how high a version of Fedora can I expect to run well

[Bob McClure Jr]

Hi Buz,

On Sat, May 23, 2009 at 09:59:16PM -0400, Buz Davis wrote:
> Guys,
>
> I have a couple of Linux boxes, both with 500 mhz AMD-K6-2 processors.
> One has 256 k ram and the other 320.

I presume you mean 256MB and 320MB ram.

> I would like to (finally) upgrade
> from RH9 to Fedora.  (Actually, I tried the other night to upgrade one  
> using a set of disks that came with a book.  The update started but then  
> aborted saying the second cd was invalid.

I don't know if it's still the case, but it used to be that when you
booted to do a media check, you needed to specify "ide=nodma", i.e. at
the boot: prompt, you put

  linux ide=nodma

Then after getting a good media check, you boot normally and skip the
media check.

> Fortunately, the system will  
> still run - grub thinks it is booting a version of Fedora but most  
> everything else is left-over from RH9).

I wouldn't try that kind of jump from RH9 to nearly anything current.
As you've seen, it'll almost certainly be problematic.  I'd save the
contents of /etc for reference, and /home to be restored, and do a
fresh install.

> So I started looking at vendors of Linux install CD's, and found that
> Fedora doesn't seem to include system requirements in its descriptions.
> From the little I could glean from what I saw I think I might be able to 
> run Fedora 9, but would like to have a more knowledgeable opinion.

IIRC, while linux will run on 256MB of RAM, the GUI installer needs
more than that, so, when booting to install specify text mode:

  linux text

> I mainly use these machines to surf the internet.  I do some  
> console-oriented C programming, and would like to learn to program for  
> the X windows system, including 2D vector graphics.  Is there a better  
> choice than Fedora 9 ?

Maybe, but I don't have anything to recommend.  I tried to install
CentOS 5 on an antique IBM Thinkpad that I maxed out at 512MB and had
problems.  But I was able to install Fedora 9 on it, and it works
fine.  BTW, for a leaner and meaner GUI, I recommend IceWM or XFCE.
Gnome or KDE may struggle on that small a RAM complement.

> Thanks,
>
> Buz Davis

Cheers,
-- 
Bob McClure, Jr.             Bobcat Open Systems, Inc.
bob at bobcatos.com             http://www.bobcatos.com
But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness,
godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.
1 Timothy 6:11 (NIV)