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Linux distro for my old laptop?

I've tried to run Ubuntu and Xubuntu and my laptop still runs slow. Slow as in lag when opening menu drop downs to even lag while typing. My laptop is old and only use it for internet browsing and with some basic browser plugins such as flash, reader etc... I don't use it any office or game apps. I does need to work with my wireless though.

Can I get some recommendations for my hardware specs? Thank you in advance.

Code:

monty-laptop

    description: Computer

    width: 32 bits

  *-core

      description: Motherboard

      physical id: 0

    *-memory

          description: System memory

          physical id: 1

          size: 255MiB

    *-cpu

          product: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 Mobile CPU 1.70GHz

          vendor: Intel Corp.

          physical id: 2

          bus info: cpu@0

          version: 15.2.4

          size: 1200MHz

          capacity: 1200MHz

          width: 32 bits

          capabilities: fpu fpu_exception wp vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm up pebs bts cpufreq

          configuration: id=0

        *-cache:0

            description: L1 cache

            physical id: 0

            size: 8KiB

        *-cache:1

            description: L2 cache

            physical id: 1

            size: 512KiB

    *-pci

          description: Host bridge

          product: 82845 845 [Brookdale] Chipset Host Bridge

          vendor: Intel Corporation

          physical id: 100

          bus info: pci@0000:00:00.0

          version: 04

          width: 32 bits

          clock: 33MHz

          configuration: driver=agpgart-intel module=intel_agp

        *-pci:0

            description: PCI bridge

            product: 82845 845 [Brookdale] Chipset AGP Bridge

            vendor: Intel Corporation

            physical id: 1

            bus info: pci@0000:00:01.0

            version: 04

            width: 32 bits

            clock: 66MHz

            capabilities: pci bus_master

          *-display UNCLAIMED

                description: VGA compatible controller

                product: Radeon Mobility M7 LW [Radeon Mobility 7500]

                vendor: ATI Technologies Inc

                physical id: 0

                bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0

                version: 00

                width: 32 bits

                clock: 66MHz

                capabilities: bus_master vga_palette cap_list

                configuration: latency=32 mingnt=8

        *-usb

            description: USB Controller

            product: 82801CA/CAM USB Controller #1

            vendor: Intel Corporation

            physical id: 1d

            bus info: pci@0000:00:1d.0

            version: 02

            width: 32 bits

            clock: 33MHz

            capabilities: bus_master

            configuration: driver=uhci_hcd latency=0 module=uhci_hcd

        *-pci:1

            description: PCI bridge

            product: 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge

            vendor: Intel Corporation

            physical id: 1e

            bus info: pci@0000:00:1e.0

            version: 42

            width: 32 bits

            clock: 33MHz

            capabilities: pci bus_master

          *-network

                description: Ethernet interface

                product: 3c905C-TX/TX-M [Tornado]

                vendor: 3Com Corporation

                physical id: 0

                bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0

                logical name: eth0

                version: 78

                serial: 00:08:74:4a:0b:cc

                width: 32 bits

                clock: 33MHz

                capabilities: bus_master cap_list ethernet physical

                configuration: broadcast=yes driver=3c59x latency=32 maxlatency=10 mingnt=10 module=3c59x multicast=yes

          *-pcmcia:0

                description: CardBus bridge

                product: PCI1420 PC card Cardbus Controller

                vendor: Texas Instruments

                physical id: 1

                bus info: pci@0000:02:01.0

                version: 00

                width: 32 bits

                clock: 33MHz

                capabilities: pcmcia bus_master cap_list

                configuration: driver=yenta_cardbus latency=176 maxlatency=5 mingnt=192 module=yenta_socket

          *-pcmcia:1

                description: CardBus bridge

                product: PCI1420 PC card Cardbus Controller

                vendor: Texas Instruments

                physical id: 1.1

                bus info: pci@0000:02:01.1

                version: 00

                width: 32 bits

                clock: 33MHz

                capabilities: pcmcia bus_master cap_list

                configuration: driver=yenta_cardbus latency=176 maxlatency=5 module=yenta_socket

        *-isa

            description: ISA bridge

            product: 82801CAM ISA Bridge (LPC)

            vendor: Intel Corporation

            physical id: 1f

            bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.0

            version: 02

            width: 32 bits

            clock: 33MHz

            capabilities: isa bus_master

            configuration: latency=0

        *-ide

            description: IDE interface

            product: 82801CAM IDE U100 Controller

            vendor: Intel Corporation

            physical id: 1f.1

            bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.1

            version: 02

            width: 32 bits

            clock: 33MHz

            capabilities: ide bus_master

            configuration: driver=ata_piix latency=0

        *-multimedia

            description: Multimedia audio controller

            product: 82801CA/CAM AC'97 Audio Controller

            vendor: Intel Corporation

            physical id: 1f.5

            bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.5

            version: 02

            width: 32 bits

            clock: 33MHz

            capabilities: bus_master

            configuration: driver=Intel ICH latency=0 module=snd_intel8x0

        *-communication UNCLAIMED

            description: Modem

            product: 82801CA/CAM AC'97 Modem Controller

            vendor: Intel Corporation

            physical id: 1f.6

            bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.6

            version: 02

            width: 32 bits

            clock: 33MHz

            configuration: latency=0

    *-network

          description: Wireless interface

          product: Atheros AR5001X+ Wireless Network Adapter

          vendor: Atheros Communications Inc.

