netbook worthy distros

[kabukiM0n0]

Hey there!

I run Kubuntu on an Acer Aspire One netbook and it feels as if the more time that passes, the distro get's slower and slower.
With a fresh install it runs like lighting - now it doesn't even play video properly without the image completely lagging out, windows take forever to open ...

So here's the thing, I'm tried of this happening. Of course with a netbook and 1gb ram - I can't really be asking for much right?
I looked into possible options of other distros that are supposed to be worthy, solid and efficient on netbooks, but I don't really know much - other than the standard - Ubuntu - Kubuntu ...
So I would like your opinion on something that will continuously run efficiently, not loose it's 'umpfh' after time. Then try myself what you guys recommend.

The recommendations are listed as follows.
Eeebuntu
OpenGeeeU
Mandriva
Puppy Linux
OpenSuSE 11
gOS Cloud
CrunchEee
Slax
Debian
Fedora

I got them all from this (site, where they have a small explanation - but it could take forever to try each one as this netbook is my only system. Any other distro that work well on netbooks are more than welcome of course.

What I use my comp for.
Mainly writing, reading, browsing, small bit of downloading, music (Guayadeque), videos. Nothing too overly complex.
Something that looks nice, is editable (to certain extent) has different program options and mainly and most importantly runs when I tell it to run and does what it has been told, so endless hours are not spend trying to find out what the problem is - if there even is one to start with.

Thank you for all and any help.

[snowpine]

First of all, that list is terrible, it's a few years out of date and some of those distros are obsolete.

Second, there is no need to necessarily switch distros---you can simply install a lightweight desktop such as Xfce or LXDE as described here:

http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/xfce

Personall I run Fuduntu (Gnome 2 desktop) on my netbook (Asus EEE 900ha with 1.6ghz Atom, 1gb RAM, and 160gb HDD). It's fine for a one-thing at a time, non-multitasking, non-multimedia machine. I have a more powerful desktop and laptop that I use for most tasks.

Hope that is helpful.

[cwsnyder]

Do you have a swap partition installed? With 1G RAM, you should have a 1G swap partition installed unless you have a flash drive as your main drive.

Also, what is your drive free space? Have you run the terminal command:

sudo apt-get autoclean

The main reason for netbook specific distros in the first case was the limited hard drive space available on the first netbooks. If you have Ubuntu (unity) or Kubuntu (KDE) installed on an 8G or smaller drive, you were asking for problems in the beginning. In that case, read the hardware requirements for the specific distro before you install it. If you have 40G or more hard drive space, you probably have too many programs running at once, too many tabs open in your browser, or too much loading at startup for your 1G RAM.

[snowpine]

I'm not a KDE user but I've heard rumors one of the reasons it can be slow on sluggish hardware is due to services such as "nepomuk."

http://nepomuk.kde.org/

If you are attached to KDE then explore whether you can turn off some of these services. The system monitor or terminal commands such as 'top' are invaluable for figuring out what is gobbling up your resources.

[kabukiM0n0]

Do you have a swap partition installed? With 1G RAM, you should have a 1G swap partition installed unless you have a flash drive as your main drive.

Also, what is your drive free space? Have you run the terminal command:

sudo apt-get autoclean

The main reason for netbook specific distros in the first case was the limited hard drive space available on the first netbooks. If you have Ubuntu (unity) or Kubuntu (KDE) installed on an 8G or smaller drive, you were asking for problems in the beginning. In that case, read the hardware requirements for the specific distro before you install it. If you have 40G or more hard drive space, you probably have too many programs running at once, too many tabs open in your browser, or too much loading at startup for your 1G RAM.

Yup, 1gb swap partition.
180GB free out of a 240GB drive - From past experience it does start running slow once the 100GB mark is dropped.
36GB partition specifically for system files.
Start-up programs are set to load just the basics - so exactly that doesn't happen.
And neither are there too many programs, or tabs open - as I do the same with a fresh install and runs just as smoothly. So why should it be any different after time?

Also, I'm starting to notice many people say very similar things about KDE - that slowly after time, the distro becomes slow.

Oh, and yes, I've run the command.

[kabukiM0n0]

I'm not a KDE user but I've heard rumors one of the reasons it can be slow on sluggish hardware is due to services such as "nepomuk."

http://nepomuk.kde.org/

If you are attached to KDE then explore whether you can turn off some of these services. The system monitor or terminal commands such as 'top' are invaluable for figuring out what is gobbling up your resources.

It's on my system, but I've never used it before - thanks I'll look into it.

[Frogs Hair]

I would consider Peppermint.
http://peppermintos.com/

[kabukiM0n0]

I would consider Peppermint.
http://peppermintos.com/

Very nice, thank you. Looking into it.

[Zill]

kabukiM0n0: I have been running CrunchBang (statler) on a Acer Aspire One D260A netbook for a while now without any problems. Very quick and reliable considering the mediocre spec of these netbooks!

I have just upgraded the netbook to the latest CrunchBang (waldorf) and, so far, it's looking good.

You need to appreciate that CrunchBang may seem slightly more "techie" than some other distros, and it helps if you know how to use a few terminal commands. However, on the plus side, it is a very lean and efficient OS but still with lots of goodies included by default, such as multimedia etc.

[oldos2er]

Moved to Other OS/Distro Talk.