[Sheflug] linux on an ageing laptop?

[Ross <nospam [at] ntlworld.com>]

hi all,

i've been challenged to utilize an old laptop as a remote access terminal for a building management system at work! trouble is.... it's got a (not surprizingly) broken installation of windows 3.11 on it. the 3.11 disks are not available, so i need a compact OS - enter LINUX !

i don't have much in the way of hardware details yet, i should see it the flesh later this week.... i do know it's got space for a pcmcia card and a flat battery!

my budget for this job runs to a modem and battery!

i need to run something like 'minicom' to emulate a vt100 terminal over a modem line.

i've read a little about 'linux on a floppy' and 'freesco' but don't know too much about it all......

can anyone recommend a compact distro's that will run on very old laptops?

can i (relatively) easily assemble a basic linux distro for myself? (security and a high level of functionality is not required)

(i know..... i really need to learn to say no !! :-)

--
Thanks,
        Ross
               ross.h [at] ntlworld.com
____________________________________________________________________________
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Sheffield Linux User's Group - http://www.sheflug.co.uk
To unsubscribe from this list send mail to
- <sheflug-request [at] vuw.ac.nz> - with the word 
 "unsubscribe" in the body of the message. 

  GNU the choice of a complete generation.