So I decided on installing a lightweight distro one I've not used before with LxQT desktop called SparkyLinux. After removing stuff I'll not use on this box like Libre Office, & other stuff - I am left with just over 6.5gb of free space.
And it's a zippy little box considering it's only 2gb of ram, and almost no storage space.
I plan on using this as a hub for #syncthing with an external drive - replacing one my aging raspberry PIs

https://sparkylinux.org/

#Linux #SparkyLinux #LxQT #Wyse3040

@lymenzies From my own experience I can tell that even the Original #RaspberryPi and #PiZero can run #RaspberryPiOS all day long and will run circles around the orginal #EeePC701, only getting beaten by the #Vaio #P11Z when it comes to #RAM and #IO options.

• Granted a #CM4 or #CM5 with > 2GB RAM will shift the tides but those alone cost more than a used #Wyse3040 and #upcycling a #ThinClient into something like a tiny luggable is propably more budget friendly and useful anyway, espechally since built-in Gigabit #Ethernet and #USB 3.0 really kick ass, so you'd propably be better served doing some #PoE / Wide-Range DC-in & battery setup to make good use of the oversized build volume at hand.

• Maybe take some "THICC" 21700 LiFePO4 cells or one of those #LiFePO4 motorcycle batteries for a spin? Pretty shure that you can sqeeze battery runtime measured in DAYS out of it without much tweaking.

@lymenzies Granted the #Wyse3040 has #DisplayPort and there are cheap driver boards that do #DP -> #eDP.

• Using the #iGPU which AFAICT can't be deactivated but only given less shared VRAM" makes adding a different output besides some USB-Serial Console port kinda redundant.

Worst-Case you just go with #MDA output at 80x25 (or even higher if you feel fancy and/or have something better than some tiny 480x800 screen(s)) as #VGA is 100% backwards compatible with with that.

• Tho even if you don't do much in terms of fancy display output, you'd still get some decent output for a fancy shell like #fish... (which I have wishlisted for #OS1337.

In terms of hardware there's an M.2 A+E key slot AFAICS and for PS/2 & VGA you can find ample of adaptors to go from USB and DisplayPort respectably: They don't cost much and I'm confident you won't get better DIY results anyway with limited time and budget.

Something else I would also LOVE to try out, but don't have nearly enough #Linux knowledge to do, is to get an extremely small base image that only has the drivers needed for the machine available, plus general USB drivers you can reasonably expect like keyboard, mouse, and storage.

If anyone has any hints on any of those things, I'd be glad to know, since there are quite a few of these low-spec machines (or even higher-spec but with excruciatingly low eMMC drives) that could benefit from a barebones solution.

#wyse3040

Either way, I hope to longterm develop OS/1337 as a practical distro for lowest-end machines whilst still retaining features and keeping it smol.
Think of it like
@rasteri 's #WeeCee and #8bitGuy's #CommanderX16 having a one-night-stand and out comes a #distro that runs on decades old #IGEL #ThinClients just as nice as on recently discontinued #Wyse3040 or some classic #Netbooks like the famous #EeePC and #P11Z...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJEp4ZUG7BI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPuP1L7vnr0
https://www.ebay.de/itm/196058676290

#OS1337