The Brand New UltraMegaSuper "Which Distro" Thread

hello, ive been running vector linux 5 standard on an old(ish) p3 800mhz, 128 ram, with fluxbox (and now icewm) as the window manager, for about 6 months now, and its really fast. vector is really helping me learn without being overwhelmed by it all. there is mp3 support straight out of the box (unlike when i started using fedora core 4), there are different window managers to try with different set ups at the login screen, i think its a great enviroment for learning. and things seem to compile nicley too, on FC4 i couldnt get anything to compile, i dont know wether i was at fault, but vector seems like its working with me, and not against me.

I actually ran suse 9.0 on a REALLY old machiene once. I was also able to use KDE with it. My machiene was a P2 300Mhz (i think, it was somthing like that), 96mb EDO memory, a 4mb PCI graphics card and only a 2 GB HDD! It ran a little slow but you shouldn't have much trouble. Good Luck

With 400 mhz you won't do too good with KDE. You might want to run a light weight windows manager such as xfce or fluxbox, but if you want to use your computer and run programs the most efficiently then install Linux without X and become good at the command line. Just about everything you can imagine can be done from the command line including reading mail with mutt, browsing the hard drive with midnight commander, chatting on irc with irssi or bitchx, browsing the web with links, burning cds with cdrecord, downloading with wget, developing software with vi, printing with lqr, listening to music with mplayer, etc and if you want to have a learning experience, then using Linux without the graphics will force you to learn a lot.

If you like eye candy, check out www.freespire.org and xgl compiz. Also check out www.gnome-look.org.

@Marrokinooo

give ubuntu another try , i think your modem is supported if i'm not wrong ...

... since yours is a p3 , why not trying increasing your memory to at least 256mb or 512mb but 256mb should run well enough with a light weight window manager like icewm(i believe its very easy to install that in ubuntu) ...



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Originally Posted by greengrocer I really like Ubuntu Dapper, but thought maybe this might be too much load for such a low spec machine.

I found out Ubuntu runs very well on older computers. I was surprised. Before I got an amd athlon xp 1800+, I was using a computer with similar specs to yours. I thought I needed an old version of Linux, so I could use Linux at a decent speed similar to how windows 98 runs faster than xp. I installed Redhat 7 and hated it. Then I put Ubuntu on the same computer and was surprised at how well it ran. You probably would be better with xubuntu (ubuntu with xfce windows manager), but it is not as nice as Ubuntu with Gnome.

I've got Fedora Core 3 installed on about 20 computers with Pentium 233MHz, 128MB RAM, 6GB total disk space, 4MB video, and a 3C905B-TX NIC. I run X and Gnome because I like to use a GUI to set up. The machines are a bit loggy and take a while to boot, but so what? If you add a controller for large hard disk support, they make great home file servers.

Come and get me, Xavier!

Oh you wacky kids with your soda pops and your rock n roll!

This thread has now become a part of the collective, find it wherever "which distro" threads meet!

Salam

Hey Greengrocer and Eveybody

I have been looking for Linux that fits my needs and my old Dell 450 MHz/125 RAM/ 8GB hd forr 2 more than months.
And here is it!! I fiannaly find it!

It is SLAX !!

*You can Get Slax from here

*You can also get MySlax Creator from here

*Anf Finally browse the modules database here

Now with all this things, install MySlax Creator on Windows and run it. then you can add or remove the modules you want, which means customizing the Slax ISO as you wish!!! It is so easy!!!

Just Give it a try!! and don't forget the cheatcodes, they might be very useful!!

OOPs, sorry there are some mistakes there, but it is useless to corect them!!

I forget to tell ya that I added Skype to Slax KillBill Edition, sure it not a hard task at all!! and it is working!! See, you can remove KDE and & add XFCE!! Then the modules you need, Create YOUSLAX.ISO , burn it in a cd, ET VOILAAAAAAAA you got what want!!!

Better add sum RAM wont cost much I guess in ur part of the world or try usin fc3 text based. Best 1 ever. or ubuntu I heared its gud 2.

Reported for megathread

>> "... 4MB video ..."
by tnandy

hmm ... 4mb ... you got style ... i love that ... ok , sometime we got 2mb missing(i do not know why) and sometime we also got lots and lots of ram on the video board but total only 1 mb ...


serious ...

i think its better for Marrokinooo to increase his memory to at least 256mb no matter which wm he is going to use ...


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Hi, I'm looking for a distro, nothing too specific, but I want it to be using KDE, speed's not too important although obviously faster is better. Just for general home use, will be dual-booted with Windows XP.

I'm not an expert but I know enough to get by. ATM I'm looking at Slackware but would like to know if it's quite suitable or if there are better choices. I've been using Ubuntu/Kubuntu, and basically just fancy a change.

I'm not entirely sure of my computer specs but it's pretty good (not great, but easily good enough to handle any distro I've seen so far) so that shouldn't be a problem.