What is the smallest Linux OS on which a mobile broadband dongle will work?

nottseagull

I've got a problem with my XP OS in that I can no longer connect my 3 mobile broadband dongle, and no solution was forthcoming on my thread ( https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2822032 ) The dongle works in other PCs.
As I need to access the www urgently on that PC, I was thinking of running a Linux distro directly off a 2GB SD card. 3 state that my dongle runs on Mac, Win ME/XP/Vista/7 but no mention of Linux.
Another problem is that I am limited as to the size of any download because I can only download in a 58 minute window using the ultra-slow broadband which Notts Libraries provide.
If I can get back on the 'net using Damn Small Linux or similar, then I could then download something larger such as Ubuntu.

Baldur

Try Puppy, which supports some dongles - whether yours is supported is probably dependant on its chipset.

nottseagull

I've been to the Puppy link on that site, but it's way over my head! Is there any info as to how to use it, or where the actual download is?

Baldur

nottseagull wrote: »

I've been to the Puppy link on that site, but it's way over my head! Is there any info as to how to use it, or where the actual download is?

Puppy is based on Ubuntu Lucid Lynx, much more up-to-date than DamnSmall, so should support more dongles - it can be run as a live CD/installed to a USB stick/HDD, etc.

The download link is the 2nd one down on the previously linked page:

Live-CD ISO file (129.5MB):
http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/puppylinux/puppy-5.1/lupu-510.iso
md5sum: 88f7154ffcc46062394866e531310eba

<Edit> Above link appears to be broken - try http://www.puppylinux.com/download/

More info - http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=puppy

kabayiri

nottseagull wrote: »

I've been to the Puppy link on that site, but it's way over my head! Is there any info as to how to use it, or where the actual download is?

Try CrunchBang Linux.

I have given it my silver surfer father, on the original Asus 701. Granted it's a 4Gb sd card instead of 2Gb, but the machine is still low powered at 630Mhz.

It runs fine, and he can use skype, firefox etc without issue.

Choose CrunchBang Lite if you have space issues.

kabayiri

Oops, I should add that my father uses a MIFI with 3 network , and not a normal dongle. I can't comment from experience on the dongles it supports.

nottseagull

kabayiri wrote: »

Choose CrunchBang Lite if you have space issues.

Thanks but even the lite version is 424 MB, far too large to download at the library.

Robin_T_Cox

Slitaz may be just what you need. For details, see:

http://www.slitaz.org/en/about/

Robin_T_Cox

Slitaz may be just what you need. For details, see:

http://www.slitaz.org/en/about/

prowla

It might be worth checking out which Linux distros are included in the current selection of magazines in your local newsagent.

spakkker

Try here - http://puppylinux.org/main/Download%20Latest%20Release.htm

http://bengross.com/smallunix/