Can you run linux on an intel 486? If so, how?
You certainly can. A couple of choices that are suitable for a 486 are: Damn Small Linux - http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/ DeLi Linux - http://www.delilinux.de/ They both have graphical interfaces and are designed to be small and able to run on low spec computers. Of the two, DeLi Linux seems to require slightly less computing power but Damn Small Linux (DSL) has a larger user base. Personally, I haven't tried DeLi Linux but I do have DSL on a spare Pentium 166 and I love it.
How many computer(s) you have (had) in your life time!!?
I got a Packard-Bell back in 1987. It had a HUGE 60MB HDD a 5 1/4 floppy and a 1.44MB floppy. It was an Intel 286MHz clock speed processor. It also had state of the art graphics called VGA. It cost about $2100. The next computer was a Pentium 1 processor and Windows 1. It cost about $1500. The next was a Pentium 3 and had DRAM. It cost about $1300. I now have 5 computers an HP Pavillion 752n with 512MB of RAM and a 60GB HDD-DVD burner-CD burner-Windows XP Home sp/2, 2-Toshiba laptops with Intel Celeron 2.60GHz processors-40GB HDD-1GB RAM-DVD Combo drives-Built in wireless, Windows XP Home sp/2 and 2 built computers-one is a socket A AMD-DVD burner-DVD ROM-80GB HDD and a 120GB HDD-1GB of DDR RAM-128MB AGP video card, the second built one has a socket 939 AMD dual core processor, 2GB of DDR RAM-DVD burner-DVD Combo drive-250GB SATA HDD-120GB IDE HDD-256MB AGP video card. The HP cost about $1000. The laptops were about $600 each, The 2 built computers cost about $1200 each.