I recently discovered the joys of qemu (kinda like VMware but cheeper) so I want to set up a linux virtual machine that I can use while im booted into windows.

Since Qemu is so inefficent with the processor I need a distro that has little bloat and a light desktop.
Since my disk space is limited I need a distro that can live healthyily in 2 GB (or less) of space.
I'd really like a distro that uses apt for package management, although i could live without it.
Luckily ram is not an issue since my machine has a gig.

I tried xubuntu but it wont install right, and ubuntu with GNOME or KDE are just too bloated to run on a weak little virtual machine. Are there any distrobutions that any of you would recomend for my situation. One distrobution that caught my eye was zenwalk, does anybody have any impressions on that one

"(kinda like VMware but cheeper)" you do realise that vmware is free for non enterprise level solutions?

yes, but i prefer to use opensource stuf anyways. not that it matters that much, VMware or Qemu, Im still searching for a distrobution with the above requirements, anybody have a suggestion?

well it's seldom aobut the distro really. it's just down to what you run on it. you're free to use whatever you want, just don't run KDE etc... try a desktop like xfce or fluxbox for a lighter experience.

Firstly: Have you installed the Kqemu accelerator? This makes qemu a LOT faster, tho it sadly isn't open-source

Secondly: The best distro I've found yet for Qemu is DamnSmallLinux. It's fast to boot from the CD, with the "toram" option making it lightning-fast once booted, or you can easily do a virtual hard-drive installation.

wow, the answer was sitting right in front of me all along. I have already ran DSL with qemu, but i never considered a hard drive install; I had forgotten that DSL was debian based. Im going to go do some research on the DSL site on how to install apt and stuf like that.

thanks mucho, this is exactly what i was looking for. I'm going to go have fun setting up DSL.

PS; yea I use kqemu, even tho it isnt open source, but regular qemu is just too slow too slow.

i was going to suggest dsl originally actually, but i'd have thought it'd be seen as a bit too severe... there's lightweight and then there's DSL...

I seem to be running into what you speak of, its just too small.

How about arch linux, I heard that one has a following and it looks lightweight enough