Lightest Distrobution with a GUI?

[linuxisevolution]

I will not give up on getting Linux to run decently on my Toshiba Satellite 100CS ( IT WONT DIE! ). Specs:

CPU: Pentium 1 75Mhz
RAM: 16mb ( will not except more )
VID: I shal never behold this knowledge.( just says vga )
HARDDRIVE: I have many to try. 3gb, 2gb, 810mb, 527mb.

It has no cd-rom drive, I have to remove the hard drive and insert it into my desktop to install anything. I just want to be able to run abiword, or featherpad, mousepad, etc. Any suggestions? I am downloading Cruntchbag Linux now. I got DeLi Linux to work, but the hard drive accesses swap space just to move the mouse, and X takes 6+ minutes to start.

What is THE fastest, lightest, gui based Distro out there?

EDIT: So far, these ones are either too slow or won't install:

DSL : won't read any of my hard disks.
Vector : Kernel is too large. :(
DeLi : Too slow.

[jrusso2]

I will not give up on getting Linux to run decently on my Toshiba Satellite 100CS ( IT WONT DIE! ). Specs:

CPU: Pentium 1 75Mhz
RAM: 16mb ( will not except more )
VID: I shal never behold this knowledge.( just says vga )
HARDDRIVE: I have many to try. 3gb, 2gb, 810mb, 527mb.

It has no cd-rom drive, I have to remove the hard drive and insert it into my desktop to install anything. I just want to be able to run abiword, or featherpad, mousepad, etc. Any suggestions? I am downloading Cruntchbag Linux now. I got DeLi Linux to work, but the hard drive accesses swap space just to move the mouse, and X takes 6+ minutes to start.

What is THE fastest, lightest, gui based Distro out there?

EDIT: So far, these ones are either too slow or won't install:

DSL : won't read any of my hard disks.
Vector : Kernel is too large. :(
DeLi : Too slow.


Even when I started using Linux in 96 I liked to have 64 mb of ram even though 32 would work. Even back then 16 mb was very slow so I don't think your going to find anything with a gui much faster unless you get some old version of Slackware.

[lykwydchykyn]

http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/

(that one's on my bucket list)

[linuxisevolution]

Well I don't think I'm ready for Gentoo, let alone LFS. Thanks lykwydchycyn ( what language is that? LOL ). What else you got in your bucket list?

[Rohan Kapoor]

Honestly, your computer seems done. Leave it and buy/borrow a new one.

[plarq]

Even with my old Pentium 200 + 64 mb EDO DRAM + CD-ROM + 1.6 gig HD, I can only install age-old linux kernel and ancient GNOME.

[lykwydchykyn]

Even with my old Pentium 200 + 64 mb EDO DRAM + CD-ROM + 1.6 gig HD, I can only install age-old linux kernel and ancient GNOME.

Really? I've gotten DSL to work on hardware of those specs, though I guess you never know what's going to work on stuff that old.


Well I don't think I'm ready for Gentoo, let alone LFS. Thanks lykwydchycyn ( what language is that? LOL ). What else you got in your bucket list?

Oh, you know, the usual stuff: travel the world, climb a mountain, build a beowulf cluster, create my own distro, etc.

[gjoellee]

I will not give up on getting Linux to run decently on my Toshiba Satellite 100CS ( IT WONT DIE! ). Specs:

CPU: Pentium 1 75Mhz
RAM: 16mb ( will not except more )
VID: I shal never behold this knowledge.( just says vga )
HARDDRIVE: I have many to try. 3gb, 2gb, 810mb, 527mb.

It has no cd-rom drive, I have to remove the hard drive and insert it into my desktop to install anything. I just want to be able to run abiword, or featherpad, mousepad, etc. Any suggestions? I am downloading Cruntchbag Linux now. I got DeLi Linux to work, but the hard drive accesses swap space just to move the mouse, and X takes 6+ minutes to start.

What is THE fastest, lightest, gui based Distro out there?

EDIT: So far, these ones are either too slow or won't install:

DSL : won't read any of my hard disks.
Vector : Kernel is too large. :(
DeLi : Too slow.

SliTaz http://www.slitaz.org/

[NagWolf]

Dunno if this will work for you, but seeing as it's aimed at running from a USB stick, and it does have GUI... maybe test it if you could, just discovered it about 5 minutes ago, so I don't have any other feedback for you.
http://www.slax.org/

Please post back your results, as I also have uses for this.

Alternatively you could also try JeOS, a barebone Ubuntu which is designed to work on Single purpose/specialised devices and/or servers. There is guides available to installing XServer and then from thereon I would suggest seeing if you could get stuff from here working for you as far as Apps/Utils go: http://portableapps.com , also designed to work on/from a USB stick... just needs Java as far as I can remember.

Cheers and pls give feedback

[albinootje]

CPU: Pentium 1 75Mhz
RAM: 16mb ( will not except more )


Sorry to tell you, but I would only use Linux on that machine in the virtual console.

