Gentoo Box Requirements

mitchm0521 · n00b Joined: 17 Dec 2005 Posts: 12

I have two Windows machines in my home, and I am looking to add a pc that will run Gentoo linux, I prefer to use Linux when writting programs for school etc. I don't need a monitor, mouse or keyboard, I plan on using a kvm switch. So I am wondering if someone could tell me what parts would be the cheapest in order to run Gentoo, I plan on using KDE or Gnome, and I'd prefer to run it without lagging down. But I want to stay as cheap as possible, because I won't be gaming on the Linux machine, since most games are designed for windows anyways. So if someone could tell me what system requirements would run Gentoo just fine without lag, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks,
Mitch

mayday147 · Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2006 1:25 pm Post subject:

I think a PIII with 256MB RAM would be a decent configuration, in order to run gentoo on it. Maybe you can try another wm other than kde or gnome, like fluxbox or xfce (or whatever you like) that would be less bloated and less memory cosumpting.
_________________
gentoo.ro

SnakeByte · Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2006 1:47 pm Post subject:

You can also way below these limit dependent on the environment you plan to use.

Until recently I used to run a P 200 MMX with 96MB RAM with Gnome 2.8 including Mozilla and Openoffice.
If you are going for Gnome get 2.12 because you will notice it is much faster than 2.10 was.

The most important thing is to have a big enough swap partition ( 1GB in my case but the box usually only uses ~90MB )
and you have to wait a few seconds for applications to start.

In other words first get >= 128MB ram and choose the CPU you need for your work.

As you will use the box for programming,
a faster CPU and more ram will reduce the compile times.

regards