Good Linux distro for reviving Packard Bell EasyNote R laptop?
 

Hi, The laptop I wish to revive is a former Windows XP machine and is around 11 years old. Specifications are Intel(R) Celeron(R) M processor 1.40GHz, 736 MB of RAM. This machine upgraded to Vista but not to Windows 7. I would require a distro compatible with x86-64 CPU. I would like to know if it is possible to securely access the internet using this machine with some version of Linux. Please advise. Thank you. My technical knowledge of computing extends to having studied (some years ago) towards A+ Certification based on Windows XP and made good progress with my general understanding of the course material , although I never attained the qualification.

Hi, welcome to LQ,

It would have depended on your knowledge of the Linux system. But since the laptop is quite old, I would recommend something like a 32-bit Slackware 13.37 or Slackware 14.1. The latest Slackware is 14.2 but the old ones might work better on your machine.

Slackware is considered by many as a distro geared towards expert. But it is very fast and does not require lots from the hardware. It has GUI and lots of help online. It incorporates XFCE, which is a very light-weight desktop environment.

http://www.slackware.com/
http://mirrors.slackware.com/slackware/slackware-iso/

If you choose Slackware, we can advise you well on how to install and use. It is not difficult.

Hi. I like a:http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...ml#post5613668
but just options. ;)

Have fun! :hattip:

Since the RAM is only 736Mb I would advise to rather install the 32bit in order to enjoy the fast performance. You can download Absolute Linux 32bit, burn and install it fresh. For helps needed you can apply similar solutions applicable to Slackware --there are plenty of Slackware helpers here, just come if you need some.

Hope that helps.

Good luck and enjoy.

m.m.

Dongles
 

I have played around with some Linux distros already including Damn Small Linux, Ubuntu and I have a download for Zen Live as well but for my internet I currently use a Huawei 3G Dongle for Mobile Broadband. Will Linux distros accept these and how would I go about installing one within Linux? Just commanding the executable file to execute was not working, so possibly it is not compatible?

My Interent Service Provider is down. So I am using my 4g Samsung Galaxy 7 as my router/wifi hotspot, to post this.

I am running off of usb to charge the phone off my laptop while using it as a router on my laptop.

I am running AntiX Linux.

Your laptop specs fall right into AntiX system requirements and AntiX should fly allright on your gear.

Videos are here.

Make sure your phone settings are enabled as a wifi hotspot. If the phone asks if it should trust the device you wish to use. Say yes.

Most wifi dongles work out of the box. The kernel picks them up as usb devices and then recognises them as wifi devices too.

As I understand it, the dongle starts looking like a usb memory device with a program on it. When the program is run, it turns the device into a modem. So, if you've used the device, it's just another modem and any decent Linux will recognise it when it checks your hardware.

As for the distro, get a 32-bit one or you'll be short of memory. Linux may be a lot smaller than Windows 10, but a modern Linux won't be smaller than XP. Two good distros that would be fine in even less than the RAM you have are AntiX MX and Salix (which I'd choose). Both are reliable, as AntiX MX is based on Debian Stable, and Salix is just Slackware with added user-friendliness. If you pick AntiX, you must install and run gufw to turn the firewall on, since Debian-based distros disable it and you need a firewall with a dongle.

RAM is cheep... ;)

Just more info for

which already comes installed and easy peasy to setup in AntiX via antixcc (antix control center)

Screenshot

I like firewalld but again just 0pini0ns... :D (except on the RAM.)

This CPU is strictly 32 bit only. It will not be able to run any x86-64 code.
Yes, but modern web sites are pretty heavy in terms of RAM consumption, so having only 768MB of RAM will be rather limiting. The good news is that your CPU is just about fast enough to make web browsing with one or two open tabs bearable. It's better than a more modern 1.6Ghz Atom CPU (which is more sluggish than its clock speed would suggest).

I would recommend you try the current release of Debian (Debian 8 Jessie), but during install select the XFCE4 desktop suite rather than the much heavier GNOME3 default desktop suite. XFCE4 is a reasonable compromise between friendly GUI tools to configure things and minimized RAM consumption.

That said, after you get used to linux you might want to consider a very stripped down Window Manager instead of a full Desktop Environment. I like the IceWM window manager as providing a taskbar/launcher similar to Windows 95/XP/7, while taking very little space. If all you really want is something to launch your web browser, file manager, terminal, etc, then a lightweight WM can serve just fine.

Technically, after Bonnell, this is no longer true. Everything based on silvermont and newer is based on a full x86 instruction set, and is significantly faster than the older Atom designs (a lot of the bay trail silvermonts support daul cores and are actually decently powerful for their speed, able to outrun core2 chips of similar speed easily).