[wuug-list] [wuug-forum] BJ: Distro for OLD machine for serial port capture

[Windsor UNIX Users Group]

Author: BJ
Username:  (mailwn.dainty.ca)
Subject: Distro for OLD machine for serial port capture
Forum: Operating Systems
Link: http://www.wuug.org/read.php?12,44,44#msg-44
Approved: Yes

I have some equipment on the plant floor that outputs to a printer (DB25), and I want to put an old Pentium I (66Mhz, 32MB ram + 3com NIC) running linux to intercept the output and push it to a server over the network.

What distro is recommended for such an old system?

I tried Ubuntu server (headless), but the installer required too much RAM.

I tried Debian Etch - floppy install, but installer hangs when fetching large packages over network.

Am I stuck with older distros?  Or is there a modern distro, targeting headless installs on old hardware for single purpose applications (like serial port capture)?

Gentoo would take way too long... :(

Thanks,

BJ.