What is a good linux distribution to run on a testbench for testing purposes? \ VOGONS

What is a good linux distribution to run on a testbench for testing purposes?

Topic actions

First post, by appiah4

Posted on 2024-06-05, 14:08

appiah4 Offline

Rank l33t++

Rank: l33t++
Posts: 9470
Joined: 2017-02-19, 07:36
Location: Sea of Sorrows

I find myself constantly hot swapping between DOS/Win9x/WinXP hard drives on my Socket 370 ISA/PCI/AGP test bench. It has started becoming rather annoying. I am running a Celeron 900 which is not exactly setting the world on fire, but I think it is fast enough to run a decent linux distro from late '00s or early '10s that would have kernel module support for all the ISA/PCI/AGP hardware that I want to plug into the board and test.

But I don't know which one would be a good candidate for this.

And how big a compact flash I would need for it.

Any suggestions?

Reply 1 of 2, by pyrogx

Posted on 2024-06-05, 15:53

pyrogx Offline

Rank Member

Rank: Member
Posts: 148
Joined: 2012-09-23, 19:01

Old versions of AntiX (Debian based) or Slackware should work. Depends on your preference regarding package management and overall system complexity.
8GB CF card is enough for simple testing system, 16-32GB should be fine for most cases.

Reply 2 of 2, by keenmaster486

Posted on 2024-06-05, 16:10

keenmaster486 Offline

Rank l33t

Rank: l33t
Posts: 2962
Joined: 2016-02-16, 02:04
Location: Gnosticus IV

There's that "AOSC OS Retro" that uses 5.x kernels and runs on a 486 with low RAM requirements.

World's foremost 486 enjoyer.

Go to top of page Go to top of page

Back to Software