[SOLVED] Selecting a linux distro for an old laptop (IBM ThinkPad R40)

dino123 · 06-17-2011, 05:30 AM

hello guys,
i got given an old IBM think pad R40 laptop with a broken HDD and im looking for a linux distro for it,

its got 128 mb of ram and a mobile P4 - M 1.80ghz processor all im gonna use it for is basic word processing/taking notes in the field etc.
but i would like to have a reasnoble GUI ive tried Puppy, DSL and SLITAZ but their GUI's are rather crude. any help on this matter would be greatly appreciated

--dino123

dino123 · 06-17-2011, 05:31 AM

also the distro will have to run off a USB flash drive

Genocide_Hoax · 06-17-2011, 05:38 AM

You can try out mint or puppy linux.

0men · 06-17-2011, 05:43 AM

You need puppy Linux.

dino123 · 06-17-2011, 05:49 AM

ive tried puppy and i dont like it is there any others

sinuhe · 06-17-2011, 06:05 AM

Slackware

cascade9 · 06-17-2011, 06:10 AM

Debian 6.0.1a Xfce boots with 70MB or less of RAM use, so it should be OK with 128MB for basic word processing. Lxde, fluxbox etc. would work as well.

dino123 · 06-17-2011, 06:11 AM

still open to any other suggestions

michaelk · 06-17-2011, 06:12 AM

Some other distributions to look at are antix, lubuntu or tinyme. debian with a lightweight windows manager will also be a good choice. I'm sure others will respond with their favorite lightweight distribution.

Indy452 · 06-17-2011, 06:48 AM

With 128 mb ram your stretching....I can only think of a few that will run ok on that low of ram. Since you don't like Puppy you could try Absolute linux. Or perhaps the newly released Salix fluxbox version, they may work ok for you. But whichever you choose...remember the desktop environment is gonna be either LXDE, ICEWM,, openbox JWM etc....one of the lightweight varieties. You're not gonna get any of the big distros with Gnome,kde etc running on that.

cascade9 · 06-17-2011, 06:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Indy452

But whichever you choose...remember the desktop environment is gonna be either LXDE, ICEWM,, openbox JWM etc....one of the lightweight varieties. You're not gonna get any of the big distros with Gnome,kde etc running on that.

Quote:

When starting and logging in to gnome, debian hardly uses 85MB RAM (95 MB RAM with swap)!

http://duopetalflower.blogspot.com/2...uses-less.html

Its more than possible for a 'big' distro to be running gnome on less than 128MB of RAM....

Indy452 · 06-17-2011, 07:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cascade9

http://duopetalflower.blogspot.com/2...uses-less.html

Its more than possible for a 'big' distro to be running gnome on less than 128MB of RAM....

There you have it.

Here is a post taken from the linked Blog..."It is hard to install debian testing on to a netbook with wireless, but it is worth the effort"

After all we are on the newbie forum.

snowday · 06-17-2011, 08:15 AM

You only have 128mb RAM so don't waste resources on a complicated GUI. Get a simplest GUI (LXDE, IceWM, Fluxbox, etc.) so you have maximum resources available for your primary task: word processing.

Personally I like SliTaz for very old hardware. If you don't like the default theme it is easy to change; just do a quick Google search for "lxde themes" and you'll find dozens of nice choices.

TobiSGD · 06-17-2011, 09:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cascade9

http://duopetalflower.blogspot.com/2...uses-less.html

Its more than possible for a 'big' distro to be running gnome on less than 128MB of RAM....

OK, then start an office application on that and you will see it massively swapping. Something running with 85MB after boot is not the same as something running in the use case, here with a word-processor.

I can only second what snowpine has written, lower your sights on the optical part and concentrate on the task you want to get done. Besides the optical part you also have to consider that it is better to use a lightweight application for your tasks, like Abiword instead of Open/Libre Office.

floppy_stuttgart · 06-17-2011, 02:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dino123

still open to any other suggestions

TinyCoreLinux. Take a bit time. Go to the forum. Ask for help. It will transform your old thing in a space shuttle.