Linux & Learning (eSchoolNews) [LWN.net]

The eSchoolNews examines ways in which Linux can save schools money. "Schools across the country are finding that Linux can help reduce their total cost of ownership (TCO) in a number of ways. Tightening budget constraints mean schools must capitalize on their existing infrastructure. Linux can run on a processor as slow as a 386. Remember those?" Thanks to Alonzo (Registration required)

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My Home Internal Mail Server: 33Mhz 386 with 32Mb RAM

Posted Nov 13, 2002 4:21 UTC (Wed) by AnswerGuy (guest, #1256) [Link]

I've had that machine running Linux since kernel version 0.99pl10 or
so. The first distribution on it was the long forgotten SLS (Soft Landing
Systems). It's been on Slackware (version 1? or .9 or something like that)
Red Hat (3.03, 4.2, 5.2), S.u.S.E. (6.x), and is now on Debian (Starting
with Potato. 2.x).

My wife had to replace one of its hard drives (the boot device, a 10
year old 200 Meg Conner or WD "Caviar" --- I don't remember) a few
months ago --- it started giving "block seek errors" causing a little
down time but no data loss. She replaced it with a spare 4Gb disk we
had laying around (and pulled a couple of other small drives out of it
too).

For several years it was my primary workstation and has run as router,
dial-in server, fax gateway, internal web server, and many other roles
(usually while also operating as my desktop workstation). [I'm still a
bit of a curses curmudgeon, though it as a 2Mb video card and can run
X --- slowly).

I also still have a 40 Mhz 386 running as a router; but it's not doing
much --- no packet filtering, just logging. That system was given to
me with the phrase: "You could still use a 386!"

My only temptations for replacing those two systems stem from their
noisy fans and aging power supplies and current draw. If I could get
a couple of very cheap (under $300) Transmeta based systems with NO
fans, I'd replace them for the quiet and space savings in that closet.

(They're in a closet in the guest room, which we have a new housemate
moving into. Luckily she can't hear them --- partial hearing loss; but
a former housemate did complain about the constant hum).

JimD