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DATE:  8-November-2008
Filed Under: System, Linux, Professional Development

My Dell Inspiron 3800 laptop came with Windows ME installed and with 64MB of RAM. When I upgraded to Windows 2000 I also upgraded the RAM to 128MB. I have to limit my multitasking, but other than that W2K runs fine on128MB of memory. Recently I decided to install Damn Small Linux on my laptop.

Although DSL features many great applications and includes a slick GUI, after a few days of use I lost the use of my touchpad. I reinstalled DSL hoping that would correct the problem, but when I lost use of my touchpad a second time I decided to try another Linux distributation.

There are so many distributations of Linux available that are well suited for older systems. Some distributations can even be run on old 486 systems with limited storage capabilities and other system resources. I chose Red Hat Linux 7.3. I chose Red Hat Linux 7.3 because it came bundled with a book I am working my way through and for its light system requirements. Red Hat 7.3 recommends that the system has at least 64MB of RAM and a Pentium 1 processor. As I mentioned above my laptop has 128MB of memory and has the equivalent of Pentium 3 processor.

I have been running Puppy and Slax Linux on USB devices and appreciated being able to carry a secure and reliable operating system around with me. Although these portable distributations are a convenient and great way to carry a pint sized operating system around with you they do not contain all of the features of a full blown version of Linux. Developers slim these portable distributations down by skimping on terminal commands and by offering scaled down versions of installed applications.  

Linux certifications require that you know a number of terminal commands. These commands allow you to perform all sorts of system, user, file & folder, and network chores. Having a full version of Linux will help me to improve these skills and prepare me for my Linux certification.