Ok guys I'm a longtime linux user, since 2002. I want a lightweight distro that has xfce or the ability to add it. I want a package manager like apt-get or pacman. But as long as it has a gui package manager I could work with that. I do not want a source-based distro. That's just too much work to install apps. I'm a little lazy these days. But I want it to run fast. I was using Kubuntu but the more I used it the slower it got. So then I went hopping and found xubuntu (after quite a few distros where I couldn't for the life of me get my wireless HP printer setup properly on any of them). I would use or attempt to use DSL but it doesn't have x64 support, which is a must-have.

Does anyone have a distro in mind that might work for me? If so, please name it and I'll research it.

Must have:
*lightweight
*package manager of some sort
*runs fast
*xfce avialable
*must work with HP Laserjet Pro p1102w printer (that's mostly trial and error though I've noticed.)
*x64 iso/support

Do NOT want:
*source-based distro

Thanks!!

I don't know about that printer, but that sounds like you want Debian with XFCE, or may be one of the derivates with XFCE, like SalineOS.

Why don't you go with Debian?

Ticks all the boxes. The support for your printer is not great but according to:
http://hplipopensource.com/hplip-web...al_p1102w.html

It works and seems to have the same features supported regardless of a distro.

Well the only reason I'm staying away from Debian is because I can't usually get my wifi working due to the strange issue with it not recognizing my firmware on the disk or flash drive. So I gave up on debian a long time ago. I use the Intel 3945abg wifi card. Since I have so many problems getting my card working due to that problem I avoid debian-based distros now.

SalixOS would meet your requirements. It's Slackware-based and uses the Slapt-get package manager. It comes in Xfce, MATE, LXDE, Fluxbox, KDE and Ratpoison spins.

I have it on my netbook and quite like it.

http://www.salixos.org/wiki/index.php/Home

I tried SalixOS yesterday and couldn't for the life of me get my printer working. It would detect it and even suggest the correct driver for it but it refused to print. I kept getting cups backend errors. I am *cough* going to try debian-testing in a few minutes when it's done burning the iso. I read the info on debian's site to place the wireless firmware package onto a removable media. I used to put just the firmware itself on the flash drive - so perhaps that's where I went wrong. :P I tend to skim the instructions on many things instead of reading them fully. I guess if this works, I'll reply back that I'm in Debian testing. It'll take a few hours I'm sure to install a working system, so here goes nothing! Wish me luck!

Ok well that didn't work. I made sure the tgz was on the flash drive. I'll try again with it untarred. If that doesn't work then I give up. I'll keep looking for my perfect distro. *sigh*

EDIT:

Ok I untarred it and left it in it's folder, so i then copied both files to the root of the flash drive. It still didn't detect the freaking firmware. I'm done with debian. That's for sure. Screw it. I'll keep looking for other distros. Ugh.

Try SalineOS, it is basically a refined Debian and comes with most wireless firmware by default.

I would go with Mageia (http://www.mageia.org). You can install XFCE or a number of other lightweight desktop/window environments. Mageia is a fork of Mandriva which was one of the first user friendly distros out there. It has a graphical installer, includes repos with gobs of software packages. Mageia 2 will be released later this month if you want to wait for it.

Ok I'll give them a shot. Can't hurt to try

EDIT:
Ok I gave SalineOS a try. I like it so far. Had some issues with font not looking great but that's mostly fixed now. BUT I can't install anything or change anything that requires the root password. I don't know it. It's not in the install guide. What is the root password? I want to edit the sudoers file so that I can use sudo.

If you installed Saline, you chose a root password during the installation. If you didn't install it, I don't think you have root access: there's actually not much point in installing software on a live system, is there?

What was the printer that wouldn't work with Salix?

Adding Xfce to a distro that uses something else can be very hit and miss. For example, I did it successfully with Mepis, but the Xfce on offer for CentOS had a vital component missing.

Every time I tried a password during installation for root, it told me it wasn't correct. I tried everything I could think of. root, live, liveuser, password, etc

I am trying to get my HP LaserJet Pro p1102w (wireless) printer working. It has worked before in xubuntu and kubuntu but I am trying to get away from Ubuntu as I don't agree with the direction they are heading.

It is supposed to work with HPLIP and I've gone through the rigamaroll of installing hplip and doing hp-setup and it usually ends up being a cups backend error that prevents the priting. Usually the printer will show "Not connected" when I go to print something and see the status of the printer. So I have no idea how to fix a cups issue. I've done all I can do as far as I know to get it working.

You sound like you've already used Arch in the past, since you named the pacman package manager, so I don't know if it's worth mentioning it, but damn, it's good. Had no problem with the widescreen resolution of my monitor, it's simple to do advanced configurations since it has a simple UNIX-like style of having simple editable plain text files with many of the system configs (such as /etc/rc.conf). It's also very fast, I'd stick with that.

Yeah I liked Arch. I did use it for about 6 months or so. I don't remember why I switched. About every 6 months or so I get into a mood where I want to go distro-hopping. Not sure why, but I may try Arch again if I can't get SalineOS to install my printer/communicate with it properly. We'll see. I'll give it a go today/tonight and if it's still not working by then, I'll switch to Arch. Though let me tell ya, that install is very taxing on my nerves LOL Then I'd have to remember which packages to install after the base install to get X up and running. :P I'll have to revisit their awesome wiki.