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Linux - Distributions This forum is for Distribution specific questions.
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Old 04-24-2011, 07:23 AM   #1
camuflage
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Registered: Jan 2009
Location: Portugal
Distribution: Ubuntu
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Lightbulb Distro's for old computers - feedback from users


Hey guys, i'm just looking around for different feedback about distros for old computers.
Have some of you already tried some of the following distro's? What is your feedback about it?

Absolute Linux
antiX
ConnochaetOS
GALPon MiniNo
Legacy OS
LinuxConsole
Lubuntu
PapugLinux
Puppy Linux
Quirky
SliTaz GNU/Linux
Tiny Core Linux
TinyMe
Toutou Linux
Unity Linux
VectorLinux
wattOS

Give points from 0 (being less) to 5 (being the maximum score) to the distro's according to:

-Installation
-Visual
-Support
-Repository
-Configuration

And other points can be added if you considerer them important.

Why did i selected only this list? Well this are considered the active distro's actually for old computers, some others have been discontinued or are dormant (like DSL). So, let's stick for the active ones by now.

Thanks for you feedback.

Last edited by camuflage; 04-24-2011 at 07:24 AM.
 
Old 04-24-2011, 08:22 AM   #2
TobiSGD
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Registered: Dec 2009
Location: Germany
Distribution: Whatever fits the task best
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I think you forgot the biggest ones: Slackware and Debian.
 
Old 04-24-2011, 09:03 AM   #3
snowday
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Welcome to the forums!

I've never heard of half the distros on your list, yet some of the most popular are conspicuously absent: Debian, Slackware, Arch, CentOS, etc. My advice is to pick one of the top 10 distros (distrowatch has a good list) and stick with it for a year, rather than try to master 17 of them all at once.

If you post your specific hardware specs, then you might get a more meaningful recommendation. "Old computer" means different things to different people.
 
Old 04-24-2011, 09:56 AM   #4
camuflage
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Distribution: Ubuntu
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I just want to have feedback about those, from people who tried it. And i didn't forgot the mainstream distro's, just want a general talk about those i've written.
 
Old 04-24-2011, 03:48 PM   #5
FredGSanford
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Registered: Nov 2005
Location: USA
Distribution: Mageia 7 - Debian 10 - Artix Linux
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Debian netinst, and add only what you need.
Tinycore may be good for older hardware.
I'm not sure Unity linux works with older hardware, i586 and higher, I think.
For more technical, try Archlinux, Gentoo, & Slackware.
I tried Vector Linux on an old laptop awhile ago, it's based on Slackware.
 
Old 04-24-2011, 04:59 PM   #6
DavidMcCann
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Location: London
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My experiences are

Slitaz and Vector Light worked well (as did CrunchBang and Mepis)
ImagineOS and Tiny Core were a lot of bother to configure
Puppy was fine on my desktop, but had a kernel panic (not uncommon with this distro) on my laptop
Absolute came with a broken browser, which was still broken two releases later
Unity wouldn't install X
 
Old 04-24-2011, 05:05 PM   #7
Arcane
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Linux is kernel not distribution..any distribution will work IF you will use low-resource-eating gui(desktop environment|window maker). For example LXDE or IceWM or Fluxbox..just go to Distrowatch and click on Search upper corner. You can use VirtualBox to check them safely before install and also don't forget check reviews and if you still need more info - google for video reviews like YouTube..that should be enough.
Btw: Absolute is great Slackware CD version but before you install it get Opera installation file for Slackware because web browser is broken..
P.S.Try Austrumi - it's awesome even for newer PC.

Last edited by Arcane; 04-24-2011 at 05:23 PM. Reason: fixed typo + added some stuff
 
Old 04-24-2011, 05:41 PM   #8
linus72
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Registered: Jan 2009
Location: Gordonsville-AKA Mayberry-Virginia
Distribution: Slack14.2/Many
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The best 3 I have found for my ancient lappy PentiumII and desktop PC's are:

SalixOS

ArchBang

CTKArchLive

Not on your list, but they are better IMHO.
 
Old 04-24-2011, 07:04 PM   #9
rokytnji
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Registered: Mar 2008
Location: Waaaaay out West Texas
Distribution: antiX 23, MX 23
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Long story short

http://antix.freeforums.org/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=2336


http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...ns-antix-2131/

Last edited by rokytnji; 04-24-2011 at 07:06 PM.
 
Old 04-25-2011, 04:15 PM   #10
Mr. Bill
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I'll chime in and say that I had Puppy on a 400MHz Celeron w/128Mb RAM. It was amazingly fast on such an old machine. I also keep a live CD around for partitioning HDDs and system rescue.
 
Old 05-01-2011, 05:53 PM   #11
rediflex
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Registered: Apr 2011
Distribution: Linux Mint, antiX, crunchbang
Posts: 33

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Seconding roky (Hi Roky!)

Just recently installed antiX on my old laptop (low end lenovo 3000 C200 that was a new model in '06) because it could no longer keep up with some of the higher end distros. After some messing around with 8.5 a little, I'm currently running M11 release candidate. Didn't even have to finagle my B43 broadcom wireless card in this iteration! Runs very nicely, takes up less than 3GB of the HDD with the full install. Install was super simple from the liveCD, comes with your choice of icewm or fluxbox window managers, conky installed by default. Support supplied by the antix forums, where the distros creator is seen online answering questions often, along with a host of knowledgeable members. Debian repositories, so pretty much whatever you want, go for it. Configurability: yes. I spent about a week messing with the thing learning how to edit conky, menus, etc. to get it set up how I wanted (mostly took that long because I'm new to all this stuff and wanted to try different things before settling in.) If you don't want the full distro and want complete control over everything that goes onto your system, there's even a "core" (no gui, x, anything) and a "base" (gui, x, very basic tools) version so you can install exactly the programs and tools you need and nothing you don't.
 
  


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