If you really want some GUI for it, then find some really ancient version of Slackware (3.x for example) and read the Slackware howto for minimal RAM usage.

Or look for uclib based Linux distributions !
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UClibc

[snowpine]

I will not give up on getting Linux to run decently on my Toshiba Satellite 100CS ( IT WONT DIE! ). Specs:

CPU: Pentium 1 75Mhz
RAM: 16mb ( will not except more )
VID: I shal never behold this knowledge.( just says vga )
HARDDRIVE: I have many to try. 3gb, 2gb, 810mb, 527mb.

It has no cd-rom drive, I have to remove the hard drive and insert it into my desktop to install anything. I just want to be able to run abiword, or featherpad, mousepad, etc. Any suggestions? I am downloading Cruntchbag Linux now. I got DeLi Linux to work, but the hard drive accesses swap space just to move the mouse, and X takes 6+ minutes to start.

What is THE fastest, lightest, gui based Distro out there?

EDIT: So far, these ones are either too slow or won't install:

DSL : won't read any of my hard disks.
Vector : Kernel is too large. :(
DeLi : Too slow.

Hi there, Crunchbang definitely will not run on that machine, as it is an Ubuntu-based distro (google Ubuntu minimum system requirements). SliTaz is the fastest and lightest distro that I personally have a lot of experience with, however I recommend 128mb of ram (160mb for cooking). I think it may be time to retire your 100cs, or possibly restore its original OS...

[Sorivenul]

I personally think a console-based setup may be your best bet on that setup. I don't know your hardware specifics, but if Linux fails, NetBSD may do the trick, though with as little RAM as you have available, it may be best in a command-line setup as well.

If you have a floppy drive on the machine, BasicLinux (http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/baslinux/), though dated may be a good option.

You should also have a look at this thread (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=575456).

[ugm6hr]

One of our esteemed colleagues has had some success, albeit with a lot of effort:
http://kmandla.wordpress.com/2008/11/27/some-minor-improvements/

[Rohan Kapoor]

One of our esteemed colleagues has had some success, albeit with a lot of effort:
http://kmandla.wordpress.com/2008/11/27/some-minor-improvements/

This is why I feel it just isn't worth the effort anymore. My recommendation would be to scrap the computer for parts or sell it on ebay. There's really not much you can do with a computer that old.

[linuxisevolution]

I am looking into evoke( Freebsd with a gui ). I just want to be able to do text editing on the go.

[linuxisevolution]

damn small dsb would not install, it hangs on loading the kernel...

[Rohan Kapoor]

damn small dsb would not install, it hangs on loading the kernel...
If none of these are working, I don't see why you keep trying?

[lykwydchykyn]

If none of these are working, I don't see why you keep trying?

That's the difference between a true hacker, and everybody else.

[Rohan Kapoor]

That's the difference between a true hacker, and everybody else.

I can understand that. But on a machine with 16mb of RAM, that just seems like a complete waste of time!

[albinootje]

That's the difference between a true hacker, and everybody else.

Nice comment, much appreciated :)

[jimv]

I think it's completely possible. I have an old Apple Macintosh Classic sitting in my room. It's got an entire 8 MHz and 1 MB of RAM. It loads a gui and I can play Oregon Trail. Certainly that can be done with Linux.

[lykwydchykyn]

I think it's completely possible. I have an old Apple Macintosh Classic sitting in my room. It's got an entire 8 MHz and 1 MB of RAM. It loads a gui and I can play Oregon Trail. Certainly that can be done with Linux.

The problem is Xorg; it's huge and hungry and a bit on the bloated side. You can use something like Xvesa or tinyX (DSL uses one or the other of those), but those are still pretty massive.

There's fbui (http://home.comcast.net/~fbui/), but that only works with a certain (old) kernel version.

Plus, you gotta realize that the Linux kernel has a ton more stuff built into it than the DOS and MacOS kernels that ran on those old machines have -- e.g., account based security, true multitasking, etc. Though with a customized kernel, it can get pretty small.

[TrakerJon]

Try Red Hat 7.3...
ftp://archive.download.redhat.com/pub/redhat/linux/7.3/en/iso/i386/

[linuxisevolution]

That's the difference between a true hacker, and everybody else.

Very appreciated here too. :) I installed ttylinux and even that was slow. At least I can say I succeeded, but besides using nano, it is pretty useless. I was able to install FreeDos with Gem and Ozone as user interfaces. Works very well. I can use Multi-Edit Lite for text editing .doc files, and I can play Star Treck and Tetris without lag LOL :popcorn:


Thanks everyone for all there help. I now have 40 distributions burnt on cd's to give away. . . .

Results:

Best Linux with gui for old machine:

Deli or Debian Potato.

Best Linux with cli for old machine:

ttyLinux or Debian Potato.

Best other for old machine.

FreeDos - fastest and free. has GEM as gui by default.

Win95 - Slightly slower than freedos+ easy to use, but I refuse to like it :lolflag:

ReactOS - Neat little project, runs great on my pc with the laptop's harddrive in, but would give a bsod when I tried to log in when on the laptop.


