Answered! Thanks! ----But...Which version is best for my old Laptop?
 

I've dabbled installing linux on various PCs before, and I checked the compatibility list on this site to see that my G3 ibook(the first all white kind) with an airport card should work with linux, but which version of linux would be best in regards of actually being compatible AND being simple enough that I can install it.

I can follow instructions, but a lot of the linux information out there isn't the most user friendly for people who don't work with it all the time.

That said, I wanted to run at least internet(wireless encrypted), basic IMing/Webbrowsing, and word processing.

My limitations are: My harddrive is only around 10gb, I have a g3 500mhz processor in it there, and a basic cd-rom drive. (Memory is not a major limitation as I added a 512 onto the 64 it had already come with.)

The best way to find out which distro is "best" for your hardware is to try out several distros that may be of interest to you and stick with the one that works best or the one your like. Most distributions now have live discs, so you don't actually have to install anything to your hard drive.

Most of the distros do have live discs..but... I've been having some difficulty locating one that will work on a G3 that is made of CDs, as this laptop does not have a dvd drive. That's why I asked here.

I have an old G3 and run Xubuntu successfully on it. I use Xubuntu because the computer only has 128Mb of RAM.

The *buntus have PPC versions which are CD sized.Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Edubuntu etc.

With the amount of Ram you have you should be able to run just about anything.

I shall try that. That's the kind of advice I was looking for..someone who has done it and knows what may work. Thank you!

Ubuntu is very nice, and one version of it is Xubuntu. It uses the Xfce4 Desktop Environment, which is a light-weight one. You can download the ISO here: http://www.xubuntu.org/


That said, you can also run Ubuntu or Kubuntu (Ubuntu uses GNOME, Kubuntu uses KDE ... I prefer KDE) but you you would definitely get more diskspace with Xubuntu.

There are a lot of other light-weight Linux distributions as well. You can find a list, as well as their websites at Linux.org: Distributions.

Just click on 'Category' and select 'Minimalist'.