Hello, I need help finding the best distribution for
a Toshiba Satellite Pro 460CDT

Processor = P166 w/mmx
Ram = 64MB
HDD = 2.01GB
CDROM & Floppy drives

Once it's installed I don't think it makes all that much difference since they all have the same apps etc. So the main issue is getting it installed. I would avoid distro's like Suse/Mandriva/etc, just running the installer would eat all your ram. I suggest Slackware or Debian (though I have consistently failed to install Debian a number of times (mainly due to the crapness of dselect, but I think that's been replaced now)). Of course, once you get it installed you want to steer clear of bloat like KDE/GNOME/Mozilla and so on.

I have a Toshiba Satellite 300CDS with similar specs to yours that runs DSL well. I have the HD install, but you can run it from a live CD too (it fits on a mini CD).

My wireless card works, and I can run Firefox and XMMS at the same time with no problem. The GUI is Fluxbox, which looks OK, and the default install has all the apps I need. It's possible to install other things easily enough with apt.


Andrew Gray

I have no idea of your level knowledge of linux,
but for your case I guess that fedora 2 seems ok... feather linux and puppy linux are also very small...
they are very customizable and can fit in less than a 1 GB partition.

check http://www.distrowatch.com

if it is me I would put a gentoo linux, I would compilled it in my fast desktop once and send to the laptop..
it takes more time at first and a lot of effort... but once done you will be very satisfied.

if you are interested in more about it, ask.

I agree about DSL, also maybe check out MEPIS Lite, it might or might not run on hdw. as old as yours.

DSL is nice and impressive little system for computers that also have small hard drives (the hard drive install uses about 50 megs in compressed mode or 250 megs in uncompressed mode and is an amazingly useful system using so little disk space.

My problem with DSL is that it is a pain to do any serious customization with it.

Since this computer has a reasonable amount of disk space, I would recommend going with a full size Linux with a good installer and package management systems so that you will have more control over what you actually install on your computer.

Choose distributions that don't force you to load Gnome or KDE, and instead use lite-weight window managers. There are many out there, but I've had good luck with both Slackware (load either XFCE or Fluxbox as your window manager) or Debian which gives me the most choices and control over what I install. Slackware will run slightly faster however. (I have Slackware going from power-off to a KDE desktop on a 900Mhz Overclocked Celeron in 1 Minute 5 seconds!). I have Debian running Fluxbox on serveral 133Mhz to 233Mhz 64MB machines, and they work great, except Firefox takes a little while to load. (Opera is a little faster).

Heres another vote for DSL (damn small linux)

Works GREAT on my pII 400 with 64mb ram 2.3 gig !!!

I do agree with the fact that Fluxbox isn't terribly easy to customize (or use) at first but once you get the hang of it... it's awesome !!

Just click the MyDSL icon on the desktop and it's basically a graphical version of apt-get with it's own repository for installing most apps you'll ever need.

DSL ftw !!!

It's not Fluxbox, it's DSL itself that is hard to customize. Fluxbox has all the menu stuff in a single text file, theme stuff in another. Like you said, not too bad once you get the hang of it.

DSL is based on based on Knoppix which is based on Debian. The problem is that once you get through all the fancy trickery that both Knoppix and DSL do to get so much out of so little to run on almost any PC and from a live CD, there isn't much of the Debian package management and maintainance utilities that still work.

With an installation of pure Debian, I can use apt-get, aptitude, or synaptic to select, download, install and configure new or updated applications quickly. Also with true Debian, the thing will boot much faster because it doesn't have all the Knoppix hardware detection routines that must run on each boot up. My Debian installations on old/slow machines are truly "lean and mean". I even have it running on a Buffalo Linkstation at: http://wartstew.homelinux.net doing all kinds of home server things.

So final recommendations? Go try DSL anyway. It is very good and fairly easy to install. Then later if you decide you need more than it offers, install a full sized Linux since you have the disk space for it.

I wouldn't install anything on it, better yet, I would download it into the garbage.

That or DSL.

I have 2 Toshiba 460 cdt's and both run Damn Small Linux, on one machine I have downloaded loads of extra apps and it still has only used 400 mb of HD space!!!!

and you can just use it as a live cd and take it with you wherever you go.....

how good is that?

I have a Toshiba 110CS - Pentium 75MHz! DSL or Puppy are the best way to go. I think Puppy has better default software and is easy if you're new to Linux. It has Abiword, Mozilla and gxine - which covers the basic needs.

I wound up having to put it on a FAT partition. I tried to install Debian on it but couldn't.

OK, I'll try DSL.