Hands on: What you need to run Linux

Find out what type of hardware you need to run the open-source operating system

Some people who are new to Linux want to install the operating system on an older, second computer, to try it out and see how they get on.

Others have older computers with obsolete operating systems (such as Windows 98 or Me), and don’t want to pay for a newer version of Windows, but would still like to make a use of the machine.

Some may simply want a separate backup machine, one for a member of their family, or maybe just a file server.

Consequently, the question of the minimum specifications to run Linux frequently comes up. So what type of hardware do you need?

The answer depends on what you want to use the computer for, and which applications you intend to run. That being said, there are a few general guidelines for the most common cases.

For a modern Linux distribution running the KDE or Gnome Desktop, including Ubuntu, Fedora and Opensuse, the absolute minimum memory requirement is 256MB.

However, open up a few applications and the system will immediately start to slow down, so a recommended realistic minimum is 386MB for these desktop systems.

However, to run smoothly, a comfortable minimum is 512MB. Memory prices have declined rapidly over the past couple of years, so adding an extra bit of Ram to an old system could give it new lease of life.

Processor requirements are much more flexible. For average desktop use, such as browsing the web, emailing and writing documents, anything around 500MHz will be fine – this covers just about all PCs made in the past 10 years.

If you want to play back videos, edit image files, or encode music, a speed of about 1GHz is a more suitable minimum. With slower CPUs, extra memory can help a great deal – if the processor is running slowly, this combined with a lot of virtual memory disk access can make the system feel unbearably slow.

The more memory the computer has, the greater the number of applications that can be cached in Ram for fast access, and the less the need to resort to slow disk-based virtual memory. With these things in mind, a recommended specification for a smooth-running system is a 1GHz CPU with 512MB of memory.

Alternatives
If you have a computer with 256MB of Ram and a slow processor, the above systems will be somewhat sluggish. All is not lost though, as there are certain distributions designed to be lightweight and require few resources.

The Gnome and KDE Desktops offer great functionality, but that means frameworks and libraries need to be in place to provide it. This, of course, takes up a good chunk of resources on a low-specification PC.

The XFCE Desktop is one such an alternative. It’s designed to be fast and lightweight and, as a result, works really well on slow machines without much memory. Looks aren’t sacrificed though, and it remains an attractive desktop option.

It comes with several applications, including the Thunar file browser, which offers the simple functionality most people require. XFCE makes an ideal desktop system for computers that are on the borderline for Gnome and KDE, and an excellent replacement for computers running Windows 98 or ME.

It’s possible to run XFCE on computers with as little as 128MB of memory, but don’t expect things to run very smoothly with more than a single large application running.

Ubuntu has an official XFCE-based derivative called Xubuntu.

Like its siblings, it’s based on the same core of software, but has an installed selection of software more suited to a low-end machine.

Open Office (a resource-hungry choice) is replaced with the lighter Abiword word processor and the Gnumeric spreadsheet. Firefox 2 is provided for browsing.

For even lighter Desktop systems, there’s the option of a simpler window manager. These include Fluxbox and Enlightenment.

Window managers do little more than their name suggests – they allow you to move windows around, minimise and maximise them, and so on.

The lack of any real desktop and application integration makes these the least resource-intensive options, but they are geared more towards experienced users.

Non-desktop use
If you’re familiar with the shell, and want to run a very old machine without a graphical interface as a file/print server, small web server, or router, the minimum specifications could not be much lower. A Pentium-class processor is ideally recommended (200MHz or more), with around 32MB of memory.

A system such as this could run a basic X11 environment for simple graphical applications. It is, in theory, possible to run Linux on an Intel 386 processor with 8MB of Ram (the technical minimum is 2MB), but its uses, even with just terminal-based programs, would be rather limited.

DSL (Damn Small Linux) is a small distribution, at just 50MB. It’s basic enough to run on a 486 processor with 16MB of Ram. It can run directly from CD, and en tirely from memory if your PC has 128MB or more, yet it comes with a number of useful applications, including Firefox 1.x.

It began as an experiment to see just how much would fit into 50MB, but has grown to be a popular niche distribution.

Rescue systems
As well as regular server and desktop-orientated distributions, there are a number that are tailored to rescuing systems or testing the hardware.

The latter is a good, though under-used, diagnostic tool. For example, many Windows users who do not want to install Linux could use such a distribution to check that their hardware is functioning properly.

If your PC fails to boot with Windows, or some piece of hardware isn’t working, booting into an entirely separate operating system is a good way to rule out Windows as the culprit – if the same problem occurs in Linux, it’s probably the hardware.

These distributions boot from CD or USB memory key and don’t need to be installed onto the hard drive, so have no impact at all on the installed operating system.

SystemRescueCd is an aptly named distribution for this purpose.

It’s based on a Gentoo Linux live CD, and contains a modern version of Linux, together with a collection of tools for repairing or modifying a disk drive or operating system.

These include GParted, Partimage, Test-disk and a number of network tools.

Test-disk, for example, can recover lost partitions from a drive, while Partimage can back up and restore partitions.

With full read and write support for NTFS, you can access data from Windows partitions, or even retrieve files from a damaged installation of Windows.

The network connectivity means you can back up and restore data to a remote PC (including over the internet, if available), and the inclusion of Firefox lets you download any programs or data you need from the web.

It uses a basic windowing environment in order to keep resource usage down. It’s not particularly attractive, but it’s not designed to be a normal desktop system.

Parted Magic is another tiny distribution, and is just 30MB in size. This was primarily designed for partitioning disks, using the GParted partition editor, but now includes a number of system recovery tools, such as those mentioned above.

Also supporting read and write access to Windows partitions, it’s a great repair distribution itself. Based on the XFCE Desktop, it has a visual edge over System Rescue CD, though lacks the network connectivity.

The maintainer of Parted Magic asks that people who have benefited from it make a donation of just $2 or more to help him out with the time it takes to develop it and, given its superiority in many ways over expensive commercial Windows-based offerings, that’s not a lot to ask.

Writing the CD
Creating CDs from downloaded images is simple enough if you are already using Linux.

In Gnome, for example, just right-click on the image file’s icon and select to write the CD. In Windows, it’s not so straightforward, as Microsoft doesn’t provide built-in tools for writing standard CD images in any version of Windows. Fortunately, there is an open-source application available for download that will do that.

Click here to download the current version of Infrarecorder. Not only does it write CD images, but it writes audio and data CD/DVDs, too.