Author Topic: Small Footprint Linux  (Read 2074 times)

Offline Leviathan

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Small Footprint Linux
« on: May 14, 2007, 12:01:18 PM »
Hey. Looking for some advice on a Linux distro to use on my old machines.

I want a very basic distro that is small and uses little ram, so it shouldn’t have a desktop environment  etc. This is so I can run VMware Server on top of the distro and then run a virtual machine on top of that where I will actualy run stuff like server apps. This will allow me to easily change the current OS running on the hardware.

Thanks


 

Offline Mez

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Small Footprint Linux
« Reply #1 on: May 14, 2007, 12:09:31 PM »
you could try centOS.

Thats a version of red hat enterprise.  I believe it is what this server runs off, and alot of other linux datacenter servers run. (also you can use rpm installers)

Its also very very stable (hence the datacenter use).

I know you said that you don't want a desktop manager, but go for fvwm if you want a lightweight one (its not gnome or kde so doesn't require their libraries)

I'm sure someone else will give their own thoughts, try one or two, and choose the one you like best / that vmware installs onto best
« Last Edit: May 14, 2007, 12:10:28 PM by Mez »

Offline BlackBox

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« Reply #2 on: May 14, 2007, 03:55:02 PM »
Slackware is the most bare-bones Linux distro that I know of. Not for the faint of heart though. You have to install most everything above and beyond the base system by hand (it doesn't use rpm / apt / yum / etc, it's a custom package system that doesn't figure out dependencies automatically).

It also doesn't use System V init scripts (which would cause the VMware install script to fail, you would end up having to place the scripts manually since Slackware uses a BSD style init system)

So I wouldn't recommend this if you want to use VMware.

However, if all you're looking to do is run VMware on the system, you could get a copy of VMware ESX Server. (It runs directly on the bare metal, no OS needed to be installed).

A similar program is that of the Xen hypervisor. It's a lot faster but (in most cases) OSes have to be recompiled to run specifically on Xen (so this means Windows will not run on Xen, unless the processor has VT support -- older / most low-end consumer CPUs do not have this). It does install a barebones linux distribution (in fact they use a modified Linux kernel for the core of Xen).

Offline Leviathan

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« Reply #3 on: May 14, 2007, 07:31:44 PM »
I did look at ESX server, I removed my comments on it from my first post.

I have ESX 2.5 and 3.0. I havent tryed it on any hardware yet. I need SCSI or NAS to use as the disks for the the virtual machines which I dont currently have. Thats why I've decided to go for Server. I have been looking at ESX a lot recencly.

And Xen.. I want to stick to VMware. I want to be able to create machines using workstation or server and swtich between and able to use Player and ACE packages. I was hopeing to use VirtualCenter.. ive just found out 2.0 dosent support server so ill be using 1.4.

I would love to run ESX and may get a NAS device just for it.

Offline gpgarrettboast

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« Reply #4 on: May 28, 2007, 11:30:23 PM »
How small are you looking for?
I know of DSL (Damn Small Linux), Antlinux, and Devil Linux, but those are micro dists, and may not be suited for your purposes... Not sure how comprehensive you want it ^^

Offline Leviathan

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« Reply #5 on: May 29, 2007, 02:00:31 AM »
Yeah I looked at DSL but its not got auto installer. But thats designed for a user to use the desktop GUI etc.