memory requirements?

[Jay O'Brien]

Danny MacMillan wrote:

> On Fri, Nov 05, 2004 at 10:17:59PM -0700, Jay O'Brien wrote:
> 
>>Kris Kennaway wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>It all depends what you want to do with it...it's the applications you
>>>run that take up most of the memory.  128MB is a bit on the small side
>>>if you're going to be doing memory-heavy desktop work (e.g. running
>>>mozilla, KDE, etc), but there are plenty of lighter-weight
>>>alternatives to those applications.
>>>
>>>Kris
>>
>>Good point. I am bringing up another (very capable) machine and learning 
>>as I go; I set it up with 4.10 and I now think I should be running 5.2.1.
>>It will ultimately be a mail and web server. 
>>
>>I thought I would bring this old machine (inherited from my 89 yr old 
>>m-i-l who passed away in August) on 5.2.1 to get a feel for it; I would 
>>probably not do much more than use it as a SSH terminal to connect to 
>>the other machine and as a learning tool to learn (or re-learn) unix 
>>commands. It presently runs Win98SE, had a CD reader and a NIC card, 
>>so I know it has working hardware.
>>
>>The bottom line is that 128MB seems adequate for FreeBSD itself?
> 
> 
> More than adequate.  I have a 300MHz 64MB machine with a 7GB hard drive
> running 5.2.1 handily.  I don't have much on there besides dovecot, but I
> do use it as an installation and configuration testbed for new software
> I'm interested in.  I don't have X installed.  There is no difference in
> apparent speed at the console or through SSH between this machine and my
> other much more capable (800MHz, 384MB) 5.2.1 machine.
> 
> Unless your needs are more substantial than they would appear, your
> machine is overpowered.  I would just go ahead and try it.  If you find
> that you need more power you haven't closed the door on any opportunities
> by trying it.  As another poster has mentioned, you might want to wait
> for 5.3, or put a pre-release version of 5.3 on it.
> 
Chad Leigh -- Shire.Net LLC wrote:
> you may want to put 5.3 on it.  Supposed to release this weekend 
> according to a note earlier.
> 
> I only use FreeBSD for server work so I cannot comment on memory 
> requirements for running X etc
> 
> Chad
> 
Thanks, folks! I hadn't considered 5.3, but as this is really only a 
test bed, I might as well go for it. I see 5.3-RC2 is available, I'll grab 
it and burn an ISO CD. 

Jay O'Brien