Best OS for my old Toshiba laptop?
 

I have this old Toshiba Satellite Pro 4600 laptop that is running Win98SE, it is very slow and it locks and freezes too much for me. You can not get any updates from MS anymore and I just want to try the Linux experience on this laptop. This is what I have:

Satellite Pro 4600
PS460E-0C8X7-EN
PIII800/14.1’’ TFT/15 GB/128 MB/CD/Wi-Fi

Mobile Intel® Pentium® III processor, 100 MHz Front Side Bus, 256 KB 2nd level cache

800 MHz, featuring Intel® SpeedStep™ technology
14.1’’ (35.8 cm) TFT active matrix color display,
1,024 x 768 x 16.7 million colors

15.0 GB capacity, S.M.A.R.T. hard disk (9.5 Free)

3.5’’ 1.44MB/720KB, simultaneous internal use with the CD-ROM

Trident XP, 64-bit graphics accelerator
4 x AGP bus, 128-bit BitBIT, integrated NTSC/PAL TV encoder, 16 MB internal Video RAM
Up to 1,600 x 1,200 resolution, up to 16.7 million colors, up to 85 Hz refresh rate non-interlaced (1,024 x 768)

86 keys, 12 function keys, 8 dedicated cursor keys, inlaid numeric keypad, 8 Hot Keys, 2 Windows® keys, Euro key

AccuPoint™ II consists of MousePoint (integrated in keyboard) and four mouse buttons including two freely programmable buttons (integrated in palm rest)

Toshiba Bass Enhanced Sound System, 16-bit Stereo Sound Blaster Pro compatible, 3D-wide mode, MIDI and Wavetable synthesis, volume dial, built-in stereo speakers

ACPI (1.0b) enabled BIOS, SM BIOS V. 2.3 (Now, Ver. 2.60)

Serial, parallel, PS/2™ mouse/keyboard, Fast Infrared Port (FIR), external monitor, 2 x USB, TV out (NTSC/PAL; RCA connector), headphone, external microphone, RJ-11 modem jack, RJ-45, expansion bus connector, DC-in
2 x PC Card type II or 1 x PC Card type III, CardBus support, memory expansion, additional expansion possibilities via docking options
Autosensing 100–240 V AC adapter for world-wide usage
Removable lithium-ion battery, up to 3 hours battery life

Windows® 98 pre-installed (Don't care if has to be removed)

PC Card management software, Toshiba utilities and drivers, Toshiba Hibernation Utility (all pre-installed on the hard disk)
Toshiba Hibernation and Resume, Toshiba Power Extensions, System Password Securities, HDD password on request, SecureSleep™, Recovery CD, slot for Kensington Cable lock

Integrated wireless LAN3) (supports network 802.11b, Wi-Fi™ compliant), integrated LAN (Ethernet, 100BaseTx,
10BaseT, Wake-on-LAN, remote boot), integrated international V.90 modem (56 Kbps data, 14.4 Kbps fax3))

Hopefully all that will help in finding the right Linux OS to put on this old doorstop. We want a OS that we can surf quickly with (have Bell FiberOp), we like Firefox as a browser. My wife wants to be able to find recipes and print to our wireless Lexmark X8350 printer. Being able to play a few games would be nice but not essential.

I would like to thank you in advance for taking on this task. Hope to hear back soon.
Mike & Loretta

Memory may be a problem during the install, but if you can get it to install, vector linux light would probably run as well or better than anything else you could find. Keep in mind that X and a window manager will probably get along fine on 128 mgs, but firefox or chrome alone will eat up 128 mgs and then ask for more.

http://vectorlinux.com/downloads#light

Hi there,

I see - in another forum, there was recently the topic whether Windows 98 is still being used anywhere, and the answers were more or less that it's practically dead except in special circumstances, like embedded applications or radio amateurs who want to control custom-made hardware.

I deleted the rest of the description, because I consider it meaningless for the question.
The one feature that limits you most is memory (RAM). With only 128MB, the choices are few. While this is still ample memory for Windows 98, most contemporary Linux distros need more to run comfortable. Among the things you might consider there are Puppy Linux, Tiny Core, possibly a stripped-down Slackware. You might want to do your own search for a lightweight Linux distro.

Firefox, of all? Which is about the most bulky, stolid, memory-demanding browser? I'd rather recommend something less obese, like Opera for example.

[X] Doc CPU

Install Slackware 12.2 and you get a reasonably fast machine that can run the latest of applications. It runs well on a Dell Latitude C600.

Usually with these machines it's a case of going command line only or using a very minimal distro. As mentioned above, TinyCore Linux could do the job or even a minimal Debian install with a lightweight desktop such as openbox, LXDE or XFCE even may suffice - see this for an example (minus desktop apps part), that fits into 40MB RAM or less. You could use another lightweight desktop with Debian such as IceWM, which antiX is based on.

My choice here would be TinyCore or go hardcore command line. You will need to use lightweight apps with it too so Firefox is really a no go.

Try Slitaz- either with GUI or CLI only. Extra points for CLI and elinks. :)

For a lightweight GUI browser look up Midori or Seamonkey.

You can go one better and use links2 which will work in command line mode or, in GUI mode with the -g option for example

This is very lightweight and quite usable.

My suggestion is Crumchbang Linux (aka #!), it is a light-weight distro which uses Openbox as window manager. Your specifications might just sufficient to run it, but if it does you'll be pleased by the out-of-the-box completeness of the OS... ;)

Thanks so much for the many replies.

I have been looking into Damn Small Linux but didn't get a clear vision of how the OS works. The problem is my wife has only used Windows type programs. We have Mandriva 2008 on my desktop but I haven't used it for awhile, 2 years. We use another laptop with Win7 and she likes that but I want her to use the doorstop in the kitchen. Is DSL or Puppy a close user interface to Windoes?

Linux isn't Windows so try to get out of that "it must look like Windows" mode. I showed my father-in-law Ubuntu 10.04 just after it was release as he was having issues with XP, recently his XP install turned its toes up and I wasn't going to give him XP back so installed 10.04. When reintroduced to it I told him that "things were a bit different but it still works the same" - after 20 minutes he was off again :)

Damn Small Linux is really dead and was forked into TinyCore so try that - its really easy to use. As with everything new, read up some info to arm yourself for the new experience.

You may find Vectorlinux suitable to this task. Specifically the light version.

Here is a coupld video's on youtube to give you an idea of what Vectorlinux is like.

Vectorlinux-Light 7.0 highlights and install.

Enlightenment on Vectorlinux-Light 7.0 installing and running.