I'm intending to start a business selling Linux installation services. Part of my services will be upgrading Windows 98 machines. I've got four options on which distros to use for this:

• Xubuntu
• DreamLinux
• Zenwalk
• Vector Linux

Xubuntu I've used and like. It's got the Debian genes which means APT and stuff like that, so I'm familiar with it. I've heard it's not as fast as it could be, though.

DreamLinux I've tried. It seemed cheap to me but it is a true Debian. I don't really care about that though. It looks like a Mac out of the box, which might be a selling point.

Zenwalk and Vector Linux I've never tried but heard good things about. Both are based on Slackware which I've also never tried. I'm just considering alternatives, especially with the performance reports I hear from these distros.

Notice that these are all XFCE4 distros.

What I need from these distros is: quick installation, but not necessarily noob-oriented, wide hardware compatibility, fast performance, easy customization, user-friendly desktop, and robustness.

I'll of course try Zenwalk and Vector Linux myself. I just wanted some opinions. How do the package managers on those two work? Can they install packages from CDs like APT can, or is it Internet-only? Is the performance difference between the Debians and the Slackwares that much?

Thanks a bunch. Josh.

I'd like to toss out pure Debian. Just do a minimal install then build it up from there. You can do some neat things with dpkg --get-selections and dpkg --set-selections to quickly setup machines with the same program set.

And if you want it to look more like Windows 98, you might try IceWM instead of XFCE.

Your project is going to depend hugely on you understanding what software can run on what hardware.
Does a "Windows 98 machine" have 32, 64, 128, or 256MB of RAM?
Does it have a 200Mhz or 800Mhz processor?
A 4GB or 20GB hard drive?
Does the user simply want to access websites, email and create documents or are do they expect video or gaming?
You are going to need to be able to advise them of what you can really provide for their hardware.
Do you plan to upgrade their hardware if possible? Max their RAM to 256MB if they only have 64MB? Offer to upgrade a 500Mhz processor to max supported?
Do you plan to offer and support multiple distributions as needed or only one with custom configurations?

@2damncommon

I didn't realize that Windows 98 ran on such a broad range. I'd definitely offer to upgrade anything less than 64MB RAM and suggest upgrading a 64MB. Simple hardware services like that should be fine. Upgrading processors, which I've tried, seems to be a little bit of a dance with socket versions and motherboard capabilities. Also, where can I get oldish processors in good condition?

As for multiple distributions, I had intended on only two distros: a "lite" distro for old machines and a "standard" distro for more powerful computers. (Ubuntu Hardy likely.)

@pjvaldez

What advantage do I get by using straight Debian. I've a hunch that many of these computers I'll be upgrading will be offline/dial-up only and installing extra packages from the Internet may be a pain. Does that work with a custom APT CD-ROM? How's this different from rolling my own Debian?

Thanks both for the quick replies.

-Josh

I think the advantage of straight Debian is that you could use a single distro for all your needs and just tailor the packages installed on each. Once you setup a minimal machine, you could just save the package state and install it on the other minimal machines you use. Of course, you still have to modify config files and stuff (like /etc/apt/sources.list, wallpapers, etc), but you could save those too.

You certainly could roll your own cd-rom to include or install from the standard Debian CD sets or DVD sets. It's not very hard to create your own apt repository on cdrom/dvd.

But aren't you going to be doing the installation at your place? You could easily attach a network card for the install and then remove it before you give it back to them. Or leave it, a 10/100MB card is only $10.

If you like slackware-based distros with XFCE, keep an eye on Wolvix. It is an ambitious little distro and I believe it offers ICE or fluxbox as an option too.

Zenwalk and Vector are fine. Xubuntu is great for all the reasons that ubuntu is great and it is easy to set up, but it tends to be on the heavy side in spite of itself.

You might want to also try fluxbox installs on the lower end stuff.

Another alternative is Mint. It's based on Ubuntu, which in turn is based on Debian. Their installer works very smoothly, and you have all the benefits of APT still. I've been running Mint for 3 months now, and I'm impressed by how well it works on a Dell Inspiron notebook as well as on a home built tower.

Actually there is a community edition of Mint that runs the lighter XFCE desktop.

I'm worried with some legal issues with Linux Mint. Isn't the patent-restricted code in Mint, like drivers and codecs, considered pirate to redistribute?

Not that I'm worried about that for myself, but I'm doing this as a business and want to avoid some liabilities. I figure if I, as a service, download that stuff onto the clients computers it'll be OK, because it's not me redistributing.

But if I give them a CD with Linux Mint, including the patented code, that'd be me distributing.

If this is nothing to worry about, I'm game for Mint: it'll make my job a lot simpler.

-Josh