Which linux distro

[GenX]

Happy Thanksgiving! I have a 10 year old p4 machine, 1.3 ghz, 128mb ram and 20gb hd. Which newb friendly distro for strictly web browsing with opera and firefox? Also, have any of you used swiftfox?

[GIockGuy24]

With 128 MB of memory you'll require a lightweight desktop. lightweight ones include IceWM, Fluxbox, LXDE and Xfce. Fluxbox is very basic. IceWM is suppose look like the heavier KDE desktop and use KDE extensions. I like it but for some reason it never became really popular. LXDE is the newest and is designed to be lightweight and from what I've seen of it works well. Xfce is a bit heavier than the others but may still work with 128 MB of memory. Current versions of KDE and Gnome require much more memory.

The latest version of Knoppix Linux is supplied with LXDE and is based on Debian Linux. Make sure you get the 32 bit x86 EN English CD.

Knoppix download link - 700 MB

ftp://ftp.rediris.es/mirror/knoppix/KNOPPIX_V6.2CD-2009-11-18-EN.iso

Knoppix says a minimum of 120 MB of memory to run the CD but don't try the large OpenOffice program on the disk with less 500 MB of memory. That's from live CD. It should run fine from a hard drive installation.

I see the current version of Xfce requires 192 MB of memory to run from a live CD so some of the other versions are out for now. There are versions of Ubuntu and Fedora that use Fluxbox that are "unofficial" versions and they may be something to look at. If you install to a hard drive without running a live CD you can run all of the about desktops with 128 MB of memory.

[JK-linux]

.....

[gh0st614]

You need more memory, 128mb is unbearable I cant believe somebody ever built a p4 with that little bit of memory. What model of computer do you have I will give you a great deal on some SD if thats what you need. Im guessing you dont have DDR with that processor speed. Memory is my business and I feel you should just bump up to 512mb total and run something more like Ubuntu. It is the de facto suggestion for many reasons.

[IndyGunFreak]

You need more memory, 128mb is unbearable I cant believe somebody ever built a p4 with that little bit of memory. What model of computer do you have I will give you a great deal on some SD if thats what you need. Im guessing you dont have DDR with that processor speed. Memory is my business and I feel you should just bump up to 512mb total and run something more like Ubuntu. It is the de facto suggestion for many reasons.

Yeah, its gonna be slow almost no matter what you put on there... You're gonna have to put something on there that is very low on resources. Your options for a GUI, are pretty much gonna be ICE, openbox, or Flux.

Since you're already a little bit familiar w/ Ubuntu....

My suggestion would be either Fluxbuntu or Crunchbang Linux. Fluxbuntu is a bit dated, and hasn't been updated in a while, so no point going there. Crunchbang is reasonably current(based on 9.04).....

Personally, I'd figure out what ram is on the system, see what its maxed out at, get on ebay, and max it out. A system that old, I bet it won't cost $20 bucks w/ shipping. I'm assuming it will max out at 512mb-1gig, and that will make a lot of difference.

IGF

[IndyGunFreak]

and the second part of your question... its basically Firefox w/ some differences. The wiki will explain it better than I can. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiftfox

[GIockGuy24]

Somebody gave me a 1.3 Ghz Pentium 4 that had 128 MB of memory. It was RD Rombus RAM. That memory is expensive. If somebody is giving it away it's an okay deal. I had two 128 MB sticks of it from a Pentium III PC. I added that to the 128 MB that was in the P4. It runs pretty good now. The hard drive went as soon I loaded Linux so I had to install an old 40 GB IDE drive from a P III and it's still running. The video card that came with it was a Nvidia TNT card that works pretty well. The DVD-Rom drive went bad in the old PC but the CD writer still works.

I tried Fluxbuntu. First it doesn't work as well as some other Fluxbox versions of Linux but the other thing the Ubuntu kernel has some many modules added to it to make it "easy" to add software that needs the extra modules that it runs really slow no matter desktop is used. The Ubuntu kernel has modules for even odd non-popular software already added.

For an old PC I recommend not using an Ubuntu based version of Linux. Now the Fedora, Gentoo and Depian kernel are stripped down to the base kernel are about as fast you can get. Slackware Linux is one of the fastest and lightest I've used but like Gentoo Linux is pretty techie to modify and use. There are a couple of fast more user friendly versions of Linux based on Slackware. There is Vector Linux and Zenwalk Linux based on Slackware. You'll still have to go with lightweight desktop versions of these.

The Knoppix CD has about the best hardware detection and comes with a lot of usable software. The Knoppix CD recently went to the lightweight desktop to still work on older PC's but it is going to be slow until installed on the hard drive.

