installing linux on an old machine
 

hya,

i'm a linux newbie, and therefore i don't actually know the differences between the distros and window managers ...

i have a pentium 2 300MHz with 64mb ram, ati video with 4mb ram and 4 gig hd.

i used win98 until i tried to create a network with XP which didn't work. therefore i've upgraded to XP: 1. the network came alive instantly 2. the computer choked (it needs at least 128mb in order to run only windows ....)

after this long intro i need your advice: i need a linux intallation:
1. which will work on this ancient machine
2. that will have a window manager
3. that will work in a network with the XP gateway seamlessly

thanx in advance.

mono.

slackware will be fine for you.

1. slack - yes
2. yes....use fluxbox or blackbox, icewm,etc..
3. yes

just any linux distribution will work on that machine. upgrading memory to 128M will give you a big speed gain since there won't be that much swapping anymore.
use a light windowmanager like fcwm ore icewm. gnome and kde are quite resource hungry.

sl mritch.

im new to linux, and i have gentoo installed on my server.

it has no wm, but is nice and fast.

There are probably over 50 of these threads all over LQ, just use the search function. This will result in a Slack vs. Gentoo battle anyway...

If I may give you some good advice, just upgrade the RAM (SDRAM is VERY cheap these days, if possible upgrade to 256Mb) and choose between one of both (slackware or gentoo).

grtz,
elluva

Slack gets my vote!