Hi TSloth,

I have been doing some experimenting and the next thing I am about to try is to install Xubuntu on that box.

Of course, being the compulsive sort that I am, I can't bring myself to pronounce Xubuntu as [zu'buntu] and have to pronounce it [||u'buntu]. (If doesn't mean anything to you, you are probably not alone. See http://isizulu.net/p11n/ and especially http://isizulu.net/p11n/sounds/xoxa.aif for the pronunciation of X in Zulu. )

Paul

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...d.php?t=557612
MEPISLite is still alive and well. You can find it at the mirrors under 'testing'

While not intending to replace MEPISLite, a new derivative of MEPIS was released today called AntiX.

http://distrowatch.com/?newsid=04279

You should also try Fluxbuntu as well.

Actually it is meant to replace MEPISlite. I am posting from antiX rc5 right now. Installed to hard drive and chainloaded through grub. It is MEPIS with fluxbox. It is based on 6.5. It is meant for older computers and is the fastest version of MEPIS I have ever used. Even quicker than 3.4.3. It takes a little getting used to coming from years of kde. After you do get used to fluxbox it isn't too bad. You still have the MEPIS installer and a lot of other MEPIS goodies. Well worth taking a look if you have an older box to play with.

Make sure you give Xfce a fair trial, especially if you can upgrade to 256 MB RAM. It is a "real" Desktop Environment (DE), not just a WM (Window Manager).

I put Xubuntu on my #3 desktop to give Xfce a go. It ran much better after I did a 128 -> 256 upgrade. I could really get to like it a lot. Maybe not enough to switch from KDE where the resources will support it, but it's definitely in the running for the DE on the host OS (SM 6.0 or Etch) on my new "ultra" VM box.

In fact, Konqueror on my #1 desktop (SM 3.3.2) is acting up today, so I am posting this from Firefox 1.5 (barf!) in Xfce.

BTW, I thought that part of the "lite" in SM Lite was dumping OOo in favor of KOffice.

You should be able to start from either the old MEPISLite or the new AntiX & easily install Xfce. One thing to consider is the repo issue: My SM 3.3.2 runs fine, but I frequently can't add newer pkgs. -- APT reports something like "broken package" -- because those repos are no longer maintained. You could maybe solve the problem w/ pinning & a lot of work; but why bother? I just keep running 3.3.2 while I fine tune the plan & build for the VM box, accepting that there will be certain things that I can't have yet. Mostly these are not a big deal.

Here's an update....instead of Mepis lite...go to the mepis.com website or distrowatch and look for AntiX (antics). A new version based on the Mepis core that was designed to be used on older boxes. I haven't tried it yet myself, but i'm starting to read good things in the blogs about it.

Agreed. XFCE is well worth giving a try if you want a full blown desktop environment that is much lighter than other desktop environments. KDE and GNOME consume considerably more resources.

Another desktop environment that is popular with those on the edge is Enlightenment. Don't be put off by the low sub 1.0 version number (0.17 last I saw). Elive is a Debian distro that uses it, and it works fine.

Xubuntu is one solid way to go.

Installing MEPIS, then putting on IceWM or Fluxbox, if you want a light window manager, or XFCE or Enlightenment, if you want a desktop environment, are all workable alternatives.

I had an AMD 400 MHz box with 128 MB of memory and neither KDE nor GNOME would run well (though they would crawl). IcwWM, Fluxbox, or XFCE worked fine and gave me more life with that box.

Feather (not active any more), DSL, and Puppy have all been effective on older hardware, too, but are not quite as rich in apps or packaging (though Puppy is quite clever with what it does have).

I would advocate giving the MEPIS 6.5 based AntiX a try. Though it is called RC5, it is close to stable, basing on the stable MEPIS 6.5 and changing to the Fluxbox window manager in place of the desktop environment of KDE. Seems to me if that works for you it will be easy, maybe EASIER, plus you will have current software. Give it a try first, and resort to something else if that doesn't work out. The MEPIS testing repository on the first mirror site has it; some of the secondary MEPIS mirror sites did not have it earlier this week.

Don't misunderstand me -- I don't advocate any 'buntu, rather the opposite. I just used Xubuntu as a fast way to get to Xfce up & running to see if I like it (I do).

If/when I put Xfce into "production" as the DE on my VM host box, it will be running on MEPIS, Debian, or perhaps AntiX.

Why not just try to modernize the hardware?

Go to powerleap.com and they can tell you exactly what RAM and CPU is correct for your machine. Use their manual menu for this. My old Dell started life with 600 Mhz and 256 megabytes of RAM. Then I went directly from 98 to XP.... blah!!! Then I went to powerleap. Now I have 1.3 Ghz celeron and 768 megabytes of RAM.

My old machine has aged very well indeed. Today it also features a Promise SATA adapter and a SATA 2 drive, which was a chore to set up. I run XP and Mepis 6.5 with the greatest of ease. The switch to SATA did require me to switch from SuSE 10.0 to Mepis, however.

AntiX is based on SimplyMEPIS 6.5
It uses fluxbox. IceWm if you want as well. It runs well on 128Mb of ram. I have it installed and it is lightning quick.

While the desktop manager does lessen the RAM usage, it won't do you any good if you're running many services. However, MEPIS itself is pretty good on resources.

On older machines, the more "customizeable" distros tend to be better for older hardware because you can install exactly what you want. Gentoo would get the best out of your hardware, but the compile times would be extremely long.

Slackware or Arch Linux are also good choices as well as Debian (as I said before).

Or, AntiX, which I haven't personally tried, so I can't say anything from experience.

antiX-pre_final is now available here: 409MB.

http://tomlinux.ca/testing

user: antiXtester
password: fluxbox

For those that still have rc5 you can save a lot of download time and use the xdelta patch (28MB).

Soon it will no doubt be available on the Mepis mirrors.

Installed it takes up about 1.6GB. Works best with 128RAM +swap, but it also works with 64RAM+128RAM swap.

Some screenshots here:
http://s9.photobucket.com/albums/a72...sed&interval=3

and here:

http://s9.photobucket.com/albums/a72...sed&interval=3