What would be a good distro for the Packard Bell Easynote R1980?

Celeron 1.6GHz
RAM 512 MB
HD updated to 250GB

Internet connection by Vodafone/Huawei GSM/GPRS/3G USB-modem.
Doubleboot needed with Windows 2000 (at least for now)

The main criteria are
stability of the system
easy SW installation
reasonably fast

OpenSuSe seemed to have problems (messed up W2K boot,
occasional loader stall).

How would you rank
Ubuntu
Mandriva One
Debian
Some other

Try this: http://www.linuxmint.com/
The Xfce and Fluxbox editions are built for older hardware (i'm actually running the Fluxbox edition on an Athlon 1,6 with 256 MB Ram): http://www.linuxmint.com/download_ce.php

Looks interesting. Thanks xthx1138x.
Do you think Elyssa would be right or maybe Gloria is better?

Does Elyssa run on machine with VIA chipset and S3 Graphics UniChromeTM Pro IGP?
Is the compatible hardware the same as for Ubuntu?

Because of your older hardware you should use the Xfce- or Fluxbox edition of Felicia.
The Xfce version of Gloria will be out in a few days.
Of course you may try the main edition of Gloria, might be the best as long you are a beginner with linux...

Yeah, the same as for Ubuntu (Mint is based on Ubuntu)


Another distro you might have a look at is Puppy: http://puppylinux.org/
It runs completely in RAM (only 128 MB required) and is fast as hell.

Thanks again xthx1138x.
Looks so interesting that I guess I have to try puppy myself.
(I'm trying to find the distro for someone else
who is fed up with windows problems and wishing to
switch to Linux.)

I've been v happy with my PB easynote (not sure of exact model as someone else is using it right now).

I run slackware 12.1 on it and am pretty sure that all hardware is supported out-the-box in the latest version of slackware (12.2).

Thanks mcnalu.
Slackware seems like a bit complicated for a total Linux noobie to whom I'm searching a distro.
However, I'll remember this in case I can't find any "easier" distro that works.
I guess that the lad is sooo sick of windows problems that he'll learn if that is what it takes.

I'm not a guru myself either, but I have used BSD unix, RedHat Linux (before Fedora) and Debian (now)
to some extent. Even wrote a couple of special HW drivers for HardHat, so I guess I can manage the
system installation. It's the installing of application SW that I'm more worried about.

The guy I'm hunting a distro for lives about 300 km from me, so trying out different distros
might take a couple of years (that's why I'm asking, not trying).

I would suggest tinycore/microcore 2.1
screenshots here of jwm tinycore 2.1

very easy to setup, all kinds of apps to
( http://multidistro.com/tinycore-shots/tc-scrnshots.html )

with gimp2, opera, flash10, xfe, and a little more it's like 50mb
10mb by itself, very current, very easy to use too.

Sure, I completely understand. Slackware does take a bit more upfront reading and setting up, but it's probably less fearsome than you think, it has a superb forum here on LQ and there is a payback down the road. I speak from experience as I switched from windows XP to slackware linux 18 months ago and haven't looked back. Have a read of this post if you're curious.

I have also become very fond of tinycore, but my advice is to start with a wired ethernet connection. Wireless took quite a bit of work on all my laptops.

PS @linus72 - I've noticed that we both frequent the LQ slackware and tinycorelinux.com forums

I checked out puppylinux and it seemed somewhat restricted by applications.

And one more thing - the memory of the laptop can (and probably soon will be) updated to 1GB.
Does that change the situation?

The idea is to eventually substitute windows altogether.

About mint - I think there has been problems with ubuntu on a machine with VIA/S3.
The display seems to give people hard time.

What do you think of DreamLinux or Debian?
(At least Debian Lenny is quite easy to use.)

I checked out puppylinux and it seemed somewhat restricted by applications.

And one more thing - the memory of the laptop can (and probably soon will be) updated to 1GB.
Does that change the situation?

The idea is to eventually substitute windows altogether.

About mint - I think there has been problems with ubuntu on a machine with VIA/S3.
The display seems to give people hard time.

What do you think of DreamLinux or Debian?
(At least Debian Lenny is quite easy to use.)

Sorry, I dont't know how my last message got here twice while I
sent it once.

I don't seem to be able to edit/delete any messages here, just add them.

What do you mean by that?
Check their Forums for problems, it's a very responsive community: http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/

With 1 GB RAM you can run every Edition (Gnome or KDE), which are easier for Linux Newbees.

Just try any Live CD. As you run into any Problems in Live Mode and don't find a solution, try another Distro.

I tried Dreamlinux Xfce some Months ago, it seemed pretty similar to Mint Xfce and worked out of the box on my older machine.
I tested Debian last year and as i remember correctly, it has no live CD, you have to install it (btw: Ubuntu is a fork of Debian) which i didn't.

Try the search function on this website, maybe you'll find something you like: http://distrowatch.com

I run puppy on my own laptop witch is an older laptop with similar specs except 1GB of RAM. Fast! But when I checked the SW offered by the installer... remember, for a noobie...

Funny, when I once tried Ubuntu on my older desktop it run OK from live CD, but installed system didn't work. I guess you can't always trust the live CD.

On the same oldish laptop of mine Mint main edition is a bit slowish and Dreamlinux with Xfce kinda fast. I guess Mint with Xfce is worth trying.
BTW, it said on Ubuntu pages that the VIA/S3 problem is fixed.

How well do the application programs run on Xfce?
Is it all about libraries, and the desktop environment just about the desktop itself?

Yep, Debian has no live CD, but the installation is quite easy
with the new installer - I have Lenny amd64 in one of my desktops.
I wonder if I ever had any problems installing Debian.

I have tried searching here with quite a many keywords - also searced Linux forums, Ubuntu forums and Packard Bell forums.

I guess the next thing to do is to check Mint with Xfce and Dreamlinux with Gnome.