The Working Centre Linux Project

Related Projects

We’re not the only ones.

Linux on older hardware

Lots of other groups have come up with the idea of putting Linux on older hardware. Here is a list of all the ones we know of. If you know of a project not on this list, please contact us.

RULE – Run Up2date Linux Everywhere.
This project is active and successful. Their design goals are slightly different than ours (they don’t insist on Windows lookalikes, for instance) but we cover similar ground. Check out their application database.
TINY Linux
’Tis Independence ’N Yet
muLinux
From Italy comes this minimalistic Linux distribution suitable for old computers.
Free Geek
This Portland group runs a computer recycling and volunteer training operation similar to ours. They distribute FreekBoxes.
Computerbank NSW
Based in New South Wales, Australia.
Learnux Mini-Debian
Put together by the Canadian Linux Users’ Exchange (CLUE) this distro is remarkably similar to ours, but based on some obsolete version of Debian. Perhaps we plagiarized off of them?
Damn Small Linux
Designed to be run on business-card CDs, this distro fits in 50MB of space. It features many lightweight applications that run on older hardware.

Related Debian-based distributions

As of a few years ago, very few distributions used Debian as a base, and many of them failed. Now the situation has changed. There are lots of Debian-based distros. A few of these distributions are of particular interest to us:

Knoppix
Everybody loves Knoppix because of its autodetection routines, and we do too. Unfortunately, Knoppix does not do a great job of detecting older hardware (for example, our Trident ISA video cards).
Morphix
Morphix is a spinoff of Knoppix geared towards customizability. Its “Morphix-Lite” version is pretty exciting, but the bundled web browser (Firebird) is totally inappropriate for our needs.
Libranet Linux
This is a commercial variant of Debian. We find it interesting for two reasons:
  1. Like us, they decided to use IceWM as their default window manager/desktop, rather than using GNOME or KDE. (They actually offer many alternatives now).
  2. Because they are commercial, they keep their latest release proprietary. However, older versions of their distribution are available for download.

The Debian website contains a more comprehensive list of distributions based on Debian.

Other links

The FreeDOS Project
PCs not capable of running Linux might try out FreeDOS, an MS-DOS rewrite. Some people have written SEAL, a GUI for FreeDOS as well.