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Distro's for old computers - feedback from users
Hey guys, i'm just looking around for different feedback about distros for old computers.
Have some of you already tried some of the following distro's? What is your feedback about it? Absolute Linux antiX ConnochaetOS GALPon MiniNo Legacy OS LinuxConsole Lubuntu PapugLinux Puppy Linux Quirky SliTaz GNU/Linux Tiny Core Linux TinyMe Toutou Linux Unity Linux VectorLinux wattOS Give points from 0 (being less) to 5 (being the maximum score) to the distro's according to: -Installation -Visual -Support -Repository -Configuration And other points can be added if you considerer them important. Why did i selected only this list? Well this are considered the active distro's actually for old computers, some others have been discontinued or are dormant (like DSL). So, let's stick for the active ones by now. Thanks for you feedback. |
I think you forgot the biggest ones: Slackware and Debian.
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Welcome to the forums!
I've never heard of half the distros on your list, yet some of the most popular are conspicuously absent: Debian, Slackware, Arch, CentOS, etc. My advice is to pick one of the top 10 distros (distrowatch has a good list) and stick with it for a year, rather than try to master 17 of them all at once. If you post your specific hardware specs, then you might get a more meaningful recommendation. "Old computer" means different things to different people. |
I just want to have feedback about those, from people who tried it. And i didn't forgot the mainstream distro's, just want a general talk about those i've written.
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Debian netinst, and add only what you need.
Tinycore may be good for older hardware. I'm not sure Unity linux works with older hardware, i586 and higher, I think. For more technical, try Archlinux, Gentoo, & Slackware. I tried Vector Linux on an old laptop awhile ago, it's based on Slackware. |
My experiences are
Slitaz and Vector Light worked well (as did CrunchBang and Mepis) ImagineOS and Tiny Core were a lot of bother to configure Puppy was fine on my desktop, but had a kernel panic (not uncommon with this distro) on my laptop Absolute came with a broken browser, which was still broken two releases later Unity wouldn't install X |
Linux is kernel not distribution..any distribution will work IF you will use low-resource-eating gui(desktop environment|window maker). For example LXDE or IceWM or Fluxbox..just go to Distrowatch and click on Search upper corner. You can use VirtualBox to check them safely before install and also don't forget check reviews and if you still need more info - google for video reviews like YouTube..that should be enough. :)
Btw: Absolute is great Slackware CD version but before you install it get Opera installation file for Slackware because web browser is broken.. P.S.Try Austrumi - it's awesome even for newer PC. |
The best 3 I have found for my ancient lappy PentiumII and desktop PC's are:
SalixOS ArchBang CTKArchLive Not on your list, but they are better IMHO. |
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I'll chime in and say that I had Puppy on a 400MHz Celeron w/128Mb RAM. It was amazingly fast on such an old machine. I also keep a live CD around for partitioning HDDs and system rescue.
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Seconding roky (Hi Roky!) :)
Just recently installed antiX on my old laptop (low end lenovo 3000 C200 that was a new model in '06) because it could no longer keep up with some of the higher end distros. After some messing around with 8.5 a little, I'm currently running M11 release candidate. Didn't even have to finagle my B43 broadcom wireless card in this iteration! Runs very nicely, takes up less than 3GB of the HDD with the full install. Install was super simple from the liveCD, comes with your choice of icewm or fluxbox window managers, conky installed by default. Support supplied by the antix forums, where the distros creator is seen online answering questions often, along with a host of knowledgeable members. Debian repositories, so pretty much whatever you want, go for it. Configurability: yes. I spent about a week messing with the thing learning how to edit conky, menus, etc. to get it set up how I wanted (mostly took that long because I'm new to all this stuff and wanted to try different things before settling in.) If you don't want the full distro and want complete control over everything that goes onto your system, there's even a "core" (no gui, x, anything) and a "base" (gui, x, very basic tools) version so you can install exactly the programs and tools you need and nothing you don't. |
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