[IndyGunFreak]

Somebody gave me a 1.3 Ghz Pentium 4 that had 128 MB of memory. It was RD Rombus RAM. That memory is expensive. If somebody is giving it away it's an okay deal. I had two 128 MB sticks of it from a Pentium III PC. I added that to the 128 MB that was in the P4. It runs pretty good now. The hard drive went as soon I loaded Linux so I had to install an old 40 GB IDE drive from a P III and it's still running. The video card that came with it was a Nvidia TNT card that works pretty well. The DVD-Rom drive went bad in the old PC but the CD writer still works.

I tried Fluxbuntu. First it doesn't work as well as some other Fluxbox versions of Linux but the other thing the Ubuntu kernel has some many modules added to it to make it "easy" to add software that needs the extra modules that it runs really slow no matter desktop is used. The Ubuntu kernel has modules for even odd non-popular software already added.

For an old PC I recommend not using an Ubuntu based version of Linux. Now the Fedora, Gentoo and Depian kernel are stripped down to the base kernel are about as fast you can get. Slackware Linux is one of the fastest and lightest I've used but like Gentoo Linux is pretty techie to modify and use. There are a couple of fast more user friendly versions of Linux based on Slackware. There is Vector Linux and Zenwalk Linux based on Slackware. You'll still have to go with lightweight desktop versions of these.

The Knoppix CD has about the best hardware detection and comes with a lot of usable software. The Knoppix CD recently went to the lightweight desktop to still work on older PC's but it is going to be slow until installed on the hard drive.

I totally forgot about that Rombus ram nonsense, and you might be absolutely correct. I had an old P4 laptop however, that had regular SDRam, and I upped it from 256, to 768mb, and it actually ran a regular Ubuntu Gnome interface very well.. Very similar specs to what the OP has.

Fluxbuntu is actually pretty fast, but its based on a version of ubuntu that isn't even supported anymore. Crunchbang, you might be surprised how fast it is. I've ran it on some pretty low end machines, and it runs well.

Knoppix, another good choice. That live CD is going to be painfully slow though. Slackware would be great, if you can install it w/o going bald. :)

Another one I forgot to mention, was Elive. Based on Debian, it runs the Enlight desktop so it's very nice and light. Being based on Debian.. it will be at least someone familiar to the OP....

http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=elive

[GenX]

PC800 64-MB 128Bit 400/100 RIMM This stuff has to come in pairs, I believe. Ironically, the model is performance 1300. I actually have xp on it now, but it hasn't been fired up in a while.

I remember looking for ram after the machine was 3 years old. Even then, it was a horrible buy. Now it looks like its unavailable. I will either scrap it for the fans or put linux on it.

Woo hoo, my lucky day.

http://www.smmdirect.com/1GB_Memory_Upgrade_for_Gateway_P182404C51791.cfm

[GIockGuy24]

Try the Knoppix CD I posted. At first it will run very slowly. After you install it, it should run fairly decently on that PC. Other versions of Linux can be used if they aren't from live CD's. Format the drive with the Linux CD and make Linux partitions. Reboot the PC with the CD before installing the system. The live CD will run faster once there is a Linux swap partition on the hard drive and the install will go better once the CD recognizes the Linux partitions.

[GenX]

Try the Knoppix CD I posted. At first it will run very slowly. After you install it, it should run fairly decently on that PC. Other versions of Linux can be used if they aren't from live CD's. Format the drive with the Linux CD and make Linux partitions. Reboot the PC with the CD before installing the system. The live CD will run faster once there is a Linux swap partition on the hard drive and the install will go better once the CD recognizes the Linux partitions.

Downloading crunchbang right now.

Appreciate all the suggestions. I know you linux guys probably see the "which distro" question all the time.

[GIockGuy24]

Here is the lightest, most stripped down version of Debian live CD with LXDE. It's a 452 MB download.

http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current-live/i386/iso-cd/debian-live-502-i386-lxde-desktop.iso

[GIockGuy24]

Downloading crunchbang right now.

Appreciate all the suggestions. I know you linux guys probably see the "which distro" question all the time.

I haven't tried Crunchbang. I see it's Ubuntu based. Ubuntu is faster than it used to be but unless they've done something to the kernel for Crunchbang (and they may have) I usually avoid Ubuntu based systems for "lightweight" or "fast". It your PC meets the memory requirements then it should at least run.

[GenX]

Grabbing this one too.

Here is the lightest, most stripped down version of Debian live CD with LXDE. It's a 452 MB download.

http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current-live/i386/iso-cd/debian-live-502-i386-lxde-desktop.iso

[GIockGuy24]

Oh, just to let you know, In Debian, Firefox is called Iceweasel. It's the same as Firefox only without the sponsors. Click the bottom left corner of the desktop for the system menu and click Network and then click Iceweasel Web Browser.

[GIockGuy24]

Surprisingly Debian includes OpenOffice. Don't try this one with the live CD. It should be alright with a hard drive install and 128 MB of memory though.

[Linux3]

I suggest DSL, Damn Small Linux. It can run on almost anything and yet still has all the normal apps.
http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/

[GenX]

Can this actually be installed to the hd.

