What would you install on these machines?

[Pogeymanz]

I recently bought RAM for three computers (YAY ebay!) and would like to know what you would install on them. I have listed how much RAM they WILL have once I upgrade them.


1:
PII @ 400Mhz
192MB RAM
(Currently running DSL w/64MB RAM)

2:
AMD-K6-2 @ 350Mhz
160MB RAM
4GB HDD
(Currently running Win98 w/32MB RAM. I just acquired this one from someone's garage!)

3:
PIII @ 1Ghz
384MB RAM
(Currently running Fluxbuntu w/128MB RAM)



I only included the HDD on one of them, because it's way smaller than the rest.

I'm most interested in opinions on #2. That processor is so slow! I've heard that those AMD's are even slower than Pentiums rated at the same speed. Yikes!

I'll probably put Xubuntu on #3, and maybe Fluxbuntu on #1.

[smartboyathome]

1. Ubuntu Minimal with e17 on top. It is lighter than XFCE from what I have seen and more eye candy than XFCE.

2. Probably Puppy Linux. It is very light and easily configurable.

3. I would say Xubuntu would probably run great on this. It has plenty of speed for it.

[Pogeymanz]

Is e17 easy to get used to and configure? I downloaded and installed it on my main machine, but was intimidated by it and went back to XFCE4.

For that second machine, whatever I install, should I turn down the swapiness, considering how slow the CPU is?

For #2 I was also thinking Puppy or DSL, mostly because of the 4Gig limit. Are there any other distros that are small enough for that?

[smartboyathome]

How did you install e17? I found it easier to get used to than XFCE with a few GNOME tools installed to get things done. I tried the repo version, but it wasn't nearly as good in my opinion as the version installed from this guide (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=546746). It may seem weird at first, but it really won't seem that weird after you find where everything is, and may actually seem better organized than XFCE (that is how it felt to me).

Also, I wouldn't konw about swappiness. Another distro to look into is antiX, though I haven't tried it.

[Pogeymanz]

Ah. Well I installed the Ubuntu repo version. I will give it another shot one day.

[Bungo Pony]

For #1, it would be TinyMe

For #2, use it for parts

For #3, Use the RAM from #2. Then install Ubuntu.

I've got a PIII 833MHz with 1G RAM happily running Feisty.

[mivo]

I'd use DSL or Puppy for the first two machines, and possibly Xubuntu or, as recommended, one of the E17 distros for the third box. But the question is really: What are the computers intended for? Any specific task that you have in mind for them?

[Pogeymanz]

No specific task really. I just want to show friends and family that old computers deserve some love too.

[kerry_s]

debian custom install with just what you want to use.

my systems 450mhz 256ram and works great, so any 1 of the 3 will work but the 1ghz would be best, then use DSL on the other 2.

DSL-> http://damnsmalllinux.org/

debian net install-> http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/4.0_r2/i386/iso-cd/debian-40r2-i386-businesscard.iso

xfce4, if you just want a full install from cd-> http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/4.0_r2/i386/iso-cd/debian-40r2-i386-xfce-CD-1.iso

[Jay Jay]

I'm most interested in opinions on #2. That processor is so slow! I've heard that those AMD's are even slower than Pentiums rated at the same speed. Yikes!

I'd go with DSL for machine #2, I'm certain there's still life in that old dog: I use a PII 233 box with Win2K and it runs very quickly, so your AMD ought to zip along with DSL!

[darrelljon]

Puppy Linux.

[chris4585]

1: damn small linux or PCFluxboxOS
PII @ 400Mhz
192MB RAM

2: ubuntu minimal, command line system!
AMD-K6-2 @ 350Mhz
160MB RAM
4GB HDD

3: mint fluxbox
PIII @ 1Ghz
384MB RAM