'scuse me,
does anyone know a debian based distribution of linux (like mepis)
that has full laptop support (like kanotix)
with up-to-date packages (like onebase)
I want to run enlightenment-0.16.7/0.17
on my compaq armada 1592 dt/dmt,
(266 mhz pentium MMX 64000k of random access memory, 3000 megabyte hard drive.)
I have tried gentoo, but it takes to long to compile things.
any help would be apprieciated,

--polarbear

Just install Debian Testing, you get a lot more current packages then stable, and a TON fewer updates with apt-get then Unstable. Its the simplest middle ground. If the Debian installer is daunting, Knoppix is basically Debian Testing, so you can just boot that, install it, and then apt-get update. Mepis is just Knoppix cut down to nothing, so those two are basically the same, and you don't have to install all of the Knoppix gear when you install Knoppix.

Cheers,

Finegan

thank you.

ubuntu

I did not go with debian because of the install,

or knoppix for the heavy desktop enviroment, so I settled on libranet.
I recompiled the kernel and now the infared works, the modem works, ethernet, wireless, and visor.
but I can not figure out how to make the sound work.
I looked at This Document
but it seemed to be
out of date; when I followed the instructions, sound did not work.

thanks for the advice anyways,
and thanks in advance for any information on how to get the sound to work.

-polarbear












p.s the soundcard is a ens1370 module es1370 so it should be sb compatible.

Try mepis if you haven't already. It's very nice and up to date. On a Compaq Presario 2100 series laptop, it makes the system clock run ULTRA slow, but I haven't heard of the problem on any other laptop.
I use Libranet, which starts with old software but can easily be upgraded from the testing or unstable apt repositories.

I use libranet,
because, like you said, mepis is
sloooowww

I really like Libranet. I hesitate to suggest it when someone asks for "up-to-date" because Libranet uses mostly software from Woody, which is pretty dated. APT makes it easy to get stuff from Sarge or Sid, so "up-to-date" is just an "apt-get -t testing install" away .

the thing is... by up-to-date I mean opera 7.6.0 alpha,
xfce4, dillo 8.1.0, supertux 2.0cvs, and freeciv 2.0b
is there any package respositore that has those?
(I have gentoo on my desktop, they are not there either.)

I don't think such a distro exists.
Good luck.

Try Damn Small Linux. It's based on Knoppix but is a lot lighter and is claimed to be able run on a 486DX

Mepis 2004.06 has fixed the aforementioned problem of the slow system clock. It just rocks now.
Libranet's good, too. It just starts out with ancient packages then takes a whole day to apt-get upgrade etc... to get everything up to speed.

I'll also have to suggest Libranet. I'm currently running an old Armada M700 notebook with dual boot window$ Xp and Libranet, and I have to say that after trying several different linux flavors, Libranet has impressed me the most.

As mentioned earlier, getting newer software versions is just a matter of getting them from the testing repositories.