replikanxxl
January 11th, 2010, 05:12 PM
I wanted to post my so little experience with 3 Linux distributions that are intended to ask for lowest system requirements possible as i searched forum and couldn't find much info more than some suggestions
The system i used is an 11 years old PC with 256MB S-DRAM , Pentium III 933mhz CPU and a 32MB geforce2 video card , an Ethernet card and a CD-ROM drive.
The first distro i tried was "Damn Small Linux" . You can find the details on http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/
First i used the USB flash stick method. I used a 1GB flash stick and v4.4.9-embedded with the USB loader application that DSL provides. But i couldn't get it to run as it has no support for booting from USB device(But i tested the USB method still. i got this USB stick to boot from another PC that was like 5-6 years old. It was not easy either cause the BIOS on it was not directly giving you an option to set the USB stick as a boot device , but as it was showing the stick as a kind of HDD , i bypassed booting priority problem with disabling the actual HDD so the system used the USB stick as second HDD to boot from).So i burnt v4.4.10 on a CD (just 50 MB) and got it working live on CD. İt was really so quick on boot. The visuals are just a step further than command line, as expected. But I'm sure all the software and utilities on it are chosen wisely and can satisfy your needs, if your point is getting the job done. I would like to see how it performs on web browsing and instant messaging but i couldn't get the connection working at all. it was able to detect eth0 interface but couldn't get an IP from DHCP server. In some forums people say it was working when they used "pump -i eth0" command but when i did it all i get was a wait of 20 seconds and a message: " Operation failed".
The second distro i used was Puppy Linux. You can find details on http://puppylinux.org/.
I burnt v4.3.1 on Cd (Just 105 MB) and got it running Live. It was really satisfactory on visual terms. But once again i was not able to test its performance on web browsing and instant messaging cause i could not set up the connection. Though, from what I've experienced so far i can tell you that it would be working fine cause the CPU load was around %30 most times and all the software i launched inside was launching and running really smooth. The only problem was about the screen display; it was not fitting on right position no matter what resolution i choose.
The third and last distro i tried was Vector Linux. You can find detailed info at http://vectorlinux.com/
First of all, Low system requirements is not the highest priority motivation of this distro. Thus, even the version i used (6.0 Light Live Edition) is not small; 645 MB. I got this version running Live on CD and it was not so quick on boot but it was performing really good, considering its "not bad at all" visuals. Its look was just like a mix of Ubuntu and vista at basic elements. And it was able to manage the connection automatically and i was able to surf the web with Firefox. It was working fine as long as i do not dance on tabs or scroll so fast.Also, resizing the pages was a heavy load for my Pentium III as well.
Persistent Feature : This feature allows you to save your settings even if you boot from a Live CD!(that exclamation mark is for me being impressed). We know we can save our works and files on net or any removable storage device or native ones but this feature lets us boot from a Live CD or a USB-stick like we are using a HDD.Now this, is really carrying your OS with you.When you shutdown Puppy Linux , its asking you if you want to save your settings; which means all the customization you did for your comfort and needs. You can save them on a USB-stick or a Zip drive or a Floppy Disk or a HDD or even on the Live CD itself if its not closed.A pupsave.2fs file is saved which contains a ext2 structure inside. DSL distro is opting for a backup at log out too but i couldn't get detailed information on it.
For conclusion , i can say that it feels like Puppy Linux was the one that hit the right balance between the visuals and performance versus system requirements. But i cant be sure as i couldn't manage the Internet connection and spend time on more various applications. Vector Linux was not so 'light' IMHO. And DSL is sacrificing too much on comfort and that feels like its more for experiments and geeks rather than users-in-need.
nice day everyone :popcorn:
edit1: after suggestions i have tried slitaz. it was the best experience ever among all.its absolutely the best performing one (and its 30 MB !). There was no freeze on videos or scrolling or resizing at firefox
The system i used is an 11 years old PC with 256MB S-DRAM , Pentium III 933mhz CPU and a 32MB geforce2 video card , an Ethernet card and a CD-ROM drive.
The first distro i tried was "Damn Small Linux" . You can find the details on http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/
First i used the USB flash stick method. I used a 1GB flash stick and v4.4.9-embedded with the USB loader application that DSL provides. But i couldn't get it to run as it has no support for booting from USB device(But i tested the USB method still. i got this USB stick to boot from another PC that was like 5-6 years old. It was not easy either cause the BIOS on it was not directly giving you an option to set the USB stick as a boot device , but as it was showing the stick as a kind of HDD , i bypassed booting priority problem with disabling the actual HDD so the system used the USB stick as second HDD to boot from).So i burnt v4.4.10 on a CD (just 50 MB) and got it working live on CD. İt was really so quick on boot. The visuals are just a step further than command line, as expected. But I'm sure all the software and utilities on it are chosen wisely and can satisfy your needs, if your point is getting the job done. I would like to see how it performs on web browsing and instant messaging but i couldn't get the connection working at all. it was able to detect eth0 interface but couldn't get an IP from DHCP server. In some forums people say it was working when they used "pump -i eth0" command but when i did it all i get was a wait of 20 seconds and a message: " Operation failed".
The second distro i used was Puppy Linux. You can find details on http://puppylinux.org/.
I burnt v4.3.1 on Cd (Just 105 MB) and got it running Live. It was really satisfactory on visual terms. But once again i was not able to test its performance on web browsing and instant messaging cause i could not set up the connection. Though, from what I've experienced so far i can tell you that it would be working fine cause the CPU load was around %30 most times and all the software i launched inside was launching and running really smooth. The only problem was about the screen display; it was not fitting on right position no matter what resolution i choose.
The third and last distro i tried was Vector Linux. You can find detailed info at http://vectorlinux.com/
First of all, Low system requirements is not the highest priority motivation of this distro. Thus, even the version i used (6.0 Light Live Edition) is not small; 645 MB. I got this version running Live on CD and it was not so quick on boot but it was performing really good, considering its "not bad at all" visuals. Its look was just like a mix of Ubuntu and vista at basic elements. And it was able to manage the connection automatically and i was able to surf the web with Firefox. It was working fine as long as i do not dance on tabs or scroll so fast.Also, resizing the pages was a heavy load for my Pentium III as well.
Persistent Feature : This feature allows you to save your settings even if you boot from a Live CD!(that exclamation mark is for me being impressed). We know we can save our works and files on net or any removable storage device or native ones but this feature lets us boot from a Live CD or a USB-stick like we are using a HDD.Now this, is really carrying your OS with you.When you shutdown Puppy Linux , its asking you if you want to save your settings; which means all the customization you did for your comfort and needs. You can save them on a USB-stick or a Zip drive or a Floppy Disk or a HDD or even on the Live CD itself if its not closed.A pupsave.2fs file is saved which contains a ext2 structure inside. DSL distro is opting for a backup at log out too but i couldn't get detailed information on it.
For conclusion , i can say that it feels like Puppy Linux was the one that hit the right balance between the visuals and performance versus system requirements. But i cant be sure as i couldn't manage the Internet connection and spend time on more various applications. Vector Linux was not so 'light' IMHO. And DSL is sacrificing too much on comfort and that feels like its more for experiments and geeks rather than users-in-need.
nice day everyone :popcorn:
edit1: after suggestions i have tried slitaz. it was the best experience ever among all.its absolutely the best performing one (and its 30 MB !). There was no freeze on videos or scrolling or resizing at firefox