Here is the lightest, most stripped down version of Debian live CD with LXDE. It's a 452 MB download.

http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current-live/i386/iso-cd/debian-live-502-i386-lxde-desktop.iso

[IndyGunFreak]

PC800 64-MB 128Bit 400/100 RIMM This stuff has to come in pairs, I believe. Ironically, the model is performance 1300. I actually have xp on it now, but it hasn't been fired up in a while.

I remember looking for ram after the machine was 3 years old. Even then, it was a horrible buy. Now it looks like its unavailable. I will either scrap it for the fans or put linux on it.

Woo hoo, my lucky day.

http://www.smmdirect.com/1GB_Memory_Upgrade_for_Gateway_P182404C51791.cfm

That's a steal... lol. Is this a laptop or PC? and how many memory slots does it have?(I assume 4 since it has to be installed in pairs)...

http://cgi.ebay.com/Dell-Dimension-8100-8200-1GB-Rdram-Rambus-RAM-Memory-39_W0QQitemZ400068244744QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item5d25ecf508

[GenX]

PC 4slots

That's a steal... lol. Is this a laptop or PC? and how many memory slots does it have?(I assume 4 since it has to be installed in pairs)...

http://cgi.ebay.com/Dell-Dimension-8100-8200-1GB-Rdram-Rambus-RAM-Memory-39_W0QQitemZ400068244744QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item5d25ecf508

[GIockGuy24]

Can this actually be installed to the hd.

I haven't looked to see. It doesn't have have an easy click-on graphical installer. Command line might work. I'll check. The Knoppix live CD has a fairly easy installer.

[IndyGunFreak]

Can this actually be installed to the hd.

Why I don't know, but Debians Live CDs, are not installers. Never have been. You can use the Live CD to test the system, the you can download an Install CD(which is text based, but I'm assuming you won't be dual booting this machine, so you can just tell the installer to take over the whole drive)...

Here's the torrent for the lxde version of debian..

http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/5.0.3/i386/bt-cd/debian-503-i386-xfce+lxde-CD-1.iso.torrent

[GenX]

Why I don't know, but Debians Live CDs, are not installers. Never have been. You can use the Live CD to test the system, the you can download an Install CD(which is text based, but I'm assuming you won't be dual booting this machine, so you can just tell the installer to take over the whole drive)...

Here's the torrent for the lxde version of debian..

http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/5.0.3/i386/bt-cd/debian-503-i386-xfce+lxde-CD-1.iso.torrent

thanks

[GIockGuy24]

Here are some instructions but they install it as a live CD on hard drive so it won't be much faster and the install isn't easy.

http://wiki.debian.org/DebianLive/Howto/Custom_Install

I'll post a link for the install CD1 instead of the live CD.

[IndyGunFreak]

PC 4slots

Depending on how the system is setup now... (it obviously has at least 2 64mb RIMMs) you might be able to pick up 2, 256mb RIMMs, that would upgrade you to 640...

I'd go for the 1gig upgrade though... :) That stuff is all over ebay...

http://cgi.ebay.com/Lot-of-4-x-256MB-800-16-RAMBUS-Memory-1GB_W0QQitemZ220515825020QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3357c4757c

[GIockGuy24]

This installer CD gives you a choice of LXDE or XFCE desktops. LXDE is lighter and faster and on Debian they "look" about the same. 646 MB download.

http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/release/5.0.3/i386/iso-cd/debian-503-i386-xfce+lxde-CD-1.iso

[GenX]

I'm still dl knoppix.

My 3mb connection has slowed to a crawl. I've hit my dl wall, then they throttle it back after 12 noon.

[IndyGunFreak]

I'm still dl knoppix.

My 3mb connection has slowed to a crawl. I've hit my dl wall, then they throttle it back after 12 noon.

Sounds like "Commie-Cast" :)

IGF

[GenX]

Sounds like "Commie-Cast" :)

IGF

cableone

[GIockGuy24]

I'm still dl knoppix. I get an error on the link^

My 3mb connection has slowed to a crawl. I've hit my dl wall, then they throttle it back after 12 noon.

The link should be good. Well try Knoppix and if it runs on your PC, after trying Firefox close it as it takes a bit of memory. Then try the installer but don't run OpenOffice and make sure Firefox is closed. Once it installed in a full install it should run decently on that PC. Even just adding Linux partitions and rebooting will help the live CD run better.

[GenX]

Said 302 error on two attempts. It works now. Crunchbang hangs badly.
The link should be good. Well try Knoppix and if it runs on your PC, after trying Firefox close it as it takes a bit of memory. Then try the installer but don't run OpenOffice and make sure Firefox is closed. Once it installed in a full install it should run decently on that PC. Even just adding Linux partitions and rebooting will help the live CD run better.

[IndyGunFreak]

Said 302 error on two attempts. It works now. Crunchbang hangs badly.

