Mentalnet GNU/Linux — for legacy i586

Modern GNU/Linux for your 90s beige tower. Run a server on the machines everyone threw away.

user@mentalnet:~$ neofetch

Mentalnet GNU/Linux R1 LovePara i586
Kernel  : 6.12.104-mentalnet-intel32
Media   : Live CD + built-in installer
CPU     : i586 (Pentium / Pentium MMX) or newer x86
RAM     : 128 MB minimum (64 MB usually works)
Login   : root / mnlinux
Services: DHCP · lighttpd · php-fpm · dropbear SSH · chronyd · nftables

Mentalnet GNU/Linux is a light, TTY-only GNU/Linux distribution built for 90s Intel Pentium-class (i586) machines, based on Buildroot 2025.02.17. It runs a modern 6.12.x kernel on hardware that shipped when CD-ROM drives were magic.

Your beige tower doesn't have to sit in the trash heap. Its next life is a headless server: DHCP, lighttpd web server, dropbear SSH, chronyd NTP sync and an nftables firewall — it all starts out of the box from a live CD with a read-only root filesystem, which also carries the built-in hard disk installer (mentalnet-install).

Current release

R1 "LovePara" — named after DECO*27's ラブパラ (Love Para), feat. Hatsune Miku.

user@mentalnet:~$ ls -lh isos/
mentalnet-gnulinux-intel32-R1-LovePara.iso      ~246 MB   SHA256-verified
mentalnet-gnulinux-intel32-R1-FirstStorm.iso    ~139 MB   previous

Download the ISO · Read the install guide

Screenshots

neofetch on Mentalnet GNU/Linux inside 86Box on a Pentium 75-200 with 128 MB of RAM, showing kernel 6.12.104-mentalnet-intel32 and Python 3.12.14 — `neofetch` and `df -h` — Pentium 75–200 @ 100 MHz, 128 MB RAM, on 86Box

vim editing the mentalnet-install script and a git clone running over eth0 on the same Pentium machine — `vim` on the installer source and `git clone` over eth0 — same Pentium, same day

fastfetch on Mentalnet GNU/Linux R1 LovePara, showing OS, kernel 6.12.104-mentalnet-intel32, bash 5.2.37, an AMD-K6tm w/multilib CPU at ~0.23 GHz, 12 MiB RAM on the live CD and eth0 with local IP 10.0.2.15 — `fastfetch` on the LovePara live CD — AMD K6tm @ ~0.23 GHz, R1 LovePara i586

the mentalnet-install hard disk installer banner listing one detected disk, /dev/sda, 2047 MiB QEMU_HDD, and prompting for the disk to install to — `mentalnet-install` — detected disks and the install-target prompt

LovePara boot console: kernel messages, syslogd, klogd, nftables firewall, udhcpc DHCP lease, chronyd, php-fpm, crond, dropbear sshd and lighttpd all starting OK, followed by the Mentalnet GNU/Linux build R1 LovePara login prompt — Boot & services — chronyd, php-fpm, dropbear, lighttpd all `OK`, then the LovePara login prompt