Need help choosing a stable, fast(ish) Distro...

[sidzen]

All above are sound suggestions and observations.

It sounds like performance is a priority. Same with me. If so, 64-bit is not necessary. Neither is a DE any 'heavier' than LXDE. This narrows it down a bit (looking for a distro with just a WM or lxde . . . hmmm).

You may also want to look into antiX

http://antix.mepis.org/index.php?title=Main_Page

However, like CrunchBang 'Statler,' it is a Debian distro and Debian is in transition, waiting for Wheezy to go 'stable,' and sid-based distros are for adventuresome hoppers, so . . .

Slackware-based distros come to mind. But Salix-lxde is still at 13.37, leaving but ones like Slackel-openbox

which is pretty impressive, using Slackware, Salix and its own repos. Openbox WM is very responsive. A little Greek pops up in the menu at right-click occassionally, but international symbols and its place on the menu window makes selection of no real concern, if a bit disconcerting at first. It is available at Sourceforge here.

Once again, snowpine and I are of like mind. 12.04.1 fom Italy with e17 is unofficial but very well done is Salent OS.

[BigTobster]

Thanks for responses.

Loving CrunchBang although this is perhaps unnecessarily scary? It's based on the super-stable Debian so not sure how far CrunchBang can go wrong???

CrunchBang Linux is not recommended for anyone needing a stable system or anyone who is not comfortable running into occasional, even frequent breakage. CrunchBang Linux could possibly make your computer go CRUNCH! BANG! Therefore CrunchBang Linux comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by applicable law.

This is from the CrunchBang Wiki

Bodhi looks great. So does PepperMint. I think Lubuntu looks unnecessarily ugly but nothing that tweaking can't solve I'm sure.

Slack-stuff is very different and quite the learning curve. That's not so bad but non mainstream OS's are a little scary to the relatively uninitiated.

I already have pre-load but I am currently installing 12.10 so hopefully that will fix the lag issue.

VinDSL, your set up looks fantastic. Good work

I am getting a new machine entirely in a year or so. Changing the drive might be a bit wasteful

Lubuntu, Peppermint, Bodhi and CrunchBang all hit the spot. Now to try them...

[pissedoffdude]

Why not give Fuduntu a try? It still uses Gnome 2, which runs like a dream on older computers. Plus you get basically all you need to be up and running pre-installed.

[BigTobster]

Liking Fubuntu too. Looks a touch bloated though? (Just from what I have seen on the website)

Update on the Launcher Lag issue:

Upgrade to Ubuntu 12.10 does indeed solve the problem. Boot is a bit slower but that is preferable.

[snowpine]

Looks a touch bloated though? (Just from what I have seen on the website)

What do you mean?

[Cheesemill]

Loving CrunchBang although this is perhaps unnecessarily scary? It's based on the super-stable Debian so not sure how far CrunchBang can go wrong???

This is from the CrunchBang Wiki

CrunchBang Linux is not recommended for anyone needing a stable system or anyone who is not comfortable running into occasional, even frequent breakage. CrunchBang Linux could possibly make your computer go CRUNCH! BANG! Therefore CrunchBang Linux comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by applicable law.

I would say the warning is unnecessarily scary.

I've been using CrunchBang for years without any issues. I believe that Corenominal is just covering himself as he is the only person developing the distro.

[Mikeb85]

openSUSE, if you're worried about having a light DE then go with Xfce or openbox. I personally find SUSE is alot quicker than Ubuntu, it's very customizable, but still has alot of the same conveniences. It does have a few quirks, but it's also very stable (and fast).

[Warren Hill]

Ubuntu 12.04 and 12.10 are a bit slow when using the default Unity desktop but there are other desktops.

Try the classic desktop

sudo apt-get install -y gnome-session-fallback

Log out and back in again selecting "Gnome Classic (No Effects)" as the desktop.

Or take a look at Lubuntu/Xubuntu

[BigTobster]

Our platform includes a classic desktop experience using GNOME 2, and we provide many software packages important to our users such as Netflix and Steam which are available for installation from our software repository.

SnowPine - Gnome rather than a lighter DE and advertising sexy packages is common with the bigger Distros. Seriously though, I know nothing about this distro Just a totally random thought just from the Website page I bow to anyone's recommendation.

In regards to CrunchBang - I think you got the nail on the head there CheeseMill. Fair-play to Corenomial.

The learning curve with Suse always seems like a lot of fun but a lot of time-consuming confusion! I definitely want to give OpenSuse a go but I really need something that I know quite well (for University). I am going to put OpenSuse on the list of Distros to spend some real time on getting to know and learn. I hear many good things

I actually like Unity btw! I think its great as an interface its just a bit sluggish without better hardware. Thanks for the tip Warren but I think I'm going to change OS during the week so not worth the fiddling

[pissedoffdude]

Liking Fubuntu too. Looks a touch bloated though? (Just from what I have seen on the website)

Actually it's super quick, even with compiz enabled. It makes you realize how quick Gnome 2 used to be.