a vm seems to run on 2560k of ram) and about 50mb disk space
and it installs with floppys
i will try it once i but the floppys to install it!!!

btw i do know all the software will be very old
but this looks like one of my only gnu/linux options

I would say try a netinstall of either gNewsense or Trisquel, since you are looking for a Libre distro. Personally I like JWM (Joes Window Manager)as it is much lighter than Openbox, Fluxbox and Icewm, uses around 1MB RAM even after several hours of uptime. It is easy to configure as all of the config. is in one XML file.

One word of caution, the default JWM, is really bland....ok, it is really ugly! I can post a good config. if people are interested, similar to Crunchbang setup.

PuppyLinux is a great option as it can run completely in RAM, from CD or USB, however, it is not Libre, and most puppies come with FLASH and other little nasties!!!