suggestions of linux versions to suit : Pentium 4 1.8 Ghz 512 MB ram


System Type X86-based PC
Processor x86 Family 15 Model 2 Stepping 4 GenuineIntel ~1816 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date Award Software, Inc. ASUS P4S533-E ACPI BIOS Revision 1007, 18/09/2002
SMBIOS Version 2.3
Total Physical Memory 512.00 MB


Nice will be with updates still supported


Nice to find uses for old machines :-)

anything with lxde

should be ok with just 512MB, but if you can get more ram, that will help

I ran CrunchBang Linux on my old Pentium 4 (until I recycled it a couple of years ago).

http://crunchbang.org/

Mine was 3ghz with 1.5gb RAM, though, so YMMV.

You should be able to run anything on that, except the desktopenvironments that are simply to heavy for just 512MB (KDE 4, Gnome 3, maybe things like Cinnamon).
You seem to run openSuse, so try openSuse with LXDE, XFCE or one of the many window managers, like Enlightenment, one of the *boxes or Windowmaker.

It's generally best to get a distro with it's default GUI, since that's the one which gets the most users, and the one where any problems are quickly spotted and solved. Yes, OpenSUSE is available with Xfce: if you don't mind the occasional bug and missing components.

The CPU is fine, much like I'm using here, and only the memory is restrictive. You don't want something that says that 512MB is the minimum: that means it will just run and the next version may not. So reliable, easy distros that require less than 512MB are

SalineOS for Xfce
http://www.linuxquestions.org/review...page/15/sort/7

Exe Linux for Trinity
http://www.linuxquestions.org/review...page/15/sort/7

Zorin OS Light for LXDE
http://www.linuxquestions.org/review...page/15/sort/7

Im running slackware 14 on a machine with those specs. Fluxbox runs fine on it. Mostly tho i use it for a nameserver and to do setiathome work units.

That sounds like a Sony Vaio desktop I had. The maximum ram for the Vaio Rx-660 is 1 gig of DDR. See if you can find out how much ram your system will take (google) and then get that amount of ram. If you can get to 1 gig, you should be able to run most distros that don't come with a lot of eye candy.

i know that CentOS 5.9 will run on a old p4 with 512 meg ram
i had that installed on a old box
i then upgraded the ram to 1 gig
and have ScientificLinux 6.4 running on it

CentOS 6.4 or SL 6.4 should run
however if there is also a 10+ year old 3d card THAT might be a big problem

for example
i have a Nvidia Gforce 2 ( yes 2 ) mx 400 card
the current OLDER xorg in RHEL/CentOS/SL 6.4 dose NOT support that card
the version in RHEL/CentOS/SL 5.9 dose

i might add that with such a slow processor and limited ram that i would toss out the idea that you are going to get many high def video formats to run smoothly, but yes, most of the resources of a modern Linux distro are the heavy weight gui environtments, so a lightweight gui should do you well.

Just looked that up, the ASUS P4S533-E can handle up to 3GB.

Thanks :-)

Will look through the options, particularly for upgrades which seem may be availalbe to 3G RAM.

Everyone is assuming you want a GUI desktop. Do you? If you want commandline only - as in this system will be a "server" and not a "desktop" - then you have plenty of choices and don't need to worry about graphics capabilities, etc.

My Vaio owner's manual specifically said 1 gig. I'm sure someone had a hack for it, but I never wanted to experiment.

Anyway, if it's a Vaio, the OP can add in the RAM, add in an old (PCI slot) video card, and should be just fine with most distros.

The P4S533-E (which I doubt can be found in your Vaio, Sony mostly uses custom boards) has an AGP slot, no need for slow PCI video cards.

I'd try antix or crunchbang (#!)-

http://antix.mepis.org/index.php?title=Main_Page
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=antix

http://crunchbang.org/
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?dis...ion=crunchbang

Depending on where you get the RAM you would be looking at $30-50+ for each 1GB DDR1 stick.

Really not worth it IMO.....for the cost of 3 sticks you could get a new motherboard, CPU and 4GB DDR3 which would be much faster and use less power than the old P4.

Old geforce cards should wotrk with CentOS 6.4 just with nouveau, not the closed nVidia drivers.

Bit ironic to make a point about the defualt distro UI then link to Zorin Lxde....