A Win for Ubuntu

[CTSLICK]

I hate to speak too early but my first try at Ubuntu looks like a success on my aged HP laptop (AMD 450 Mhz with 128 Mb RAM, 800x600...ouch). I let my kids beat on this laptop for web browsing, IM and email. I decided to try Linux a couple of years ago after enduring 5 or 6 ground up rebuilds using Win 2000. Here's where I have been over the past few years...

Mandrake 9.x: Easy install....never got the wireless card working

Mandriva 2005 LE: Easy install...beat the wireless card into submission after a second install. Took another beating to actually connect to my wireless network. Overall everything finally worked but it just felt slow.

Vector Linux: Obtuse but usable install...never got wireless working, lots of display/video card problems. On the plus side it seemed very quick.

And then Ubuntu. Easy install, recognized my wireless card right away and connected to my network right away. No display issues. All updates were installed without a hitch, everything just seems to work. Feels snappier than Mandrake.

So, much to the dismay of my children, this old laptop looks like it may live on. Please accept my appreciation for being the FIRST Linux distro to really work for me.

[KingBahamut]

Aye.

We try our best.

So does our Dist.
=)

[poofyhairguy]

I hate to speak too early but my first try at Ubuntu looks like a success on my aged HP laptop (AMD 450 Mhz with 128 Mb RAM, 800x600...ouch). I let my kids beat on this laptop for web browsing, IM and email. I decided to try Linux a couple of years ago after enduring 5 or 6 ground up rebuilds using Win 2000. Here's where I have been over the past few years...

Mandrake 9.x: Easy install....never got the wireless card working

Mandriva 2005 LE: Easy install...beat the wireless card into submission after a second install. Took another beating to actually connect to my wireless network. Overall everything finally worked but it just felt slow.

Vector Linux: Obtuse but usable install...never got wireless working, lots of display/video card problems. On the plus side it seemed very quick.

And then Ubuntu. Easy install, recognized my wireless card right away and connected to my network right away. No display issues. All updates were installed without a hitch, everything just seems to work. Feels snappier than Mandrake.

So, much to the dismay of my children, this old laptop looks like it may live on. Please accept my appreciation for being the FIRST Linux distro to really work for me.

Welcome. Ask questions if you need to.

[xequence]

Are you using gnome? (Default with ubuntu) My 700mhz 192 MB RAM is slow in gnome. Not extremly but a little annoyance. Whats your secret?

[CTSLICK]

Are you using gnome? (Default with ubuntu) My 700mhz 192 MB RAM is slow in gnome. Not extremly but a little annoyance. Whats your secret?

Yep, using Gnome. No secrets...maybe its just my low expectations to begin with. This laptop is pretty slow by today's standards and I have no illusions that linux could "fix" that. What I can say is that I find the performance with ubuntu and Gnome to be very acceptable...better than what I had seen with my other linux attempts. It performs as well as my last Win 2000 install and that's good enough for me.

[drizek]

Yep, using Gnome. No secrets...maybe its just my low expectations to begin with. This laptop is pretty slow by today's standards and I have no illusions that linux could "fix" that. What I can say is that I find the performance with ubuntu and Gnome to be very acceptable...better than what I had seen with my other linux attempts. It performs as well as my last Win 2000 install and that's good enough for me.

have you considered using e16/7? it should fly on that computer, with more eyecandy. and if you set it up correctly it should work just as well as gnome for basic tasks.

[CTSLICK]

have you considered using e16/7? it should fly on that computer, with more eyecandy. and if you set it up correctly it should work just as well as gnome for basic tasks.

And the noob replies...uuuuuhhhhhh...e16/7? Ummm yeah....and that would be? [slinks off to Google]

[CTSLICK]

And the noob replies...uuuuuhhhhhh...e16/7? Ummm yeah....and that would be? [slinks off to Google]

e16/7= Enlightenment 16.7?

[gorkhal]

e16/7= Enlightenment 16.7?

You could get the Elive 0.3 live cd HERE...it comes with Enlightenment..and since its a live cd, just burn the downloaded iso file, and boot using the CD, and see if Enlightenment works or not.

Live CDs are a great way to test many other distros as well, given your old hardware, you could also consider Damn Small Linux.

[benplaut]

for a system that old, even though it works with Gnome, i highly recommend

www.xfce.org

to install, just

sudo apt-get install xfce4
(in a terminal)

and select XFCE from the "Session" menu when you log in

their motto: "and everything goes faster..."