Very Computer

by **Eugenio LyseiJ** » Tue, 25 Feb 1997 04:00:00

G'day folks.

I need to run Linux (Red Hat) on an Intel 486 with 8 MB RAM
to serve as a RDBMS. Is it possible? Does the server slow
down so much the machine?
What could be the minimum config?

Thanks!

by **dan ritt** » Wed, 26 Feb 1997 04:00:00

Quote:
>I need to run Linux (Red Hat) on an Intel 486 with 8 MB RAM
>to serve as a RDBMS. Is it possible? Does the server slow
>down so much the machine?

Sure, it's possible. I've had Linux (with no special distribution)
running on a 2MB 386sx/16. Slow, but faster than DOS. A few weeks
ago, I set up a friend's 486SX/33, 8MB, 320MB, as a modem server,
fax server, and print server. Adding a floating point coprocessor
would have sped up the Ghostscript jobs, but he didn't want to
spend the money, so I set up the other machines to do their own
GS and send the finished output down the pipe to the server.

Quote:>What could be the minimum config?

Well, Linux currently requires a 386 instruction set, although the
ELKS project is working on an 8086 port. Right now, a minimum
config is a 386sx/16, a meg and a half of RAM, and a floppy disk
for the single-floppy distribution whose name I forget, or about
a 20-40MB drive for any normal distribution. Add an ethernet card,
and you've got a networking, text-only UNIX system about as powerful
as a Sun-2. Maybe a 3/160. Not a SPARC :)

-dsr-

by **Pierre Ma** » Thu, 27 Feb 1997 04:00:00

> >I need to run Linux (Red Hat) on an Intel 486 with 8 MB RAM
> >to serve as a RDBMS. Is it possible? Does the server slow
> >down so much the machine?

As has been answered by many, it is definitely possible to run Linux
on an Intel 486 with 8MB of RAM and do real work with it (back in the
days of Linux 1.0.9 and earlier I had an i486DX/33 with 4MB RAM and
it worked quit well for software development with Emacs, gcc and it
also ran as a news-system via Fidogate).

OTOH most RDBMS tend to have a big memory footprint, and you will be
wanting lots of free RAM for disk-caching. Running any kind of
full-fledged RDBMS on an 8MB machine will be tight, so plan not to do
much other than running the RDBMS.

Depending on the RDBMS in question, the number of transactions per
second planned, etc. a more suitable setup would be starting at 16MB
and more.

That said, if you don't really need speed, won't be running complex
and big databases (say smaller than 20MB, simple relationships, etc.),
running a more minimalistic RDBMS like mSQL could work on an 8MB
machine, and leave you enough resources for running other processes.

Regs, Pierre.

BTW: You might also wish to take a look at FreeBSD, as FreeBSD uses a
more aggressive page-out strategy, which leads to better
response-times in high-load, tight-memory situations, at the expense
of a small performance-loss during low-load situations. Which kind of
page-out strategy would work better in your situation, I don't know,
but you could always give it a try...

by **Michael C. Vergall** » Sun, 02 Mar 1997 04:00:00

Quote:>G'day folks.

>I need to run Linux (Red Hat) on an Intel 486 with 8 MB RAM
>to serve as a RDBMS.
>Is it possible?

Yep it is possible, the one issue I would take into account is the size of the database itself.
If your database is quite big you might be better off adding an other 8 Mb if the system slows down

Quote:>Does the server slow
>down so much the machine?

No not the server itself.

Quote:>What could be the minimum config?

Your config is addequate for what you want to do but I would suggets that you build a static kernel
after you have installed redhat with only the components you require. this reduces the memory overhead
and speeds stuff up .

