Best linux for my machine 500MHz AMD and 384MB RAM

Gam3r21 · 01-31-2011, 02:00 PM

I have an old HP computer that I would like to make useful. I'm thinking about Xubuntu 10.10, but I want to be sure that the processor can take it. If it can't I'll go with puppy linux.

Any comments are appreciated, thanks.

szboardstretcher · 01-31-2011, 02:44 PM

you should be ok with Xubuntu. Let us hear how it goes.

lugoteehalt · 01-31-2011, 02:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gam3r21

I have an old HP computer that I would like to make useful. I'm thinking about Xubuntu 10.10, but I want to be sure that the processor can take it. If it can't I'll go with puppy linux.

Any comments are appreciated, thanks.

Great Debian fan myself. http://www.debian.org/releases/stabl...h03s04.html.en .

floppy_stuttgart · 01-31-2011, 02:59 PM

see my blog.
I recommend:
a) tinyCoreLinux
b) or perhaps Debian (I never tried it, but I think it would be good)
with fluxbox as windows manager, MidnightCommander as editor/ftp/file manager, links as browser, Gnumeric as spreadsheet.. and CUPS/cups-pdf/Leafpad/Firefox/Abiword/Gnumeric).
Then you will have a quick machine.

TobiSGD · 01-31-2011, 03:04 PM

It is essential to know which processor you have. K6-II, K6-III, Athlon?

Gam3r21 · 01-31-2011, 04:30 PM

It's a K6-II. This is the only reason I hesitate to install Xubuntu. I'll Look into dual booting on old machines (Might want Windows XP sometimes).

TobiSGD · 01-31-2011, 05:01 PM

The K6-II will not work with i686-kernels, you need to use one that are compiled for i486 or i586. I don't know if Xubuntu has such a kernel, but I would think so. I would recommend to just try it. If that doesn't work you can also install Debian or Slackware, Debian has XFCE in its repositories, Slackware has it preinstalled. Or you just go for Puppy Linux, the have also a spin-off especially for older hardware, called Wary.

Gam3r21 · 01-31-2011, 05:35 PM

So would it just be really slow, or what would happen. I'll look into the other distros.

TobiSGD · 01-31-2011, 06:32 PM

It would just not run, if there is only a i686-kernel. Try the live-CD, and if it doesn't work try one of the other distros.

Gam3r21 · 01-31-2011, 06:40 PM

Ok, so I've been looking around and can't find ram requirements for Slackware. Debian says that minimal is 64MB and reccomended is 512. Where could I find slackware reguirements?

TobiSGD · 01-31-2011, 07:00 PM

You can find the Slackware requirements here. Keep in mind that Slackware comes with Fluxbox, XFCE and KDE 4 pre-installed, so I would assume that the mentioned 1 GB of RAM are recommended if you use KDE. With XFCE the requirements should be way lower.

yancek · 01-31-2011, 07:00 PM

Minimum requirements:

http://www.slackware.com/install/sysreq.php

Gam3r21 · 01-31-2011, 09:12 PM

I'll test the liveCD's of both of these once my ram gets here. (I ordered 3x 128MB yesterday)

Thanks for the help. Post back when I have my ram