Topic: Requirements

[J]

What are the "actual" requirements for E-smith, specifically the hard drive size, I only need to share internet access, no web, ftp, squid proxy needed. I would like to put it in a 486 DX/266 w/ 20 MB Ram and 240 MB Hard Drive if this is large enough.

[Charlie Brady]

J wrote:

> What are the "actual" requirements for E-smith,
> specifically the hard drive size, I only need to share internet
> access, no web, ftp, squid proxy needed. I would like to put it
> in a 486 DX/266 w/ 20 MB Ram and 240 MB Hard Drive if this is
> large enough.

The computer itself will run the e-smith server/gateway. But it won't quite fit on a 240MB hard drive, even with no user data. Have a look
at Coyote linux - I think it does what you want, and only needs a floppy drive, not a hard drive.

Charlie

[Colin Mattoon]

I crammed it into a 486DX with 16 MB and a 400MB HD.  When I tried it with a 200 MB drive it reported that it needed another 80 MB. The only spare drive I had was 400 MB and it worked OK...

[Colin Mattoon]

Upon reflection, I decided since e-smith's gurus are too modest about their product to point this out, that I would...

If you value your time at all, it is cheaper to grab a used system pull 400 to 500 MB hard drive for $15.00 to $20.00 at your local computer dealer and then install the e-smith server...even on an ISA bus machine like yours...rather than wrestle with another flavor of Linux. Coyote won't work if you are using a dialup connection -- if that is what you are using then you need a more complete Linux distro.

I'm a fan of Slackware, and yes, it is practical to set up a Slackware server for this purpose on a 200 MB drive.  But it takes hours and hours to get it right even if you simply use the demand dial option in PPP.  Configuring diald (which is already done for you with e-smith) opens another major can of worms. Frankly diald works better.

If you search this forum you will find the info needed to install e-smith on your ISA bus machine -- and if you have all the info (IRQ's, NIC type, etc.) at your fingertips, you can do it in less than 45 minutes -- even with a "borrowed" 4X cdrom.

So try another distro if setting up computers is a hobby, or at least, something you enjoy.  But if you just want to get the job done -- quickly and painlessly -- go for the larger drive and e-smith.

Then you can sit around and drink beer in a relaxed state of mind without having to sweep up all the hair you pulled out in your frustration.

Colin Mattoon

[Joseph Morrison]

Hi Colin,

Thanks for the nice note!

> So try another distro if setting up computers is a hobby,
> or at least, something you enjoy.  But if you just want to
> get the job done -- quickly and painlessly -- go for the
> larger drive and e-smith.

> Then you can sit around and drink beer in a relaxed state
> of mind without having to sweep up all the hair you pulled
> out in your frustration.

Yes, that's *exactly* what we're trying to achieve!! I think I'll have a beer myself

- Joe Morrison

[Charlie Brady]

Colin Mattoon wrote:

> I crammed it into a 486DX with 16 MB and a 400MB HD.  When I
> tried it with a 200 MB drive it reported that it needed
> another 80 MB.

See, I told you it wouldn't quite fit in 240MB

> The only spare drive I had was 400 MB and it worked OK...

It should do, just.

I've just discovered a resource starvation problem with a 16MB machine. If you send a large mail message to a large number of Internet addresses, the system will try to deliver a whole bunch of them at the same time, and there won't be enough kernel RAM for any of them to succeed. I saw this problem with a list of 40 recipients.

There is an easy fix:

echo 1 > /var/qmail/control/concurrencyremote
killall -HUP qmail-send

You probably want to tune the number up above 1 if you are not using an SMTPSmartHost.

Charlie

[Mike Stoddart]

How would E-Smith perform on a 486-DX4 100 with 16Mb RAM? Would it be good enough for a web and samba server?

[Charlie Brady]

Mike Stoddart wrote:

> How would E-Smith perform on a 486-DX4 100 with 16Mb RAM?
> Would it be good enough for a web and samba server?

An a lightly loaded network, yes. Why don't you try it and see?

If you use email, see my earlier comments about tuning.

Charlie