When it boots, or on the download?

[GenX]

When it boots, or on the download?

The link. Its good now, only 1:09:39 to go :rofl:

[IndyGunFreak]

The link. Its good now, only 1:09:39 to go :rofl:

Yeah. trying new versions of Linux can be crappy if you've got a service that throttles you.. :) I always use torrents, and they seem to work fine(not that that will help you if you're being throttled).

IGF

[GenX]

Yeah. trying new versions of Linux can be crappy if you've got a service that throttles you.. :) I always use torrents, and they seem to work fine.

IGF

Not quite versed in torrents on ubuntu, yet. Transmission isn't working for me and opera quit working for torrents. Getting about 135 KB/s on the debian dl right now.

[GIockGuy24]

A storm knocked down some trees and phone lines here. After they fixed them my internet connection has been slower than it was before the storm. I wonder if I complain if they'll do anything. My speed is stated as "up to" so I doubt I'll get much help from them.

[IndyGunFreak]

Not quite versed in torrents on ubuntu, yet. Transmission isn't working for me and opera quit working for torrents. Getting about 135 KB/s on the debian dl right now.

Torrents are the same under Ubuntu as they are under Windows... Transmission is usually pretty solid. I use it quite a bit.

Another popular option for Linux users, is uTorrent apparently runs very well under Wine. I personally prefer linux apps, but I know there's a lot of people that run uTorrent under Wine.

[GenX]

Torrents are the same under Ubuntu as they are under Windows... Transmission is usually pretty solid. I use it quite a bit.

Another popular option for Linux users, is uTorrent apparently runs very well under Wine. I personally prefer linux apps, but I know there's a lot of people that run uTorrent under Wine.

Transmission just sits idle when I add a torrent to it. Stays at 0%, so I must need to open a port or something.

[IndyGunFreak]

Transmission just sits idle when I add a torrent to it. Stays at 0%, so I must need to open a port or something.

No, I just checked it.. for some reason there's no seeds for it, which is very unusual.

IGF

[GenX]

Installed debian and it's not connecting to the internet. Think because it didn't configure during installation (wasn't connected). Is this easy to correct? Haven't found anything that I really understand.

[GIockGuy24]

Yes, it's not too difficult to configure. If you are using a router it may be automatic and only require a restart. The newer versions of Linux are starting to quit that as a security feature though, if you don't use a router I forget all of the instructions required. You'll need to open a terminal and type "sudo netconfig" w/o quotes, and press enter. I think you'll get a menu to configure available networks. Debian has a lot of docs online with all of the instructions. Did you reboot yet?

[GenX]

During installation, I selected to configure manually because it wasn't connected. Have restarted many times

[GIockGuy24]

Is the number of connections limited in your router settings? Are you wired to the router? Wireless?

[GIockGuy24]

During installation, I selected to configure manually because it wasn't connected. Have restarted many times

Ok if you are the root user or a user you can open a terminal. It's a command line box you can bring up from the menu. You can try first typing "netconfig" (or it may be networkconfig) if you are root. If you are not the root user, it should ask for root password.

[GenX]

No, I put the linux machine in place of a wired working secondary machine.

When using sudo netconfig, its saying I'm not in the sudoers file

[GIockGuy24]

If that fails, it might be just as fast for you to reinstall and have in auto configure the network.

[IndyGunFreak]

Installed debian and it's not connecting to the internet. Think because it didn't configure during installation (wasn't connected). Is this easy to correct? Haven't found anything that I really understand.

Well, first, how are you trying to hook up to the net?

IGF

[GIockGuy24]

No, I put the linux machine in place of a wired working secondary machine.

When using sudo netconfig, its saying I'm not in the sudoers file

Okay sounds like you are root user. Just type "netconfig".

[GIockGuy24]

Ah, that may not be the proper command for Debian.

[GenX]

Through router/cable modem. It was a working connection before putting this machine on.

Well, first, how are you trying to hook up to the net?

IGF

/etc/network/interfaces command is not valid either

[IndyGunFreak]

Through router/cable modem. It was a working connection before putting this machine on.

Did the connection work on the Live CD, or did you try it?

IGF

[GIockGuy24]

Try the command "ifconfig"

[GIockGuy24]

Some info here.

http://wiki.debian.org/NetworkConfiguration

[GIockGuy24]

http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-reference/ch05.en.html#_the_basic_network_configuration_with_ifupdown

Type command "ifup eth0" that's a zero after the h.

[GenX]

I just installed it, Indy.

So I put the cd in and selected configure network and its not detecting my ethernet card. That makes sense lol

[IndyGunFreak]

The Debian installers, typically download quite a bit from the internet when Installing.. that makes me wonder what all you might be *missing* since you weren't connected to the internet during install(ie, netconfig tools, etc.)... IF, ;), paying attention you should have seen a notice about that... You should have everything you need though.. I've just never had to manually setup a connection, it always auto-detects during install...