          physical id: 0

          bus info: pci@0000:07:00.0

          logical name: wmaster0

          version: 01

          serial: 00:0f:3d:52:44:1c

          width: 32 bits

          clock: 33MHz

          capabilities: bus_master cap_list logical ethernet physical wireless

          configuration: broadcast=yes driver=ath5k_pci ip=192.168.1.122 latency=168 maxlatency=28 mingnt=10 module=ath5k multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11bg

  *-network DISABLED

      description: Ethernet interface

      physical id: 1

      logical name: pan0

      serial: 46:b1:66:e6:b1:03

      capabilities: ethernet physical

      configuration: broadcast=yes driver=bridge driverversion=2.3 firmware=N/A multicast=yes

You need more memory, even an extra 256mb would be a decent improvement and Xubuntu would run much better. That is still a very capable system, with 1gb of RAM, you could run any distro out there effortlessly.

If you really can't do that, something like Wolvix, Puppy or Zenwalk would work decently on what you have.

There's also DSL/Feather/Slitaz/Tinycore
among others...

Quote:

Originally Posted by elliott678 (Post 3520998)

I'll try out distros you recommended if all else fails I guess I'll have to drop the extra $40 to max out my laptop to 1GB of memory. Thanks for the info.

512 meg might do the trick

MontyV:

I am running Ubuntu 8.1 on an old desktop 1.7 Ghz and only 384 meg ram (one 256 and one 128), and it does pretty good.

I agree, 1 Gb would be best, but if you're tight on cash (like most of us nowadays) I would try to go with 512 meg total and see how that works. I am no expert by any means, but from what I heard, Linux is not as much of a memory hog as other OS. good luck!

if you allready got an installation on it just install a small windowmanager
like -for example- icewm or fluxbox in addition.
i got a pc with much less of horse-power and it`s working very well with fluxbox, i even ran it with well speed on an 64MB-laptop.

Slackware + Blackbox

If you want to use Ubuntu, I would suggest doing the minimal install

Code:

http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/jaunty/main/installer-i386/current/images/netboot/mini.iso

and then

Code:

sudo apt-get install xorg menu fluxbox

After that you may need to install synaptic. Fluxbox is a great window manager. You most likely won't get any laggy visuals when using it.

You could also install abiword instead of openoffice.

Code:

http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/minimal

edit:
I think the minimal install of ubuntu gives you the choice of which flavor of ubuntu you want to install. You could install the new xubuntu. It's pretty lightweight. I'm using it on a p2 with 256 ram at the moment. I don't have any lag issues. (except for while playing videos, which is to be expect with such an old machine) I believe that the xfce desktop that xubuntu is based on uses less system resources.

Since you've already installed it you could use a package manager to install fluxbox. The next time you login at the xdm login screen, there should be a button that lets choose which window manager you want to use. Choose fluxbox and give it a whirl.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CoffeeKing!!! (Post 3521435)

Since you've already installed it you could use a package manager to install fluxbox. The next time you login at the xdm login screen, there should be a button that lets choose which window manager you want to use. Choose fluxbox and give it a whirl.

I've installed fluxbox through the package manager but currently I have the laptop to automatically login. I'd rather have it this way. How do i set up my laptop to use fluxbox instead now but still login automatically?

Ok I logged off and changed session and it seems to be keeping fluxbox as the default when logging in. I like the simplicity of it and it does seem to be moving quicker. One thing though is that my wireless is no longer working which was working with GNOME. Do I need to reconfigure something to get fluxbox to working with my wireless again?

Quote:

Originally Posted by MontyV (Post 3521600)

Your wireless is working with fluxbox. You either need to find the network manager in the fluxbox menu or add the network manager to the fluxbox's autostart config. Are you using ubuntu 8.10 or 9.04?

you will also be able to switch back and forth between window managers. I'll tell you how to in a few.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CoffeeKing!!! (Post 3521638)

I'm using 9.04. In the menu I could not find network manager. Let me go back to find where to add items to the autostart config. Maybe there is an option to find Network Config there.

to add the network manager applet to the fluxbox:

open up the terminal and type cut and paste this command:

Code:

echo 'nm-applet &' >> ~/.fluxbox/startup

This will append the program named "nm-applet" to fluxbox's startup file.
The dot before 'fluxbox' means it's a hidden directory or file. In this case it's the fluxbox directory in your home directory "~/" or /home/yourusername. There are many directories and files in your home directory that you can manipulate to get a program to behave the way you want it to for your account.

You should explore ~/.fluxbox because you may wish to edit the way fluxbox looks or the way the fluxbox menu works. I had to edit my menu to make it more navigable. There are plenty of tutorials to be found.

also:
Your login screen has an option called session, right? You can switch back and forth between window managers there.

Another distro to consider is one called antix. It is a lightweiht version of mepis 8. It is fairly full featured and is built on a very stable foundation. It is worth a look.