Is it possible to use any modern distro (eg ubuntu) with this old machine, just use the WM as described in previous posts? How do you acheive an ubuntu install without installing gnome?

Dave

SLAX is a great light OS too, I've saved several 300MHz 128MB Dells with it. Two had bad hard drives, SLAX revived them and made them productive again without replacing the hard drives. It was easy enough to back the configuration up to a floppy and save files to a thumb. It was fairly responsive running from the cd, the machine was quieter for the most part and we didn't have to reboot for weeks on end.

Yes. Instead of downloading the the live-install-ISO, get the alternate-ISO (ubuntu-6.06.1-alternate-i386.iso or something similar). There you can choose a custom install to install just the base system and then install what you need on top of that.

I forget what the actual boot parameter was ('custom' or something else) but once you boot the machine with the alternate cd, you get a menu where you can choose and look at the help section.

Once you have the base system, you can look for instructions on what are things that you need before running the software.
Ages ago I followed these instructions, with my own choice of favourite light software:
http://www.binonabiso.com/en/Ubuntu-miniRAM-HOWTO.html
It's probably outdated but you can look for similar newer pages-

These seem useful though I haven't tried. http://users.netwit.net.au/~pursang/lofat2.html

(Might have to give it a try, since as of yesterday the laptop I mentioned in my previous post seems to be dying. )

Petra

What about Vector Linux?

I've tried Suse and Ubuntu but find them too slow on my 512MB Sony Vaio. Even though I'm a newbie, Vector Linux seems great - you just click on programs and they open almost straight away, not after a minute or two!

It's also easy to use (with Xfce).

I use Ubuntu, though, on my other desktop machines with 1GB of RAM. Suppose that's jsut habit.

http://vectorlinux.com/

yes, I would also recommend Vector.

One of the fastest, easiest, feature rich, preconfigured distros around. And all that on a single CD. I "resurrected" a few PC-s with it. Give it a spin. You'll love it.

Cheers Kallio, I'll give that a go

Dave

I agree Vector is very good and thier latest release I am sure will be excellent

I moved - am in the process of moving - from Ubuntu 6.10 to Vector 5.8.

I like Vector, like now, I have been working all day on my laptop (Sony VAio PCG-TR5MP with 512MB of RAM) and it doesn't slow down like Ubuntu would. I can't remember Ubuntu being like this before, though.

Vector is lightweight but with lots of features.

Obviously, I need to learn a bit, for instance:

1) how do I print to pdf?
2) how about using my fax modem (then I could print for free!)
3) the wifi-radar tool is clumsy, I much prefer Ubuntu's nm-applet (wireless manager)
4) K3B could not write to ISO on a DVD whilst there were no problems for Ubuntu.

I suppose at some point I'll solve these problems.

But my advice is try Vector!

Dafydd

I think it's the desktop that makes the difference. Xfce lacks nothing of significance that I had with Kde. The font sizes look right and everything is snappy.

For trouble-free installation and performance, PCLinuxOS, of the distros I've tried, can't be beaten. It's the only one that has not wasted a lot of my time and had me gnashing my teeth.

I'm about to try Vector. I liked Zenwalk but it did not have the apps I wanted at the time.

Based on my experience, Ubuntu and its derivatives are the last ones I'd recommend. Ulteo may prove me wrong but so far its showing its Ubuntu colours, a partitioner that doesn't work.