Member Avatar for veledrom

Hi,

I have a laptop an want to install a Linux Distro to use Apache2, PHP 5 and MySQL. I don't want to run it CD though (I think it is called Live CD). I just want to intall it and never use CD again.

What do you suggest me for these configurations of my old laptop?

Note: slackware-8.1-install.iso, crunchbang-lite-9.04.01.i386.iso and Slitaz didn't work.

Thanks in advance

P II 400MHZ
128MB RAM
10GB HDD
8MB VGA

Edited by veledrom because: .
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  • Latest Post Latest Post by Elihu5991

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Practical, low-friction plan for this hardware — build a tiny, disk-installed web box rather than wrestling with live images.

Start by installing a minimal base (netinst/debootstrap style) to the 10GB disk and skip any desktop task. If the machine won’t USB‑boot, temporarily use a boot CD once or attach the drive to another machine to install. Keep the root filesystem small, create a modest swap file (256–512MB) and reserve space for /var/www so logs and databases don’t fill the root partition.

Memory and service strategy is the key. Avoid a full desktop and unneeded daemons. Prefer separating the web server from PHP (FastCGI/php‑fpm or a small event server) so PHP processes only run when needed. If you must run Apache+mod_php, configure the server to allow only a handful of concurrent workers and disable KeepAlive so idle connections don’t consume RAM. On the database side, either use a very small tuned MySQL/MariaDB or switch to SQLite for tiny projects.

Example minimal service tuning to get started (tweak after measuring with top/free):

# /etc/mysql/my.cnf (example tiny settings)
[mysqld]
key_buffer_size = 8M
innodb_buffer_pool_size = 8M
query_cache_size = 0
max_connections = 10
tmp_table_size = 4M
; php.ini (important low-memory settings)
memory_limit = 16M
post_max_size = 4M
upload_max_filesize = 1M
max_execution_time = 30

Troubleshooting notes tied to earlier replies: ’s “no GUI” advice is the most practical path; ’s Gentoo suggestion works but compiling on a PII will be painfully slow; //’s live/floppy-based choices are useful for testing hardware but aim to install to disk once you confirm video and network drivers. If a distro “refuses” to boot, try a text-mode install or boot with conservative kernel options and record the exact boot errors — that information is what will reveal the real blocker.

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Member Avatar for NicAx64

>> I don't want to run it CD though (I think it is called Live CD
yes it called live CD, but not extract a live distro.But you could run a live distro.
A good choice is slax, where you can select the modules using the web page and
download your customized distro through the web site.

around 199 MB, with X window system.

It's a live CD too and you are downloading the live CD there.
But you can copy it into the fat file system and boot your kernel and initrd with
grub or other bootloader and load the rest of the os using HD.

I already did this with my laptop so I can guide you through this.

Edited by NicAx64 because: n/a
Member Avatar for khakilang

What didn't work? Is it the wifi adapter, display, sound etc..? Myabe you can try Tiny core linux, Puppy linux, DreamLinux and Damn Small linux. I know some of them don't work on my Ralink USB wifi adapter but I can't remember which one. Good luck on your search. Maybe you can share with what you have found.

Member Avatar for sadotmd

Gentoo or minimal Debian should work

PS: OpenBSD will also work fine

Member Avatar for Elihu5991

Try Puppy Linux (Australian) or Damn Small Linux (a.k.a DSL). I'll be honest, I've never used them myself, except DSL, which I barely used and saw my friend use it on his laptop mostly. I've heard they're quite good.

You can run Puppy Linux of your thumb drive/Live CD and pull it out, as it can run straight of the RAM.

Member Avatar for pogson

Gentoo or minimal Debian should work

PS: OpenBSD will also work fine

There is a trick to installing the least in Debian GNU/Linux. The default installation is usually a desktop plus basic configuration. Uncheck both. Then you get a quick installation with only a few hundred megabytes. That is pretty light and fast. You do not need a GUI for a server.

Then install the things you want:

apt-get install apache2-mpm-prefork libapache2-mod-php5 php5-mysql

That will get you a very light LAMP stack. You may need to install other packages for development. You can find them with apt-cache search whatever. For remote management by SSH, do apt-get install openssh-server.

Your web files go in /var/www . If you add PHP scripts from the repository they may be placed elsewhere but the URL will still look like

Member Avatar for Elihu5991

Wow, how and where did you learn all this knowledge?

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