Hey guys!

I have an Asus Eee with only 4 gigabytes of hard drive space. It used to have Windows XP, then I put Leeenux on it. Unfortunately the Leeenux distro had GNOME. So yesterday- cue horror music- I installed Puppy. Gigantic mistake. The package manager is absolutely pathetic, I couldn't find any of the programs I wanted. I was using Slacko Puppy- based off of Slackware, and the alternative was based off of Ubuntu, shoot me now. I tried a Slitaz live USB and it failed. Just froze in the black-and-white installation terminal thingy.
I am using UNetbootin and I have a 256 MB memory stick, but no disc drive.

So, what I need is this:

*Runs on a low-spec netbook
*Installation ISO of less than 256 MB
*Minimalist
*User Friendly
*Desktop Environment of LXDE, XFCE, or something similar

I say minimalist as i can't be arsed with fifty programs for doing the same thing, uninstalling pretty much everything, etc. Also I hate Firefox, give me Opera any day!
I would use Bodhi, which looks epic, but the ISO is too big for my tiny USB twig, ahem, stick.

Thanks in advance!
Kill all mushrooms!

The only user-friendly distro which will fit on your USB twig is the Bare version of AntiX: kernel and Gnu tools, install your own X, desktop, and software! I suggest you treat yourself to a better memory stick: Amazon have an 8GB Kingston one for only £3.67. You can backup everything on that when you've finished!

The HD is also a problem: most distros, even those intended for low RAM, still want more hard drive space.

Basically you have two choices (unless you want to create your own installation with something like Slackware as a base): AntiX and Swift. AntiX recommends 2.2GB of HD, Swift doesn't say. They both use the Ice window manager. Have a look at their websites and the reviews on Distrowatch and this site, and see which seems best for you.

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Well, thanks a lot for the helpful replies!

Anyway I've downloaded and installed Lubuntu Minimal Install and it's running quite well, I'm going to build it up with some favourite programs now.

Kill all mushrooms!

Well, congratulations. The last time I looked at Lubuntu, the installer occupied a whole CD. I came back because I'd remembered that Debian has a net install disk < 256MB, so I'll mention that for anyone else who comes to this thread.

PS Why mushrooms?

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I tend to use the net install for Debian on my EEEPC 1000, only thing to remember is that it needs a wired connection as the wireless firmware is not on the install medium (or any other Debian install medium I'm aware of).

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Oh, sorry for the sarcasm, your reply didn't show up for some reason, sorry :/

Yeah,the about the mushrooms... I just hate mushrooms, as my username suggests XD

Thanks for your replies!

273-
Yeah, the Lubuntu minimum install required wired connection too, but I just followed the instructions on there site and I survived my second ever Linux installation. However, I'm having some annoying glitches- something to do with dpkg, and a microsoft eula for fonts inside the terminal which I couldn't interact with... Anyway, after some googling I found the solution and got UNetbootin running, so my next imminent distro change won't take long.

David-
I'm going to read up on AntiX and Swift, thanks for the suggestions!

Swift looks a bit specialized and not very barebones with it's forensics tools, but AntiX looks cool. I'll give it a shot!

The little mushroom came running in one day crying to his mother. The mother asked what is the matter? The little mushroom said the others were picking on him. His mother patted him and told him softly not to worry. She said the others will learn one day that he is a fun guy. (fungi) get it fun guy.


The usb's that are created by the live cd to usb sort of creators have both good and bad issues. One is they are fast and easy for newbies. Second is they tend to use compressed files and that makes a small usb work easier.

A cheap 8 G usb isn't that expensive and you can run almost any distro as a native install. You are not limited with native installs. You can upgrade and do kernel things that are impossible with live cd's.

Ok, I've got a 4gig around somewhere, but it'll take a forensics team to find the thing. Metal detector maybe.

I've heard the fungi joke before, lol.

I should have learned my lesson from Leeenux- is seems like a distro with anything to do with Ubuntu is out for my blood.
Like I said, Puppy runs well on my laptop but there's just not enough programs. I'm an absolute newbie, so could someone explain why some Linux programs aren't on all distros, if Linux is Linux? Or would I compile from source? Macpup offers access to Ubuntu repos, but I've got no idea how to use them.

Well, I've installed Macpup and all I can say is... wow. Enlightenment desktop looks brilliant and runs fast. It's based off of Lucid Puppy, not Slacko, so would that mean I can access Ubuntu programs?
I think I'm going to put Bodhi on my desktop now!

Hello Fungicide,
Saw you post regarding the "maddening" Micro$oft eula....A BIG problem for me until I found out, quite by accident, that hitting the Tab key would move the highlighted area to the "OK" spot where you could hit the Enter key and accept.
Try and see if that works for you.
Cheers, Rick

Asus EEE 4G was considered grossly underpowered 5 years ago in 2007. For $299 or less, you can have the latest netbook with 320gb hard drive (80x what you have now) and install whichever distro you like. Just a suggestion....

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Hey again. The problem's gone now as I have installed Macpup, but I do recall using the tab button out of desperation with no effect. I had no idea why I was getting a Microsoft eula for something I had never chosen to install- some kind of font- while using a Linux terminal.
All is well now that I'm using Macpup, absolutely loving the enlisghtenment desktop, but I'm not sure how to use the terminal. No sudo is quite unfortunate, I was growing to love that. Actually, is there a guide to Linux terminals? They seem to vary from distro to distro, which is bad for me as I change a lot. I'm wanting to give Slakcware a spin when I'm more experienced, I also want to try Fedora, but I don't have much clues about the console. Also, for all it's faults, Windows has a much more simple filesystem.
Snowpine- yes I know that my Eee is not awesome, but I think that it is largely to do with the screen size. SliTaz wouldn't work because it was designed with full monitors in mind, which is unfortunate. I'm fine with my Eee for now though.
The only thing that I dislike about the Eee right now is the battery. It never did last long, on Windows it was a few minutes, now it's half an hour, but for a "portable" system, it's a large pain.
I've also got to carry an adaptor wherever I go as I bought the Eee in South Africa, and I can't be bothered to find a British version of the plug- it's of quite an abominable design, I can't just change it normally- but that fault has nothing to do with Asus and everything to do with my laziness, lol.

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