Linux For Aging Computer
 

My friend wants me to download a version of Linux for his aging computer. It has 256 GiG of Ram. Suggestions Please.

Thanks

Daniell,

Check the distribution page. We are working with the same problem to give people with disabilities (and little money) computers, and have found Puppy works well.

Try Xubuntu available from:

http://www.xubuntu.org/get

Review here:
http://www.penguinway.net/?p=131

As mentioned above Puppy Linux is a good bet.(or Vector Linux or Mepis Anti-X or Damn Small Linux).

It is best to avoid Kde and Gnome GUIs which take up more resources and slow things down.

I am sure that some others will point out that most Linux OSs will run with 256GB of RAM. That is true, but what speeds will they run at, day in, day out?

You actually have plenty of choices so have a look at some reviews for these distros, their contents and their screenshots to see which one you prefer to use.

try using "damn small linux" or some old versions of linux distros.

I have DSL running on a laptop with 24 (yes, 24) MB of RAM. It runs nicely but the interface is quite spartan.

I've got Debian (albeit Potato) running on an 8MB computer, so I win.:-).

Would have thought there is not much of a problem here. If it is slow then just use Enlightenment as the window manager and loose Gnome or KDE desktop environments. Debian is often recomended with small computers.

Yes DSL is impressive! I could open TWO X sessions at once on a laptop with 32MB RAM!
With more RAM, you'll likely appreciate a more polished distribution, although DSL isn't that bad, really.

Yves.

I wish I had 256GB of RAM! ;)

I wish I had 256GB of anything! My biggest hard drive is only 160 GB...:(

:tisk: Don't reveal!! You are the only one here!!!

Probably even faster (*buntu being one of the slower ones).
All distributions have XFCE if that's what he wants.