Low resource Linux distro for Atom server PC

unixyk · 21st January 2011, 3:54 PM

Hi guys,

Looking for suggestions on what disto to use for my low power Atom server. I have a Gigabyte 1.8GHz Dual Core Atom board with 4GB of DDR3 memory. I have been suggested Slackware and I would like the machine to waste as little resources as possible. Furthermore it would be awesome if I could load the whole OS into RAM (Seeing as I have 4GB of it) to further speed things up and reduce HDD usage.

I'm a Linux noob but I am always willing to learn so any suggestions will be considered!

Keltoi · 21st January 2011, 7:19 PM

Linux installed without a GUI tends to be quite low on resources naturally. It mainly comes down to how many services/applications you want that server to host as to how much resources are required.

First distro that comes to mind is DSL (Dam Small Linux)
http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/

Has very low system requirements(486DX with 16MB of Ram), Can be booted straight of a usb stick.

You will then need to add the services you require for your application.

I personally have only used this distro once on a p3 box as a backup file server. It work quite well and used very little resources with plenty room to spare for other task's if I wished.

Second Distro (I use this the most for server applications) is Debian
http://www.debian.org/

Install with no GUI and its fairly light. Also there will be much more support around for it as there tends to be more community support online for Debian troubleshooting etc... as a lot of distro's are based on Debian.

Main advantage with using Debian would be "apt-get" and being newer to linux this would help with installing services you might need/want as it should get any dependencies required for that service installed automatically for you.

There are some other distro's that might be worth looking at but I personally haven't used them.

Key at the end of the day is if this is going to be a headless PC (no monitor) then really no gui is needed. Then make sure to pick your installed packages based on your requirements.

Had a quick Google and I found this article that might be worth a read for you http://www.techradar.com/news/softwa...3552?artc_pg=1

Hope that helps you.

Cheers

cs-cam · 21st January 2011, 7:31 PM

I'd probably recommend Slackware as well, DSL and friends are lightweight but unnecessarily so.

Mad Mike · 21st January 2011, 7:54 PM

While I love Slackware, be-forewarned if you are a little of a linux noob, then Slackware has a wicked learning curve compared to other distros. That being said you will learn heaps setting up a headless Slackware system. The best place to start is Linux Questions, have a good read through. Also a great thread to stat with is this one on installing a minimal install.

unixyk · 21st January 2011, 8:54 PM

Thanks guys, I've started installing Slackware.

@ Keltoi, cheers for your input and time, I already came across that link during my Googling (Have been researching this all day).

elvis · 21st January 2011, 9:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by unixyk

1.8GHz Dual Core Atom board with 4GB of DDR3 memory.

Your definition of "low power" differs substantially from mine. I have 5 Linux PCs in my house, only one of which is more powerful than that.

unixyk · 21st January 2011, 10:11 PM

Hehe, well what I mean by low power is < 40w at full load.

Unless you have PCs in your house that waste even less power?

I know my router does, and it runs Linux.

Swathe · 21st January 2011, 10:31 PM

I have a vm with one cpu and 256 mb of ram running ubuntu server10.04. Running screen and my irc it sits on 35mb of ram being used. My webserver with the same os generally sit's on around 135mb of ram.

unixyk · 21st January 2011, 10:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Swathe

I have a vm with one cpu and 256 mb of ram running ubuntu server10.04. Running screen and my irc it sits on 35mb of ram being used. My webserver with the same os generally sit's on around 135mb of ram.

Souds good, if this fails I'll try that.

Cheers.

Edit: What are you running your VM on?

elvis · 22nd January 2011, 12:03 AM

My VPS is currently running Ubuntu 10.04LTS. It's hard capped at 256MB RAM with no swap (OpenVZ, so I can't add swap).

Running Linux, Lighttpd, PHP (via FastCGI), SQLite, MySQL, bind9 and sshd I'm currently using 114MB of RAM.

The box hosts two websites that get a moderate amount of traffic, as well as DNS for about a dozen different domains, and constant rsyncs over SSH from servers around the planet.

There's no real trick to it. If you don't use something, either don't install it, or turn it off ("man update-rc.d").

unixyk · 22nd January 2011, 10:15 AM

What kind of connection are you running this from?

Edit: don't worry, reread it (VPS).

Swathe · 22nd January 2011, 11:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by unixyk

Souds good, if this fails I'll try that.

Cheers.

Edit: What are you running your VM on?

I am running mine on ESXi but the box has a dual core with 2 gb ram. The machine only assigneed one core and capped at 256mb ram. Your hardware will run ubuntu server with ease.

unixyk · 22nd January 2011, 5:43 PM

I got Slackware on there (with a full default install).

I've partitioned my hard drive into 2 partitions, one for swap and one for linux. From my research I've found that it is perhaps a good idea to create seperate partitions for your home directory etc.

What kind of partitioning scheme do you guys use and how big are each one of your partitions?

Edit: I've made a 2GB swap, 15gb root and a 140gb home partition, do you guys recommend I make a tmp partition as well?

