Hey all.

At a Laptop med 1.7 GHz, 256 MB RAM laptop (Medion) with shared ram for the Graphics.

With the LinuxMint 8 LXDE it is a pain to run.


Can you suggest a distro with a decent GUI that can work on the laptop?

Best if it has a LiveCD that can be testet before installing.

The laptop has a DVD drive to install from.

Best regards

Stardustdk

mmmm...livecd to test
theres so many!
lol

you could try all four of mine?
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...ml#post4096003

arch/debian net installs are good and low ram with fluxbox,etc

if you not intended to tune system manually ( i used XFCE GUI on work pc Sempron 1.6 256mb ram/ubuntu)
i suggest legacy os http://linux.softpedia.com/get/Syste...OS-31563.shtml
Requirements:

· 500Mhz CPU (Processor)
· 192Mb RAM
· 20x CD-ROM Drive that can be booted from

I think I'd test with live usb's I know it is a hassle but it may offer a better idea.


Might look at slitaz or austrumi.

Try refracta, it is lightweight, fast. and looks good. It comes with Enlightenment desktop and is a installable live-cd based on Debian, so that you can use the Debian repositories.

You want a distro that isn't going to force you into the GUI when you boot - sometimes you don't need the GUI - if you just want to check or send mail, make notes etc.

I would suggest Slackware, Arch etc.

But the machine killer is the GUI. So avoid at all costs Gnome and KDE.

The very, very lightweight GUI's are super, but require some time to configure. I use Ratpoison which is CLI orientated but there are others. (eg wmii from suckless.org). Slackware ships XFCE as the default GUI.

something less "user friendly" (aka bloated), like debian, slackware, arch, or some derivative (antiX, zenwalk, salix...)

Arch Linux with a lightweight wm like Openbox, FVWM or DWM and lightweight apps should do it.

I suggest slackware. It's lightweight and has I think 4 or 5 different window managers. Its got XFCE, fluxbox, Gnome, and 2 more but I cant remember. But try that!

Thanks all, will have a look into your suggestions.

Best regards

Hi,

Full-size distros which lend themselves especially well to custom lightweight installs:
Some miniature distributions:

* Damn Small Linux, a.k.a DSL is a popular extremely small distro. It is a 50 MB live CD, but it can also be installed on the hard drive. DSL can be run completely in RAM, and it can install more programs from an online repository. DSL recommends a P200 and 64 MB.

* Puppy Linux is another installable live CD. It should run on any Pentium with at least 32 MB and boot under 60 seconds. It aims to be as easy to use as possible and assumes no technical expertise.

* Feather Linux is a Linux distribution which runs completely off a CD. It takes up under 128Mb of space. It is just like DSL a Knoppix remaster (based on Debian), includes software which most people use every day. Feather can be installed on a USB stick, but AFAIK not on a hard drive.

* DeLi is a Linux Distribution for old computers, from 486 to Pentium III or so. It's focused on desktop usage and it includes email clients, graphical web browser, an office programs with word processor and spreadsheet, and so on. A full install, including XOrg and development tools, needs only 750 MB of harddisk space.


* Vector Linux. Vector Linux Standard GOLD is the freely downloadable distribution, which includes applications for every task. It is based on Slackware and specifically designed for use on older computers with slower processors and less RAM. It can be run effectively on a Pentium 200 with 128MB of RAM and 3GB of hard drive space. The forthcoming VL Light will take only 350 MB in full install and needs only 64 MB RAM to run.

* Zenwalk is another distribution based on Slackware. It is designed to be fast and simple, with no redundant applications. It is optimized for i686, but is still compatible with i486. Zenwalk requires for comfortable use a Pentium III class processor, 128 MB RAM and 2Gb free disk space.

* Antix is a lightweight, installable live-cd remaster of Mepis. It should run on most computers as long as you have a P266 with 64MB. antiX-M7 will not run on older processors such as Pentium I, AMD K5, and AMD K6 as it uses an i686 kernel.

* PClos TinyME is a lightweight remaster of PCLinuxOS. It includes Abiword, Opera web browser, Audacious for playing music, Sylpheed email client and other famous programs. TinyME requires a Pentium processor and at least 64 MB RAM. Screen resolution 800×600 is recommended.

Debian with LXDE has always worked well for me, I have a 433mhz celeron with 256mb of RAM that I use occasionally, and it works perfectly. Puppy is good too, but not as customisable.