Lightweight OS for my old hardware
Ok as promised here is my run-down of Linux distros that I have tried to run on my PIII 600mhz/128mb laptop.
First try - Ubuntu 6.10 (Edgy)
There`s not much to say about this choice. It was the first thing I tried (as I already had an install CD) and it is of course the only Linux distro that I have any real experience using.
Unfortunately I soon realised that I was going to have to kiss the friendly Gnome interface that i had grown so accustomed to goodbye.
Second try - Debian basic install with xfce
This setup was much better than the Ubuntu one but I found the basic xfce desktop to be too difficult to use especially the file manager.
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re: Lightweight
Half a dozen TRUE lightweight Distro's (including the freshly reviewed NimbleX) yet this guy ignores them to fawn over Xubuntu (a 500meg+ download).
Yet another Ubuntu fanboy article is born.
Not necessarily. It could be
Not necessarily. It could be that he doesn't know about the other distros yet.
Besides, I don't get why everybody's so down on Ubuntu. Okay, so it's not as fully featured and customizable as a true Debian setup. But it's still Linux, and anything that gets a new user into Linux and away from Microsoft is fine with me.
I'm currently using it and Kubuntu on my laptop right now, and my specs are only slightly better than his, and it's already become my primary OS.
In the future, however, I would definitely want to give the other small distros a whirl. I'm also looking at a possible resplacement for Suse 10.2 on my desktop, but that'll probably happen when I build a 64-bit system. As much as I like Suse 10.2, their buddy-buddy attitude with Microsoft is unacceptable.
But getting back to Xubuntu, I have never had any problems with it when I used it as a live CD. True, it's not as light as a distro using something like IceWM or Fluxbox, but it's still light years improved over XP. Hell, most days, my old Amiga setup is better than XP, and we know how outdated the Amiga is.
Lightweight OS
Yes, there are certainly better lightweight distros (and better distros for newbies).
We are all seeing a backlash against {Ku,Xu,U}buntu. It's just part of the cycle of popularity.
Frankly, I've always been puzzled by {Ku,Xu,U}buntu's popularity--I've downloaded and installed several versions over the last couple of years, and I can't fathom it. One thing about it, when I post specific criticisms of {Ku,Xu,U}buntu, there are always many willing to point out to me the error of my ways .
How true I have tried
How true
I have tried (K)(X)Ubuntu a few times before, and I was not overly impressed with it. I didn't dislike it, but I didn't understand why everyone was fawning all over it.
I do now, though. It's a pretty decent OS.
On the laptop, anyways, it's a perfect fit. I may need another 256MB, but at least anything I do will not set off a spasm of hard drive access that will freeze up my system for at least ten minutes.
I would have liked to have installed one of the other allegedly "real" distros, but if this thing huffs and puffs in XP, something like Suse 10.2 or Fedora Core 6 would have killed it. Besides all my hardware worked off the bat with the live CD.
Since I'm here...
I bet Slackware 11 would run just fine on his hardware. Just fine.
I bet Slax would run just fine on it... WITH KDE. Likely faster than Xubuntu, I imagine.
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Ubuntu is lame as a duck- not the metaphorical lame duck, but more like a real duck that hurt its leg, maybe by stepping on a land mine.
Never considered Slackware,
Never considered Slackware, but I've heard it referred to in the same manner as you're referring to Ubuntu.
From what I've read about it, it would probably be off of my hard drive in a week. It sounds way too labor intensive for me; I have a low tolerance for stuff that doesn't work right off the bat.
Well...
Honestly? I've had very few problems with Slackware that way. It "just worked". As far as auto-configuration of hardware, it's been nothing but cake. If Ubuntu detects it, I'd be surprised if Slack didn't.
I've done a lot of learning since installing it, but I feel much more capable for it. I often find myself using a Windows computer and cursing the lack of this or that common Slackware tool.
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Ubuntu is lame as a duck- not the metaphorical lame duck, but more like a real duck that hurt its leg, maybe by stepping on a land mine.
I may end up trying it or
I may end up trying it or one of its derivatives after all. I seem to be having one or two more issues with Ubuntu after adding Xubuntu to it than I want to deal with. My only concern is that I have an Atheros-based wifi card in my laptop, and a lot of the recent distros don't seem to support this out of the box anymore. I'm worried that if I install Slack or Zenwalk, I'll lose access to the card. I don't have a CD burner on the laptop either, so I'm not sure how I'd get it going again.
I know that Zenwalk and Vector Linux are based off of Slack, and they both have live CDs. Does Slack proper have a live CD?
Hmmm...
Not in so many words, no. About the closest thing is Slax, which is based on Slack-current from right before 11 came out proper.
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Ubuntu is lame as a duck- not the metaphorical lame duck, but more like a real duck that hurt its leg, maybe by stepping on a land mine.