IGF

[GIockGuy24]

It wasn't a network install. When he installed he chose the option to "configure network manually". If the live CD connects automatically for him he just reinstall and choose auto configure.

[GenX]

I was paying attention. Selected to do it manually because I wasn't connected. I thought, hmm, how hard could it be. No problem, I'll figure it out if I have to reinstall. When it says it's not detecting the ethernet card, how exactly would that have been dealt with if it was connected?
The Debian installers, typically download quite a bit from the internet when Installing.. that makes me wonder what all you might be *missing* since you weren't connected to the internet during install(ie, netconfig tools, etc.)... IF, ;), paying attention you should have seen a notice about that... You should have everything you need though.. I've just never had to manually setup a connection, it always auto-detects during install...

IGF

[GIockGuy24]

Oh I forgot it's an install CD not a live CD. You can test the network with the live CD but you can just take the installer CD and reinstall and choose auto configure.

[IndyGunFreak]

I was paying attention. Selected to do it manually because I wasn't connected. I thought, hmm, how hard could it be. No problem, I'll figure it out if I have to reinstall. When it says it's not detecting the ethernet card, how exactly would that have been dealt with if it was connected?

It'll usually autoconnect, if for some reason it doesn't, then there's a problem in how its detecting the device...

IGF

[GenX]

Doing that now.

Oh I forgot it's an install CD not a live CD. You can test the network with the live CD but you can just take the installer CD and reinstall and choose auto configure.

[IndyGunFreak]

Doing that now.

That will be easiest.. just curious, despite not having internet, how did it run on a system as limited as what you put it on? I know you couldn't really run it through the ringer, but curious

IGF

[GIockGuy24]

I think with LXDE it should run fairly decently. Not too slow. It should be faster than choosing XFCE which isn't super heavy itself. Oh I'm on a 733 Mhz Pentium III right now and I used my newer laptop to boot the live CD.

Debian runs faster than Ubuntu for me as does Fedora but both of them run a basic kernel compared to Ubuntu.

[IndyGunFreak]

I think with LXDE it should run fairly decently. Not too slow. It should be faster than choosing XFCE which isn't super heavy itself. Oh I'm on a 733 Mhz Pentium III right now and I used my newer laptop to boot the live CD.

Xfce, really used to be awesome... but it has grown to be just as bloated as Gnome and KDE. Growing pains I guess...

I've got very litle experience w/ LXDE, but I like openbox. Enlight is also pretty good.

IGF

[GenX]

It was a linux day for me. Tried crunchbang, knoppix, ubuntu(had to try), and debian. Knoppix and debian were the quickest and the other two would hang (no surprise). I installed xfce instead of lxde, even though GIockGuy24 said lxde was lighter. But it seems to run ok, but web might be a different story. I'll know more later. Sorry, not a great reviewer.

That will be easiest.. just curious, despite not having internet, how did it run on a system as limited as what you put it on? I know you couldn't really run it through the ringer, but curious

IGF

[GIockGuy24]

Xfce, really used to be awesome... but it has grown to be just as bloated as Gnome and KDE. Growing pains I guess...

I've got very litle experience w/ LXDE, but I like openbox. Enlight is also pretty good.

IGF

Yeah, also I think in Ubuntu there are Gnome libraries and maybe extensions added. I tried the Debian Xfce live CD before the LXDE live CD and it was still very fast on my PC. It is very stripped down and Knoppix now with LXDE takes longer to load as it has a lot more apps with it. I did run a few live DVD's last night. Ulitimate and Sabayon. Ulitimate is Ubuntu based and downloads the 3-d drivers. Sabayon includes the 3-d drivers.

[GIockGuy24]

Oh I almost forgot the fastest Linux I've used is Absolute Linux. It's not a live Cd but installed it is super fast. I haven't tried it in a while.

[GIockGuy24]

It was a linux day for me. Tried crunchbang, knoppix, ubuntu(had to try), and debian. Knoppix and debian were the quickest and the other two would hang (no surprise). I installed xfce instead of lxde, even though GIockGuy24 said lxde was lighter. But it seems to run ok, but web might be a different story. I'll know more later. Sorry, not a great reviewer.

I think Knoppix and Debian based systems will be faster than Ubuntu based systems. I have 10 year old PC's and I can tell the difference.

[IndyGunFreak]

It was a linux day for me. Tried crunchbang, knoppix, ubuntu(had to try), and debian. Knoppix and debian were the quickest and the other two would hang (no surprise). I installed xfce instead of lxde, even though GIockGuy24 said lxde was lighter. But it seems to run ok, but web might be a different story. I'll know more later. Sorry, not a great reviewer.

