I have a dual P3 450 MHz computer (i686)
256 Mb ram
9 Gb scsi hard drive
3d rage pro Utah videocard
OPL3-SAx ISA sound card

Mainly I would like to use the computer to learn linux better and to learn programming, as well as a general purpose computer. I do not have a dual boot system, when I got my computer it didn't come with an OS, so I put linux on it. I have been using Mandrake 10 Official, but I don't care for it much. -I wanted to use Gentoo, but my linux computer is not hooked up to the internet yet, and I do not have enough experience for that involved of an install. I have been looking at many distros like Navyn OS, Ark, Arch etc… I have already tried Knoppix, Debian, Mandrake, PLD, Jollix, Morphix and SoL. Some I just didn't like others I liked but didn't support SMP. Can anyone help me find some distos that may be better for my machine? -I could include more info if that would help...

Thanks

try slackware, its great for learning linux

I heard Slackware was supposed to be good, but will it support my hardware? I have had problems with other distros trying to get my ISA sound card to work.

You won't know until you try it.

The only way to decide which distro is the right one for you is to try several, then pick the one that you find best suits your needs and preferences. Many of the most popular distros can be found at www.linuxiso.org -- J.W.

hello whishkah

I also would vote for Slackware. As well as having it on current, fast and SMP units, I have it running on a P166 with 128m of RAM. KDE and GNOME gui's are not really usable, but there a a bunch of other GUI's to choose from.

SMP is not a kernel choice on initial install, but there is a guide here at Linux-Questions that will give you all the information you need to make a SMP kernel for yourself.

Its great to have Slackware boot up with four images of TUX at the top, and know that you made that happen.

Good Luck

What about Slax, the live cd. Is that good to try out Slackware or isn't it a close enough choice?

The LiveCD p'bly has only the most-used driver modules on it, so I'm not positive it would support your card. However, my vote's for it, anyway, based on the sheer quality of Slack

From the FAQ on www.slackware.com:
"Q: Is my hardware supported by Slackware?

Slackware supports all of the hardware that the Linux kernel supports. In addition, you may be able to find drivers for other hardware by looking around. For specific information on your hardware, check out the Linux Hardware Compatibility HOWTO. In addition to the Intel architechture, Slackware works on Alpha and SPARC systems as well."

Also, check out the ALSA project if you've not already- they write sound modules for as many cards as they can get their hands on, and might have one for yours.