3 Linux distributions that fit on a floppy. Seriously.
Anything over 1.44 MB is just bloat, am I right?
We’ve talked in the past about Tiny Core Linux — an amazingly lightweight Linux distribution that can take up less than 22 MB.
22 MB? That’s pretty cool and all… but what if we wanted to put an entire Linux distribution on a single 3.5” floppy disk?
It’s doable. Here are three Linux distributions that will fit on a 1.44 MB floppy.
Tinyroot Linux - 1.1 MB
This adorable little Linux distro — Tinyroot — fits entirely within 1.1 MB (so it fits inside a 3.5” floppy with a little room to spare).
Admittedly, the system is pretty limited… with very few tools included. Still. It boots! And it’s technically a full system. Which is pretty rad all by itself.
You can follow the build instructions on the GitHub page… or just download the ready-to-go .iso.
Tom's Root Boot - 2.1 MB
Ok, so Tom’s Root Boot (or, simply, “tomsrtbt”) is technically a smidge larger than what would fit on a single 1.44 MB 3.5” floppy disk (when you count all of the files involved). But it can be put onto a single floppy. So it counts!
Many of the download mirrors listed for Tom’s Root Boot appear to be offline nowadays (Tom’s Root Boot has been around quite a while). But you can still find the latest release on this mirror.
FREESCO - 1.44MB
Technically the full download for FREESCO is roughly 20 MB. But that includes drivers, and whatnot, for different hardware. You can fit FREESCO on a single 1.44 MB floppy once you set it up for the hardware you want to use.
Meant to be an open source alternative for many routers, FREESCO includes a bunch of features:
a simple bridge with up to 10 Ethernet segments
a router with up to 10 Ethernet segments
a dialup line router
a leased line router
an Ethernet router
a dial-in server with up to 10 modems (with multiport modems).
a time server
a dhcp server
a http server
a ftp server
a dns server
a ssh server
a print server (requires TCP/IP printing client software)