Well, LXDE is lighter.. XFCE is ok, but its probably gonna be a bit on the slow side with that little RAM... but its more or less Gnome nowdays(they even share many of the underlying libraries they need)

[GIockGuy24]

After installing the system you can add desktops and switch between them or choose one and uninstall the others. So you can install with Xfce and later download LXDE and run either one. My favorite desktop is called IceWM. It's looks a bit like KDE and is lightweight almost like FluxBox but can use KDE extensions. With 128 MB of memory do not try KDE or Gnome as they require much more memory. There are faster, lighter browsers than Firefox. There are faster light office suites than OpenOffice but they aren't as functional. The desktop is just something to look at. I run as light a one as I can that still does everything I want it to do.

[IndyGunFreak]

After installing the system you can add desktops and switch between them or choose one and uninstall the others. So you can install with Xfce and later download LXDE and run either one. My favorite desktop is called IceWM. It's looks a bit like KDE and is lightweight almost like FluxBox but can use KDE extensions. With 128 MB of memory do not try KDE or Gnome as they require much more memory. There are faster, lighter browsers than Firefox. There are faster light office suites than OpenOffice but they aren't as functional. The desktop is just something to look at. I run as light a one as I can that still does everything I want it to do.

Yeah, only reason I don't like installing other GUI's on my system.. is because when I install them, it installs all of their apps as well, then when I remove the GUI, all those apps are still there, and i gotta go through and remove them.

Its not a big deal though, for just something to try, I'm at the point now, I know what I like, and what I want..

IGF

[GenX]

After installing the system you can add desktops and switch between them or choose one and uninstall the others. So you can install with Xfce and later download LXDE and run either one. My favorite desktop is called IceWM. It's looks a bit like KDE and is lightweight almost like FluxBox but can use KDE extensions. With 128 MB of memory do not try KDE or Gnome as they require much more memory. There are faster, lighter browsers than Firefox. There are faster light office suites than OpenOffice but they aren't as functional. The desktop is just something to look at. I run as light a one as I can that still does everything I want it to do.

If the ethernet card isn't recognized this time, I'll put knoppix back on there. I read that knoppix is pretty good at detecting hardware and when it was installed, it showed a network but it showed as being disconnected.

[GIockGuy24]

Have the router connected to the PC when you boot the CD. I think you do and it may not matter but it should show if it's connected.

[GIockGuy24]

With Linux installed on the hard drive with a Linux swap partition the live CD's should run faster than with Windows on the hard drive.

[GenX]

That did it. Posting from it now and while it's not lightning fast, it works.

[GIockGuy24]

Is it installed or live cd? It's Knoppix, right?

[Centinul1911]

Happy Thanksgiving! I have a 10 year old p4 machine, 1.3 ghz, 128mb ram and 20gb hd. Which newb friendly distro for strictly web browsing with opera and firefox? Also, have any of you used swiftfox?

Puppy Linux. You need more ram in that machine for any distro though. Many will run on it but your performance will suffer.
Windows is very hard drive intensive. Watch the hard drive light on most any windows machine. You will see the hard drive light flickering like a bat out of h e l l.

With Linux you will see much less hard drive action but it will run slower because Linux uses Ram more. 128 megs will run most of the smaller distros, but your performance will not be what you might expect. Bump it up to at least 512megs.

Good luck.

[GenX]

Is it installed or live cd? It's Knoppix, right?

debian xfce and it's installed.

[GIockGuy24]

An LXDE based systen requires 64 MB of memory, mostly when using Firefox. OpenOffice requires 128 MB. There are different methods to install Knoppix. Some run faster than others. One installs it like a live CD to the hard drive and it is slow and uses up the memory. Another does full normal hard drive install. Recommended Linux swap partition of 500 MB. The very fastest, lightest I've seen on old PC's Absolute Linux which is based on Slackware and uses IceWM.

[GenX]

Puppy Linux. You need more ram in that machine for any distro though. Many will run on it but your performance will suffer.
Windows is very hard drive intensive. Watch the hard drive light on most any windows machine. You will see the hard drive light flickering like a bat out of h e l l.

With Linux you will see much less hard drive action but it will run slower because Linux uses Ram more. 128 megs will run most of the smaller distros, but your performance will not be what you might expect. Bump it up to at least 512megs.

Good luck.
This is just to get some experience. I'm not buying ram for this pos, because there's no stopping point. The hdd is crap and the overall package is laughable. 1.3ghz with 128mb ram is silly. I'm having fun, thats all that really matters. Just as long as you guys don't get tired of me.:cool:

[GIockGuy24]

The third method of installing Knoppix is to have it all load in the memory. This is extremely fast but requires a lot of memory.

I forgot what the default Knoppix install method is but it should be faster than the live CD.

[GenX]

An LXDE based systen requires 64 MB of memory, mostly when using Firefox. OpenOffice requires 128 MB. There are different methods to install Knoppix. Some run faster than others. One installs it like a live CD to the hard drive and it is slow and uses up the memory. Another does full normal hard drive install. Recommended Linux swap partition of 500 MB. The very fastest, lightest I've seen on old PC's Absolute Linux which is based on Slackware and uses IceWM.
Thinking about installing knoppix again. lol This is as bad as blackberry firmwares.

