What is your fave for "small" or "lite" distro?

[gigi1234]

Hey everyone!

I am a die-hard Ubuntu fan, but I have an old laptop (Pentium I, 40 MB RAM, 1.4 GB HD) that I want to play around with using one of the "lite" distributions.

I would really love to have some kind of graphical GUI and some kind of web browser.

I can get a zip drive to mount on the thing and it has an PCMCIA ethernet card. But I cannot boot from a cd, only a floppy.

I have tried DSL but was wondering what else is out there? I like Debian-based systems best but would be up for anything.

So, how about it, anyone have a favorite?

[Jagot]

Puppy Linux is very good.

Have you tried a more lightweight DE/WM with Ubuntu though:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Fluxbox
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/LowMemorySystems

[kerry_s]

I would normaly use DSL, but these days i've taken to building my own up from the dapper-server install. It's really easy, i get exactly what i want. Right now i'm trying out a fluxbox build up like the DSL-N version but with my own look. Here's a pic from the another thread i just posted->
http://www.ubuntuforums.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=14969&d=1156722863

[hizaguchi]

Arch Linux ftp install, with Openbox?

[gigi1234]

Arch looks interesting, but will it run on a Pentium I? Their site says only P2 and greater.

[RAV TUX]

Hey everyone!

I am a die-hard Ubuntu fan, but I have an old laptop (Pentium I, 40 MB RAM, 1.4 GB HD) that I want to play around with using one of the "lite" distributions.

I would really love to have some kind of graphical GUI and some kind of web browser.

I can get a zip drive to mount on the thing and it has an PCMCIA ethernet card. But I cannot boot from a cd, only a floppy.

I have tried DSL but was wondering what else is out there? I like Debian-based systems best but would be up for anything.

So, how about it, anyone have a favorite?

4 suggestions:

Puppy Linux
dyne:bolic
DeadCD
Feather Linux

out of the 4 I would highly suggest you start with dyne:bolic

If this is too heavy give Puppy a try, either Puppy-Seamonkey or Puppy-Opera are good

also give Feather Linux a try...

If the top three are too big Give the DeadCD a try,....

[Rumor]

You might want to give Beatrix a look. It is very lightweight.

http://www.watsky.net/

Pros: LiveCD, Debian based
Cons: I don't think it is still in development

[sabredog]

You might want to give Beatrix a look. It is very lightweight.

http://www.watsky.net/

Pros: LiveCD, Debian based
Cons: I don't think it is still in development

I tried Beatrix on a P-166MMX with 96Mb RAM and it was very sluggish, almost unuseable.

It looks great though for a simple distro for those just wanting to email/browse and write a few letters and might be the ticket for my parents in law.

[K.Mandla]

Ah ... I think I might skip Beatrix after reading this post.

http://www.watsky.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=readme;action=display;num=111601790 9

Sorry, but this community is what makes Ubuntu work for me. Maybe he's justified in that, maybe not. I don't know; it's not possible for me to know. But I'm not interested now.

[gigi1234]

Ah ... I think I might skip Beatrix after reading this post.

http://www.watsky.net/cgi-bin/yabb/Y...m=111601790 9

Sorry, but this community is what makes Ubuntu work for me. Maybe he's justified in that, maybe not. I don't know; it's not possible for me to know. But I'm not interested now.

Wow, that is pretty scary!

One of the things I love about Ubuntu: the people using the forums are, for the most part, accepting of the foibles of newbies. I mean, you guys play nice.

Does anyone have experience running any of the afore-mentioned distros with 40MB RAM or less??? Because that is what I am stuck with.

[justin whitaker]

Puppy...if Ubuntu weren't so good, it would be Puppy Linux.

[Rumor]

One more you might want to look at is DeLi linux: http://www.delilinux.de/


From their website:

DeLi Linux stands for "Desktop Light" Linux. It is a Linux Distribution for old computers, from 486 to Pentium MMX 166 or so. It's focused on desktop usage. It includes email clients, graphical web browser, an office package with word processor and spreadsheet, and so on. A full install, including XFree and development tools, needs not more than 250 MB of harddisk space.

The trick is, that DeLi Linux uses only "lightweight" alternative software. If you are looking for the newest KDE, GNOME or Mozilla, DeLi Linux will not make you happy. The test computer is a 486 laptop with 16 MB RAM, and all apps which comes with DeLi Linux are running smoothly.

"Why the heck make a Linux for such old crap ?" you may ask. There are still many computers around with the configuration mentioned above, it would be a shame to waste them. Many people simply cannot buy a 2 Ghz machine for 1000 $ or more, but they can buy a Pentium I 133 for 50 $ from ebay. Many people are still happy with the computer they bought five years ago. Especially in the so-called third world, new hardware is not affordable. Well, there's still Windows95 or Windows 3.1, which will run on these machines, too. But these versions are not supported by MS anymore, they are no longer in production, and finally, you will not get any software for this old Windows version

[RAV TUX]

don't forget about devil linux

[gigi1234]

Thanks, will check those last two out.

I like Puppy too but can't figure out how to boot w/out cd.

[deanlinkous]

debian! nothing more lite or providing more choice...

[Old Pink]

Puppy Linux. :)

http://www.puppylinux.org/

[%hMa@?b<C]

I like puppy linux and DSL DSL is my favorite one though

[gigi1234]

I could never get Puppy to install. And I like DSL, but the GUI would not behave (display colors were reversed). Plus, these seem like distros that are meant to run as RAM and not be installed to the hard drive.


debian! nothing more lite or providing more choice...

In the end this reply was right-on!

I managed to install Debian-Sarge via the trio of boot, root, and net driver floppies. My network was detected and I did the installation via the network. After the main installation I downloaded the x-windows-system and, after a bit of fussing with XF86Config, I had a perfectly nice GUI.

So on a decrepit old machine with only 40 MB RAM I am running a system that performs very well.

What is great about Debian is that you can install just a base system with very little bloat and add what you wish later. I'll admit that for brand-new newbies this distro is probably going to be a bit frustrating though.

So I would end up by saying that if you love Ubuntu but have very low resources and want an OS that is installed to the hard drive (not run from RAM, which is what Puppy and DSL excel at) give Debian a try. It really did the trick for me.

Thanks again to everyone who responded for their great suggestions!

[DJiNN]

I would normaly use DSL, but these days i've taken to building my own up from the dapper-server install. It's really easy, i get exactly what i want. Right now i'm trying out a fluxbox build up like the DSL-N version but with my own look. Here's a pic from the another thread i just posted->


That's a pretty kool looking desktop. :) How did you get Flux to be that transparent? (What style are you using?) I've been looking for some decent styles but have only found a few that are OK out of the hundreds that i have looked at. :)

I'm currenly running Flux on both Ubuntu & Zenwalk.... runs superbly on both machines, and i've still got a lot to learn. :)

Thanks for some wonderful posts on Fluxbox..... keep it up.