right now my old computer run suse linux os but it runs slows so i want to try someother linux that can run on my computer faster

this is my computer info

CPU:333mhz
RAM: 198(i think}
hard drive: 1 10g(this is where i will install os) 2 9g(this is my back up)
CDrom: 8x dvd/cd
CDrom: 52x
USB 1.0 (2 port)
video card: built in motherbord 8M

if you need more info about my computer then just ask me

Gentoo linux installs packages from source, hence they are optimised for the machine they are built on, so there could be a possible performance enchancement (at the cost of taking longer to install)

What you should do is find a distro with a lightweight desktop environment, such as XFCE. Both KDE and GNOME will be far too demanding for your hardware. I personally use Arch Linux, but if you're looking for something easy to install, I believe that Mandriva 2006 comes with XFCE as an option.

Not only does Gentoo take ages to install, it takes ages to do package upgrades. All this for a negligable performance increase. Also, compiling on a 333MHz machine will take an eternity.

I'm running a minimal debian install(read No GUI) on a 166Mhz w/ 196MB ram. You might be able to run a small gui(fluxbox,icewm) w/ relative speed. It won't look pretty, but it'll work. If you're used to the pop-up menu in KDE(what SuSe uses), try icewm.

i will try mandriva but do you think red hat can run fine on my computer?

You're going to find the same thing happens in Mandrive. Both Mandriva and SuSe use KDE, which tends to use more CPU power.

You need to use a light window manager with those kind of specs. Any distro will run, but some better than others e.g. Slackware, Vector Linux etc.

dude, try DamnSmallLinux 2.2. its simple, sweet, and fast on my p2/233 laptop w 64mb ram. some pointers on how to best install it (I think!):
1. boot live CD; start a terminal
2. sudo cfdisk [enter]
3. make any partitions that you want. save and exit.
4. right-click mouse: menu, apps, tools, install to hard disk.
5. reboot
6. right click mouse: menu, apps, tools, enable gnu tools
7. right click mouse: menu, apps, tools, enable apt
8. terminal
su [enter]
(password) [enter]
vi /etc/apt/sources.list [enter]
9. (hope you know how to use vi! otherwise any text editor can be started from the su command line)
change to:
deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ stable main non-free contrib
(save and exit)
10. still in terminal, still su:
vi /etc/apt/preferences
change the number from 100000 to 300000 (just swap the "1" for a "3")
(save and exit)
11. in terminal (as su):
apt-get update [enter]
apt-get install synaptic [enter]
(answer the questions as default, let it install...)
exit [enter]
exit [enter]


Now you should be ready to roll for most of what you'll want to do. DSL has many small packages ready prepared for it in the "myDSL" installer, but make sure that you save them to a safe directory (/home). otherwise, from the tools menu, you can use the (much-better) synaptic to install a lot of things.

try to stay away from the packages that might mess with X or anything video-changing related.


This whole install works in at about 512mb of space i'd bet, and it can be amazing.

You can run suse or mandriva with KDE on such a machine, but you need to trim the fat. no artsd, no unecessary services, get rid of gui eyecandy, jpg desktops, filemanager file previews, etc and it runs quite well without having to go to a limitted wm...

But if you do go to a light wm on mandriva or suse, then it will run even quicker, but with less features... So it's a choice...

i don't know if fluxbox (on dsl) is a "limited window manager" at all. one just needs to know how to tweek it.

I don't personally mind blackbox or windowmaker or ice or whatever, but for a linux newbie they are certainly limitted...