[GIockGuy24]

Knoppix is great to start because it includes a lot of software to start. You can add just about any software to any of them though. Just mind the fact how large they are. The 3-d video programs will require 3-d drivers installed. Google Earth is 3-d but it's slow too, not a lot of fun on old PC.

[GIockGuy24]

Thinking about installing knoppix again. lol This is as bad as blackberry firmwares.

:) Hey if you get some download time, try the Absolute Linux CD and make sure the install uses a lightweight desktop, I think IceWM is the default which is super light. You'll see how fast Linux can run on an old PC. It has to be installed to the hard disk, not a live CD.

[GenX]

:) Hey if you get some download time, try the Absolute Linux CD and make sure the install uses a lightweight desktop, I think IceWM is the default which is super light. You'll see how fast Linux can run on an old PC. It has to be installed to the hard disk, not a live CD.

I will. Thanks again for all the tips. I'm out

[Centinul1911]

This is just to get some experience. I'm not buying ram for this pos, because there's no stopping point. The hdd is crap and the overall package is laughable. 1.3ghz with 128mb ram is silly. I'm having fun, thats all that really matters. Just as long as you guys don't get tired of me.:cool:

Do you have any experience with linux?
If not, go with one of the other distros. Puppy is fairly easy but setting up the internet can be a little aggravating if you have never done it in Puppy.
Many of the other small distros do it for you.

Have fun. Linus is a great OS. Running Mint on this lap top. Run it on my Net Book and when Mint KDE release comes out I hope to run it on my 17 inch unit.
I run Linux on all my towers and ONLY use windows on one LT that powers my Majic Jack Phone system.
Which by the way for 20.00 a year is a great service.

[IndyGunFreak]

Thinking about installing knoppix again. lol This is as bad as blackberry firmwares.

Knoppix is pretty good...

Whats wrong w/ Debian, is it not picking up your net connection after the reinstall?

[IndyGunFreak]

Do you have any experience with linux?
If not, go with one of the other distros. Puppy is fairly easy but setting up the internet can be a little aggravating if you have never done it in Puppy.
Many of the other small distros do it for you.

Have fun. Linus is a great OS. Running Mint on this lap top. Run it on my Net Book and when Mint KDE release comes out I hope to run it on my 17 inch unit.
I run Linux on all my towers and ONLY use windows on one LT that powers my Majic Jack Phone system.
Which by the way for 20.00 a year is a great service.

All good info, but he's running on a machine w/ very limited resources... No way that thing could run KDE. Already mentioned why Puppy would not be a very good idea..

IGF

[GenX]

Knoppix is pretty good...

Whats wrong w/ Debian, is it not picking up your net connection after the reinstall?

Nothing, just needs to be a little lighter. Yes, it did detect my card after connecting it. Installing knoppix now:faint: My next build will be linux only.

Was going to dl absolute linux, but I'm out of cd-r's. Can I put it on a sd flash card? Have an 8gb in my phone.

[IndyGunFreak]

Nothing, just needs to be a little lighter. Yes, it did detect my card after connecting it. Installing knoppix now:faint: My next build will be linux only.

Was going to dl absolute linux, but I'm out of cd-r's. Can I put it on a sd flash card? Have an 8gb in my phone.

Hmm, an SD card? I think you can, but I'm not sure.. is a machine that old capable of booting an SD card?

Can the machine boot a USB device, and if so, do you have a 1-2gig flash drive?

IGF

[GenX]

Me thinks the hdd is the weak link. When it starts choking, it makes quite a racket. It's a 5400 rpm seagate. Here at work, we have an ibm thinkpad a30. P3 1ghz 128mb ram running win 2k sp4 and its still running like a champ with an old version of ie

[Goodspeed(TPF)]

Puppy
DSL
Tiny

[void *]

Yeah, its gonna be slow almost no matter what you put on there... You're gonna have to put something on there that is very low on resources. Your options for a GUI, are pretty much gonna be ICE, openbox, or Flux.

Until it decided to not POST one day in 2005 and I decided to not bother looking for parts to fix it, I had a 486 that I'd bought in 1994 running linux and using WindowMaker as the wm - and it had less RAM than the 128M we're talking about here.

I have used wmaker for a long time, pretty much the first thing I do building a box is slap wmaker on and make it the default wm - it's acceptably nice looking and not bloated. But that's me, YMMV.

GenX - which distro is imho not as important for a lightweight box as just going in and yanking out any junk you don't need. For most distros you can probably just drop on a bare-bones system and start adding from there. (For instance, when I'd install debian, I'd pick the bare bones system that doesn't even have X on, just the system utilities and shell, and start adding what I needed from there). Just stay away from Gentoo, unless you a) know what you're doing and b) you have a box that can compile things very, very quickly. (I ran a Gentoo system for a while, I liked it, but it's not the distro someone new with a slower box needs, and I wasn't actually updating enough to keep the compilation stuff sane, so I'd end up having to wait a week for everything to compile when I actually did update. This isn't a knock on Gentoo, because it's not the distro's fault I decided I didn't want to check updates and build every day).