Thanks again. Now time to try that Pentium 200mhz :grin:

[donkyhotay]

Now time to try that Pentium 200mhz :grin:

My very first linux distro was mandrake 7 on a 200mhz computer dual booted with win95. (c: Eventually gave it up because I was using AOL <shudders> as my ISP at the time and without access to the internet there wasn't much I could do with it besides word processing.

[albinootje]

My very first linux distro was mandrake 7 on a 200mhz computer dual booted with win95. (c: Eventually gave it up because I was using AOL <shudders> as my ISP at the time and without access to the internet there wasn't much I could do with it besides word processing.

I ran Slackware Linux with KDE when it was still in alpha-testing on.. a 486 with a wooping 100 Mhz (yahooooooooo).

I remember the moment I read that email from a representative from RMS about the QT license not being OK at that time :)
That was the first time I heard about the Gnome project.

[lykwydchykyn]

Best other for old machine.

FreeDos - fastest and free. has GEM as gui by default.

Win95 - Slightly slower than freedos+ easy to use, but I refuse to like it :lolflag:

ReactOS - Neat little project, runs great on my pc with the laptop's harddrive in, but would give a bsod when I tried to log in when on the laptop.


Thanks again. Now time to try that Pentium 200mhz :grin:

Since you tried some non-linux stuff, did you try haiku, syllable, or menuet? Some interesting stuff there.

[linuxisevolution]

I did try menuet, I forgot that one... I loaded, but got no further than a mouse and red backround. It's pretty neat, I keep a menuet floppy in my backpack lol... I'm downloading haiku and syllable now, I'll try them in a virtual machine. I think I'll keep freedos on the laptop, for now ( until the FAT filesystem crashes hehe )

[albinootje]

Since you tried some non-linux stuff, did you try haiku, syllable, or menuet? Some interesting stuff there.

I've tried Haiku and SyllableOS in VirtualBox before, indeed interesting.

For this situation with 16 Mb of RAM perhaps too much though :
http://web.syllable.org/documentation/FAQ.html#2_1

There's also KolibriOS :
http://www.kolibrios.org/?p=Screenshots
Don't know the requirements for that.

[albinootje]

There's also KolibriOS :
http://www.kolibrios.org/?p=Screenshots
Don't know the requirements for that.

Found it now, in the install.txt inside the download of KolibriOS :



Minimal system requirements for Kolibri 0.7.0.0:

* CPU: Pentium, AMD 5x86 or Cyrix 5x86 without MMX with frequency 100 MHz
* RAM: 8 Mb
* Videocard: supporting VGA (640*480*16 mode) or Vesa
* Keyboard: AT
* Mouse: COM or PS/2

The system can boot from any of following devices:

- Floppy 3.5
- IDE HDD LBA
- CD/DVD
- USB Flash

[linuxisevolution]

AWESOME! What package system does it use?

[Sorivenul]

AWESOME! What package system does it use?
Kolibri does not use a package system. It is a fork of MenuetOS, also written entirely in assembly. It is a barebones system with some nice features in addition to those of Menuet (including a more complete basic network stack, I believe).

In short, Kolibri is not Linux-based or POSIX-compliant, and will not have many of the standard features of a Linux system.

I personally used Menuet/Kolibri to learn assembly, but if you aren't into that, you don't have to.

[linuxisevolution]

Assembly.. Is it hard or easy to learn? How does Menuet help you learn it? What does Linux help me learn? Just kidding :D

[Sorivenul]

Assembly.. Is it hard or easy to learn? How does Menuet help you learn it? What does Linux help me learn? Just kidding :D
Assembly is definitely not something I would suggest for beginners to the world of programming. In short, it is pretty much the lowest level language (closest to machine code/binary) that one can write in. Easy/hard, however, is subjective, and you may find it quite easy.

Kolibri/Menuet are written in assembly and use FASM (Flat Assembler) to code programs/extensions. The last time I used KolibriOS it contained a FASM frontend to help with coding, which I believe MenuetOS did not have. For information you may be interested in, check out the FASM Wikipedia page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FASM), and the FASM website (http://flatassembler.net/).

Below for, your reference, are two examples to illustrate how involved assembly, in general, can be. The first is in FASM, the second in Python (a much more high level language). The FASM code would have to be assembled and then linked to run on a Linux machine, while the Python code could symple be run with a command such as "python hello.py". As a note, "Hello World" is often a "first program" for those starting in a particular language, though it is not always the case.

FASM:

format ELF executable
entry _start

_start:
mov eax, 4
mov ebx, 1
mov ecx, msg
mov edx, msg_len
int 0x80
mov eax, 1
xor ebx, ebx
int 0x80

msg db 'Hello, world!', 0xA
msg_len = $-msg

PYTHON:

#! /usr/bin/evn python
print "Hello, world!"

Anyway, I won't go into more detail as talk about programming is better suited for the Programming Talk subforum. ;) Hope this helps!