FiShy · 27th January 2011, 11:06 AM

I have a bunch (3) of atoms, all running NIX.

The one doing the most owrk (running ps3 media server and transcoding 720P) is a headless F12 install. Other ones run centos and flavor of the month.

Honestly any distro installed as headless will fly on a atom.

21st January 2011, 3:54 PM	#1
unixyk Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Australia Posts: 806	Low resource Linux distro for Atom server PC Hi guys, Looking for suggestions on what disto to use for my low power Atom server. I have a Gigabyte 1.8GHz Dual Core Atom board with 4GB of DDR3 memory. I have been suggested Slackware and I would like the machine to waste as little resources as possible. Furthermore it would be awesome if I could load the whole OS into RAM (Seeing as I have 4GB of it) to further speed things up and reduce HDD usage. I'm a Linux noob but I am always willing to learn so any suggestions will be considered! __________________ Successful Trades: Too many to list... Last edited by unixyk; 21st January 2011 at 5:33 PM.

21st January 2011, 7:19 PM	#2
Keltoi Member Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Perth Posts: 205	Linux installed without a GUI tends to be quite low on resources naturally. It mainly comes down to how many services/applications you want that server to host as to how much resources are required. First distro that comes to mind is DSL (Dam Small Linux) http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/ Has very low system requirements(486DX with 16MB of Ram), Can be booted straight of a usb stick. You will then need to add the services you require for your application. I personally have only used this distro once on a p3 box as a backup file server. It work quite well and used very little resources with plenty room to spare for other task's if I wished. Second Distro (I use this the most for server applications) is Debian http://www.debian.org/ Install with no GUI and its fairly light. Also there will be much more support around for it as there tends to be more community support online for Debian troubleshooting etc... as a lot of distro's are based on Debian. Main advantage with using Debian would be "apt-get" and being newer to linux this would help with installing services you might need/want as it should get any dependencies required for that service installed automatically for you. There are some other distro's that might be worth looking at but I personally haven't used them. Key at the end of the day is if this is going to be a headless PC (no monitor) then really no gui is needed. Then make sure to pick your installed packages based on your requirements. Had a quick Google and I found this article that might be worth a read for you http://www.techradar.com/news/softwa...3552?artc_pg=1 Hope that helps you. Cheers __________________ "Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can possibly go." Successful dealings with: dcunneen, Sparkk, leebaldock Last edited by Keltoi; 21st January 2011 at 7:24 PM. Reason: I have poor spelling (:

21st January 2011, 8:54 PM	#5
unixyk Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Australia Posts: 806	Thanks guys, I've started installing Slackware. @ Keltoi, cheers for your input and time, I already came across that link during my Googling (Have been researching this all day). __________________ Successful Trades: Too many to list...

21st January 2011, 10:11 PM	#7
unixyk Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Australia Posts: 806	Hehe, well what I mean by low power is < 40w at full load. Unless you have PCs in your house that waste even less power? I know my router does, and it runs Linux. __________________ Successful Trades: Too many to list...

21st January 2011, 10:31 PM	#8
Swathe Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Rockhampton Posts: 2,174	I have a vm with one cpu and 256 mb of ram running ubuntu server10.04. Running screen and my irc it sits on 35mb of ram being used. My webserver with the same os generally sit's on around 135mb of ram. __________________ People reckon I'm too patronising (That means I treat them as if they're stupid). Over $9k in trades http://www.gentoo.org/

21st January 2011, 7:31 PM	#3
cs-cam Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Brisbane, QLD Posts: 738	I'd probably recommend Slackware as well, DSL and friends are lightweight but unnecessarily so.

22nd January 2011, 12:03 AM	#10
elvis Member Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Brisbane Posts: 19,896	My VPS is currently running Ubuntu 10.04LTS. It's hard capped at 256MB RAM with no swap (OpenVZ, so I can't add swap). Running Linux, Lighttpd, PHP (via FastCGI), SQLite, MySQL, bind9 and sshd I'm currently using 114MB of RAM. The box hosts two websites that get a moderate amount of traffic, as well as DNS for about a dozen different domains, and constant rsyncs over SSH from servers around the planet. There's no real trick to it. If you don't use something, either don't install it, or turn it off ("man update-rc.d"). __________________ Child's Play Charity

22nd January 2011, 10:15 AM	#11
unixyk Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Australia Posts: 806	What kind of connection are you running this from? Edit: don't worry, reread it (VPS). __________________ Successful Trades: Too many to list...

22nd January 2011, 5:43 PM	#13
unixyk Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Australia Posts: 806	I got Slackware on there (with a full default install). I've partitioned my hard drive into 2 partitions, one for swap and one for linux. From my research I've found that it is perhaps a good idea to create seperate partitions for your home directory etc. What kind of partitioning scheme do you guys use and how big are each one of your partitions? Edit: I've made a 2GB swap, 15gb root and a 140gb home partition, do you guys recommend I make a tmp partition as well? __________________ Successful Trades: Too many to list... Last edited by unixyk; 22nd January 2011 at 5:54 PM.