[IndyGunFreak]

Until it decided to not POST one day in 2005 and I decided to not bother looking for parts to fix it, I had a 486 that I'd bought in 1994 running linux and using WindowMaker as the wm - and it had less RAM than the 128M we're talking about here.

I have used wmaker for a long time, pretty much the first thing I do building a box is slap wmaker on and make it the default wm - it's acceptably nice looking and not bloated. But that's me, YMMV.

GenX - which distro is imho not as important for a lightweight box as just going in and yanking out any junk you don't need. For most distros you can probably just drop on a bare-bones system and start adding from there. (For instance, when I'd install debian, I'd pick the bare bones system that doesn't even have X on, just the system utilities and shell, and start adding what I needed from there). Just stay away from Gentoo, unless you a) know what you're doing and b) you have a box that can compile things very, very quickly. (I ran a Gentoo system for a while, I liked it, but it's not the distro someone new with a slower box needs, and I wasn't actually updating enough to keep the compilation stuff sane, so I'd end up having to wait a week for everything to compile when I actually did update. This isn't a knock on Gentoo, because it's not the distro's fault I decided I didn't want to check updates and build every day).

I agree, but in his first post, he asked for something simple and light to use for surfing, so I assumed(maybe incorrectly) that he was looking for something to work "out of the box"....

If your hard drive is making funny noises, its a good chance it is failing, and thus why you're having probs. Could still be a fun box to rebuild into something useful though... get that ram on Ebay, TigerDirect has 250gig IDE drives for $69 dollars... and you've got a new system.

IGF

[GenX]

Did an automated install of absolute 13.0.4. It asked for a change of password for root during installation, a host and domain name. Didn't ask for a user name at all, so now no way to log in for the first time. What am I missing? I'm sure the domain name that I used is incorrect. I don't even know what the host and domain name is for:embarassed:

[GIockGuy24]

Did an automated install of absolute 13.0.4. It asked for a change of password for root during installation, a host and domain name. Didn't ask for a user name at all, so now no way to log in for the first time. What am I missing? I'm sure the domain name that I used is incorrect. I don't even know what the host and domain name is for:embarassed:

You can log on as "root" and then use that, or add a user. I forgot it's not as easy to setup as some others. It's a very lightweight fast version of Slackware. Slackware is based on the original Linux and has a few different commands. You should be able to test the system as the "root" user.

At the log in screen type "root" and press "Enter" then type the password and press Enter.

[GIockGuy24]

Absolute Linux links.

http://www.absolutelinux.org/installing/index.shtml

http://www.absolutelinux.org/getting_started/index.html

Getting started

[GenX]

You can log on as "root" and then use that, or add a user. I forgot it's not as easy to setup as some others. It's a very lightweight fast version of Slackware. Slackware is based on the original Linux and has a few different commands. You should be able to test the system as the "root" user.

At the log in screen type "root" and press "Enter" then type the password and press Enter.
Thanks, that did it. I could hear IGF yelling all the way from Illinois, "You forgot your username and password!" Then I realized nothing was setup.

[IndyGunFreak]

Thanks, that did it. I could hear IGF yelling all the way from Illinois, "You forgot your username and password!" Then I realized nothing was setup.

:rofl::rofl:

FWIW though, I would suggest setting up a user account, and not running everything as Root.

IGF

[GenX]

:rofl::rofl:

FWIW though, I would suggest setting up a user account, and not running everything as Root.

IGF

Yep, that was first thing, then changed default web to midori and changed to text based login. I think I need to lighten this install a little more, but so far I like it.

[IndyGunFreak]

Yep, that was first thing, then changed default web to midori and changed to text based login. I think I need to lighten this install a little more, but so far I like it.

I've never really messed w/ Slackware much... maybe I'll put it in Virtualbox and give it a run...

IGF

[Linux3]

I've never really messed w/ Slackware much... maybe I'll put it in Virtualbox and give it a run...
IGF
I can lend you Slackware 3.0.
Comes with the 1.2.13 kernel, XFree86 3.1.2-D (Xwindows)

I bought the 4 CD set in 1996.
Also has Red Hat 3.0.3 if you are interested.

[GenX]

For a novice user, I'm starting to get a collection of install and live cds.

[IndyGunFreak]

I can lend you Slackware 3.0.
Comes with the 1.2.13 kernel, XFree86 3.1.2-D (Xwindows)

I bought the 4 CD set in 1996.
Also has Red Hat 3.0.3 if you are interested.

Naa, its cool, I've got absolute installing in virtualbox now...

Thanks for the offer though.

IGF