Michael

--
Michael C. Vergallen A.k.A. Mad Mike,
Sportstraat 28 http://www.double-barrel.be/mvergall/
B 9000 Gent ftp://ftp.double-barrel.be/pub/linux/
Belgium tel : 32-9-2227764 Fax : 32-9-2224976

by **Egor Egor** » Sun, 09 Mar 1997 04:00:00

%S> I need to run Linux (Red Hat) on an Intel 486 with 8 MB RAM
%S> to serve as a RDBMS. Is it possible? Does the server slow
%S> down so much the machine?
%S> What could be the minimum config?

I run on such a machine. I suggest you to install at least 16 megs of
memory.

%S> Thanks!

--

Who knows why am I system administrator ?
Egor Egorov is powered by Linux - the choice of a GNU generation.

by **Juergen Saue** » Wed, 30 Apr 1997 04:00:00

am 8 Mar 1997 17:07:48 GMT in comp.os.linux.development.system:

EE> %S> I need to run Linux (Red Hat) on an Intel 486 with 8 MB RAM
EE> %S> to serve as a RDBMS. Is it possible? Does the server slow
EE> %S> down so much the machine?
EE> %S> What could be the minimum config?

EE> I run on such a machine. I suggest you to install at least 16 megs of
EE> memory.

I think try it out, a 8 MB system is not recommended for a X11, but
for a small server (mSQL, mySQL, samba) it will do. The performance
would be be not high end, but acceptable ...
I recycle such systems as CDROM/file/print server with great success.

mfG
Jojo

-Schneckenpost-SlowMail-+--------Telefon-----+---eMails-FastMail----------

28790 Schwanewede/Germany FAX +49 4209 5217 CI$: 100013,1564

by **Jochen Küppe** » Thu, 01 May 1997 04:00:00

Quote:> EE> %S> I need to run Linux (Red Hat) on an Intel 486 with 8 MB RAM
> EE> %S> to serve as a RDBMS. Is it possible? Does the server slow
> EE> %S> down so much the machine?
> EE> %S> What could be the minimum config?

I am running Linux on many systems - some of which are i386 w/ 8MB !
They are just working fine, even X11 is ok if you run it as a
'terminal' - "X -query ..."

Jochen
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Jochen Kuepper

Institut fuer Physikalische Chemie I
Universitaetsstrasse 1, Geb 26.43.02.19 phone ++49-211-8113681
40225 Duesseldorf fax ++49-211-8115195
Germany
http://www-public.rz.uni-duesseldorf.de/~jochen
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

by **Dan Wild** » Fri, 02 May 1997 04:00:00

>> EE> %S> I need to run Linux (Red Hat) on an Intel 486 with 8 MB RAM
>> EE> %S> to serve as a RDBMS. Is it possible? Does the server slow
>> EE> %S> down so much the machine?
>> EE> %S> What could be the minimum config?
>I am running Linux on many systems - some of which are i386 w/ 8MB !
>They are just working fine, even X11 is ok if you run it as a
>'terminal' - "X -query ..."

I've an 8MB amd486 whose main role is to gzip streams of
data to a tape (about 12 hrs/day). It doubles as a file server and a
nameserver. No complaints. It usually isn't even swapping.

I've run Linux on an i386 w/ 4MB, no X, fine for character-mode apps.
Used it for program development all day every day. Slow for gcc,
kernel took 7 hrs to compile. Added 3M 120ns RAM on an ISA card,
kernel compile time reduced to 45 minutes.

A gentleman with our local user group installed Linux on a 2MB i386,
just for the challenge. Painful, it swaps most of the time, and
the standard install procedure needed many modifications, but
the install was successful.
---
Dan Wilder

Very Computer

Linux on an i486-8 Mb RAM machine?

Linux on an i486-8 Mb RAM machine?

Linux on an i486-8 Mb RAM machine?

Linux on an i486-8 Mb RAM machine?

Linux on an i486-8 Mb RAM machine?

Linux on an i486-8 Mb RAM machine?

Linux on an i486-8 Mb RAM machine?

Linux on an i486-8 Mb RAM machine?

Linux on an i486-8 Mb RAM machine?