So far gentoo seems to be the only linux that is possible for me to download. With a minimal installer of 81 megs its hard to beat in size. But will it be user friendly, are there any catches? If you know of a better distro I can get by 56k please let me know. thanks

um get broadband, steal neighbor's broadband, or order cd's

(or wait for days and days)

Well, the catch is that the minimal cd does not really include anything. It includes enough to bring your computer up so that you can download the rest of what you need from the net. This means you still probably have 100 MB or more left to download after that first 81 MB. This would be the recommended setup for you, as downloading the full cd would be overkill (unless you have problems that prevent the minimal cd from working). This allows you to download what you need for only your architecture. Otherwise, do what Slackey recommends, and order a cd.

I _cant_ get broadband and it will take less time to download gentooo than to order a cd.

I dont really care once It is up an running.

Back to the orignal question, is there a smaller distro?

You could try Slackware, but otherwise, I'd just wait it out and download whatever you want.

Quote: Original post by try_catch_this
So far gentoo seems to be the only linux that is possible for me to download. With a minimal installer of 81 megs its hard to beat in size.

There's linux distros of all sizes, from floppy versions to full-scale desktop versions with just about every piece of freeware ever written (including their sources). So I wouldn't consider 81 megs small without looking at what's included.
I remember downloading a slackware floppy dist and transfering it to my (ancient) laptop, getting just about everything except x (in a lot less than 80 megs).

Quote: But will it be user friendly, are there any catches?

No, it won't. Wheter linux is user-friendly in any state is a matter of debate but without a desktop environment like gnome or kde you'll have to invest a lot of time in it.

Quote: If you know of a better distro I can get by 56k please let me know.

You can pretty much count on not getting anything 'user-friendly' at less than half a gigabyte or so, and while gentoo might be small it's far from the easiest system to setup.
Try to make someone download it for you or borrow some cds, anything from the last half decade or so should be fine.

Quote: Original post by try_catch_this
I _cant_ get broadband and it will take less time to download gentooo than to order a cd.

I dont really care once It is up an running.

Back to the orignal question, is there a smaller distro?

Damn Small Linux (which is based on Knoppix, which is based on Debian) is only 50 megs or so. I don't know what you get for that, however. Gnome and KDE can be up to 200-300 megs each, so don't count on getting them for cheap.

If you want something that's not a livecd you can try out Vector. It's a bit bigger than DSL(331MB) but it's a very viable distro and comes with some 56k tools IIRC.

I am sticking with gentoo for now.

Just hopes it isnt corrupted when I finish downloading it.

Unfortunately, although I'm a Gentoo user and a Gentoo fan, I have to say that if Internet access speed is your problem, then running Gentoo would be a phenomenally bad idea. The installer is minimal and doesn't include any substantial software - only what you need to fetch and install said software - so you would still have to download everything. Furthermore, Gentoo distributes everything by source - source code being generally larger than compiled binaries, you would in fact have to download a lot more than if you were running a binary distribution. I would therefore suggeast you either download a binary distribution, or order some Linux distribution on CD.