Hi to all linux lovers out there.
I am a windows user for quite some time now. Then a friend showed me his linux on his laptop. And it was really handy. Especially for a student like me. He told me linux can speed up old laptops.

Now here's my delima, I have a very old laptop with me.
Compaq Armada 110. 56MB of RAM
20 Gig HD and DirectX 6.x only.(I know, pathetic huh?)

What distro of linux can you suggest for me to have?
Can i install the "Enlightenment Plugin" on this old laptop of mine?

Im really sorry for the noob question but i really want to speed up my laptop.

Ive been running windows XP on it. Its running moderately well for its old age because another friend of mine tweeked it and set its paging file for 112 minimum and 112 for maximum. I dont know what that means but since then, it hangs less often. HELP PLS!

THANKS...

A newbie friendly distro (short for distribution, or operating system) is Ubuntu. An old hardware friendly distribution is Xubuntu... which uses the Xfce (Fluxbox) manager manager. It doesn't have a huge memory footprint like Gnome or KDE (other window managers).

I'm sure you can find Xubuntu in the downloads section here. Be sure to read up on a couple of tutorials to prepare yourself for what you're about to do. It can be a little confusing to someone who has never done it before. Don't be afraid to ask here either, but try to research your question first. Either by using the search option here or by using Google. Those two things will be your best friend when using Linux.

Regards,

Brandon

Slackware maybe, but DSL is as good as you get.

@MyHeartPumpsFreon

Im not sure he will be able to run Ubuntu on his laptop.

The specs for an Armada 110 are:

64MB RAM
8MB Shared Graphics (hence 56MB RAM)
P3 800 or Celeron 700 (Two reviews say different things??)

He might be able to run Ubuntu as a console only OS, but not a mainstream GUI. Maybe Fluxbox or XFCE at a push.

xubuntu will not run on his system. It requires at least 128 MB to run and 192 MB to install.

http://www.xubuntu.org/get

Damn small linux will run nicely on his specs.

I misread his specs. I was using Ubuntu as a user friendly distro and that he could use Xubuntu. It would've been easier if I just said "Try Xubuntu. It's based off Ubuntu, which is a user friendly distro." I just chose the long and wrong way to say it. Ehawk is right though, he would be better off with DSL.

Regards.

Bramdon

The only specs that matter in your post are the 56MB RAM and the 20GB hard drive. You do not mention processor. (A Pentium or less?)

The version of directX does not apply to Linux.

A command line version of Linux that gives you access to websites, email, news, and a wide range of command line tools would work great. You probably would want to investigate Debian or Slackware and it would require knowledgeable configuration.

The only distribution that totally fits isDeli Linux and it can require Linux knowledge to install and run.

Damn Small Linux, Austrumi, or Puppy Linux may work but booting to text mode and creating swap files would probably be needed.

Wow, thanks guys. Im reading through the help files of every distro ur suggesting.
uhm. if it helps, my processor is Pentium III.

Googling "Compaq Armada 110" gives a Pentium 3 800.

Go with damnsmalllinux. Try it out first and see how it plays. If its good, then maybe consider a frugal install.

okay...uhm...im getting confused here...
which one do i go for?

Damn Small linux?
or
Deli Linux?

I may be a big Slackware fan but:

a. If you can't run a variant of Ubuntu go for Debian. Runs on really old computers (I run it once on a P1) plus you get the cool package manager!!!

b. If u want something that runs perfectly on your system go with Gentoo, which will take two weeks to compile on your PC, and also wou will need a friend who knows his Linux to help you with the install.

Hope I've helped.

IMHO, definitely start with Damn Small Linux. You can always move to another distro down the road (once you are familiarized with GNU/Linux in general). If you want an alternative to DSL, have a look at Puppy Linux. Notice that the common denominator for these two distros is they are designed to be extremely user-friendly, they let you try them out without having to do an actual installation, and they have minimal hardware requirements. Those are probably the three most important qualities someone in your situation should be looking for in a distro.