[SOLVED] wanted: a stripped down server distro to make print server

[marko]

I have a full Fedora install that I'm using now to just do cups print serving to a usb printer (HP 1200 laser jet). Since the PC is a dual core AMD this is over kill, I have a small mini-itx
machine (compact flash drive and no fan) and I'd rather set that up to be a print server.
The mini-itx would use only a fraction of the power and is totally quiet.

But the mini-itx cpu is a VIA Eden C3 and doesn't support the modern cmov instruction so a big recent distro won't work. It must be 486/586 based. I think damn small linux (DSL) might work but I'd rather use something designed for being a server, DSL is more for a small desktop.

Any ideas?


UPDATE I just found this

http://i586.centos.org/centos/4.8/isos/i386/

This might work, I could do a minimal install of this and just setup the cups service.

[smr54]

A BSD might be even better. If i686 works, ArchLinux might also be a good choice. CentOS, good as it is for servers, like Fedora, has some legacy bloat. (I think, for example, that cups *might* pull in samba, and possibly even X, but I could VERY easily be wrong on both of those.)

[marko]

I think I can mostly 'de-bloat' centos by just using the Live CD installer in here

http://mirrors.xmission.com/centos/5.4/isos/i386/

[ultra magnus]

FreeNAS might suite this, I've used it in the past as a file server, back then It would run even from a flash drive if I remember correctly. Worth a look imo.

http://freenas.org/

[marko]

I looked as freenas, there's no mention of any print services:

http://freenas.org/documentation:setup_and_user_guide

It looks like you have to go out of your way and get it yourself (plus it's not cups
but lpr-ng
http://sourceforge.net/apps/phpbb/fr...hp?f=13&t=2116

[jpollard]

You might try slackware - it is a generic distribution that can be turned into
nearly anything.

You might have to check about the 486/586 compatibility though - there are
few binary kits that still support that.

[CiaW]

I recently installed Vector Linux 6 light on an old amd k6 for just that purpose. It's based on Slackware. I tried TinyMe but it had grub / boot issues, so I stuck with the Vector though it uses lilo which I've never used before.

[aleph]

Linux from Scratch?

[marko]

I went with Centos 4.8 i586 since it supports the Via C3 Eden, but the software in Centos 4.8 is so obsolete that I've decided to retire my old mini-itx C3 eden board and get a new intel atom board and make that into the print server. When it comes in I'll use Centos again but this time version 5.4. The atom board doesn't have any of the limitations of the C3

[forkbomb]

Originally Posted by aleph

Linux from Scratch?

Aside from the learning experience that's almost never worth the effort.

Anyway, +1 to Arch or maybe Slackware (the latter with KDE and all that cruft unselected). Gentoo can be very minimal but the build time (both for initial emerge system and for keeping up to date) might not be worth the cycles especially on toaster processors.

Even though I consider it more or less "gold standard" for servers as far as my needs go, CentOS and anything in the Redhat family have some expected bloat. If you want to go really small you're looking at a BSD.

Edit:
scratch Arch. I think it's i686 specific only (other than x86_64).

Edit2:
Sorry to re-edit, but I just remembered DamnSmallBSD (at least that's what they used to call it).
http://code.google.com/p/evoke/

Damn Small Linux is effectively dead last time I heard. That may not be a huge deal if you get your print server to the point where it "just works."

[dragonbite]

Originally Posted by smr54

A BSD might be even better. If i686 works, ArchLinux might also be a good choice. CentOS, good as it is for servers, like Fedora, has some legacy bloat. (I think, for example, that cups *might* pull in samba, and possibly even X, but I could VERY easily be wrong on both of those.)

Oh, I thought for sharing a printer via cups I thought that Samba was required for the client to reach it.

[Babylon5Nut]

I run a headless G4-based Mac mini server on the latest Debian, sans-GUI install.

I don't use it as a print server, but I do use it as a file server for myself, and it is absolutely solid. It very rarely gets rebooted, and then the only times I've had to reboot it are causes 100% external to it.

[joe.pelayo]

+1 for Debian.

It is pretty much lightweight (compared with Fedora or Ubuntu anyway), has lots of windows managers (in case you need a really small one), and it is pretty standard as well.

Thanks,
Joe.

[PatMcLJr]

I did this with puppy, works great. I don't know about hardware but the box I used was kinda old.

You have to dittle with the cups.conf to get the sharing to work and then set the firewalls to allow access to 631

Yea, I know May post, maybe someone else will be looking.

Pat Jr.

[DavidMcCann]

For anyone else with this sort of requirement, you can use the search facility at Distrowatch.com, specifying a server distro for i386 architecture. You get over fifty hits!