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Old 09-04-2004, 09:07 AM   #1
Silly Burrito
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Registered: Sep 2004
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Is there a browser only distribution of Linux that will work on an older iMac?


Just curious. My main goal here is to have a version of Linux that will boot up to a browser (Mozilla or Firebird, most likely) so that it's easy for someone to turn on the computer and start browsing the internet. I'd really like to have something that would run Java/Flash/Shockwave as well. It would be nice, but not 100% critical that it plays sounds as well.

My problem is that it's an older iMac, so I'd like something with as little overhead as possible. Another problem is that I'm still a Linux newbie. I've installed Red Hat/Yellow Dog/Mandrake, but they're good for holding your hand while they install. I've never built a system from scratch. The iMac currently has Yellow Dog 3, but found it dead slow and unresponsive, so I'd be taking that off but still want to have the capability of dual-booting.

Is this a job for Debian, or is there another distro that I should look for?

Any ideas will be very appreciated. Thanks!
 
Old 09-04-2004, 12:06 PM   #2
hob
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Registered: Mar 2004
Location: Wales, UK
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It's very easy to set up the automatic loading you've described with any Linux distribution, so you can choose whichever distribution you like best out of those with Mac versions.

Very few Linux distributions of any kind come with Sun Java, Shockwave and Flash simply because these are proprietary products. Unfortunately because the code is proprietary only the manufacturers can compile versions that work for Linux/Mac, and I don't think that they support anything other than Linux/PC. You will probably find an open source version of Java, but that's not an area I know much about.
 
Old 09-04-2004, 12:17 PM   #3
Silly Burrito
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Well, I'm really trying to get at least Java. Flash and Shockwave are very important, but at least Java should work.

I never thought about the proprietary part...duh.

For a small quick distribution without a lot of bloat, it's looking like Debian is at least the front runner. I wonder how hard it will be to install...
 
Old 09-04-2004, 12:23 PM   #4
nagromo
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Registered: Mar 2004
Location: Minnesota, USA
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I'm fairly new to Linux and I got it to work fine. I like it better than any of the other Linux distro's I've tried, but I've never used the Mac version.
 
  


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