Which is most suitable distro for 128mb RAM, P-IV, 1.6GHZ, PLZ SUGGEST !
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Which is most suitable distro for 128mb RAM, P-IV, 1.6GHZ, PLZ SUGGEST !
Dear All,
I am fed up of my current OS due to all kinds of harmful codes (Viruses etc.). I have heard a lot about Linux based distros in different computer for short intervals.. I have tried some like knoppix, berry, ubuntu, suse, fedora, puppy, etc. Beside I love them a lot for its customizibilty, powerfulness and FOSS philosophy. I now have completely decided to be a full time Linux user. But latest ubuntu needs 300mb of RAM, Suse needs even more. I don't know abt slackware. But I need a Linux that have plenty of updates and releases all the time. I need packages to be productive and off course online community and IRC channels. I just have 128mb of DDR1 RAM (40gb hdd,1.6GHZ P-IV). PLease suggest me what should I download and burn. I also need driver for my RTL8139D Network card(China-made(possibly not original)) in that distro. Please provide solution.
Pranav Nandan
KU, Nepal
Last edited by pranav.tech; 08-28-2008 at 02:05 PM.
Reason: to represent Nepal
If you are already pretty knowledgable with Linux, you might try one of the smaller distributions, specifically Slackware Linux, Gentoo Linux and FreeBSD. I don't know they will work, but ... maybe. There is a version of Ubuntu using the Xfe manager, which is intended for smaller, less powerful systems. It might work. For all the trouble you are going to have to go through, I'd buy 512 meg of memory. YMMV
You probably also need to check the Linux Hardware Compatibility List at http://www.linuxquestions.org/hcl/index.php. You network card may be listed in there. If you can find out what chip it's based on, you may be able to use a different driver, but for the same Ethernet chip.
Isaac's point about Xubuntu is the one I was trying to make, but forgot the "C" in Xfce. As far as Debian, Ubuntu is based on Debian, whereas Debian has versions for 11 different processor architectures. This means the release time for new versions of the operating system can be slow. Other versions with slow release times include PCLinuxOS, MEPIS Linux, and BSD versions. (I'm not disagreeing with your point, Isaac, but the original poster said he needed rapid development releases.)
Another vote for xubuntu here - I run it on an old Sony laptop with very similar specs, except it has a P3 processor. If you can up your ram though it would be worth it, a 512mb stick should be fairly cheap. Especially as I'm not 100% sure xubuntu will allow you to install with 128mb.
Slackware is a lovely distro too and will definitely run on that machine, I currently have Slax on my pen drive to help fix other peoples machines and save data etc for them.
As far as Debian, Ubuntu is based on Debian, whereas Debian has versions for 11 different processor architectures. This means the release time for new versions of the operating system can be slow. [...] (I'm not disagreeing with your point, Isaac, but the original poster said he needed rapid development releases.)
Yeah, but I didn't go into detail because it's a bit complicated. While Debian Stable tends to get out of date (albeit with very timely security updates), Debian Testing is usually on par with Ubuntu--except during the period of time of a "freeze" during testing of an upcoming Stable release. Which, of course, we've just entered with the upcoming release of Debian 5.0 Etch. And then there's Debian Unstable, which is as up to date as Ubuntu.
But in practical terms, Debian Unstable is as "unstable" as Ubuntu, so there seems to be little practical reason to choose Debian Unstable over Ubuntu. And Debian Testing? Well...that's a matter of heated debate.
That heated debate between Ubuntu vs Debian Testing is not really helpful for a newbie, of course. The bottom line is that Ubuntu and Debian are more similar to each other than either are to any non-Debian based OS, and either makes a good choice.
My usual reason for recommending Ubuntu rather than Debian for a newbie is that unlike Debian, Ubuntu's default install CD is also a LiveCD. That's useful for system recovery in general.
While Debian Stable tends to get out of date (albeit with very timely security updates), Debian Testing is usually on par with Ubuntu...
Thank you for the information. I've been using Ubuntu less than 5 weeks, and I'm not up-to-date on the various version wars.
As long as we are mentioning small versions of Linux, DamnSmallLinux is worth considering. However my research seems to indicate these obscure and tiny versions don't have a large user base or easy-to-find help for the newbie. I think several of the versions mentioned by others fall into this category - great if you are really good with Linux, but not so good if you aren't a pro.
Anyway, hopefully there are enough ideas above to all the original poster to do his research and pick something that will work for him. Again, for the price and trouble, no single suggestion beats getting more memory for ease of application and general usefulness.
Thanks everyone,
From all your valuable sujjestions, I found many choices. By the time, I increase my memory to more 1gb, I will be trying xubuntu. Is there any fast sites you know for the iso ? Anyway I will also be watching slackware and vector.
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