I finally got my sisters old computer working, and I was wondering what Linux distro. should I use? It is a Pentium 2 or 3, with: 391,664 bytes of RAM. I am entirely new to this whole thing, but I want something easy to start out on, and something to learn on. Any help?
Ubuntu is OK to cut your teeth on, but you'll probably find it holding you back more than anything after a short while. It should run OK, but things could get a little sluggish just because of the bloated nature of Ubuntu. Look at it as more of a learning experience, find out what hardware you have and if anything special needs to be done to support it, then maybe consider something else as your knowledge improves and needs change. I've never tried it, but heard great things about Puppy Linux as a lightweight distro. It shouldn't be significantly if at all harder than Ubuntu to get up and going, and should be much more responsive, but you'd have to install the bigger packages yourself (not difficult these days at all). If you really want to learn some more of the internals, investigate distros that make you install everything yourself from scratch. A steeper learning curve, but you will get a good appreciation for things, even if you get rid of it soon after. Maybe look into something like Arch (install everything yourself and do config files yourself, but you don't need to compile from source unless you really want to), or if you're a sucker for punishment, Gentoo or LFS. The Gentoo handbook is actually a really good read if you've the time, even if you don't plan to install it. varnull might have some more suggestions on lightweight distros if you find something like Ubuntu too slow, I think she works with older machines a lot.
Sounds good. I was considering SLAX, someone on IRC told me its a good distro, but the only problem is I can't get it to load. Im going to try burning it on a CD-R, maybe better luck.
Another case of I've never used it personally, but only really heard good things about it. I don't know how big their forums are (in the event you run into problems), one of the good things about Ubuntu is the sheer size of the community, if something doesn't work SOMEONE there knows the answer and will get back pretty quickly if you ask in the right place. Just get in there and have a go, you've got nothing to lose and everything to gain!
Sounds good! Tomorrow I will make my vast attempt to work on upgrading to Ubuntu. If that doesn't work, I will try DSL! Thanks guys.
Also if you have a blank cd to spare be sure to try out TinyMe test release 7, i use it a lot. Only have my work laptop with me today which is all locked down so popped in a TinyMe cd and here i am pillaging the internet. As i do *nix for a living already when it comes to Linux i like to pick distro's that just work. Stuff like TinyMe is nice to give you a taster as to how stuff works without having to do much messing example screenie - http://www.mypclinuxos.com/lib/exe/fetch.php/tinyme:green-magic.png?w=800&h=500 ps be very careful with DSL - it's nice and everything but don't whatever you do dual boot it with Windows (if you were going to), i've had it corrupt a few Windows machines, and i think varnull has too. Newer versions may well be more stable but i don't trust it anymore. My latest multiboot machine is a Core Duo 2.13GHz with 4 boots - XP, Mandriva 2008.0, PCLinuxOS (i think it was the MiniMe edition) and TinyMe test release 7. I only tend to use XP and TinyMe on it regularly though. Yes the 3 Linuxes are very similar but as i say, when it comes to Linux i like to configure a few things and just use it to get work stuff done, too much messing and less work stuff gets done
another option is what i think varnull did on an old box (but you need to get to grips a bit with *nix first). install a core system (e.g. debian) then when you get the command screen (as root) apt-get install your window manager (i think it was fluxbox she used) and so on. This way you won't get the bloat that comes with main distros, but as i say you need to break yourself in gently. i started a few years back with suse, red hat and mandrake before n00buntu on my latest quest about a year ago, before where i am now on a sole debian testing install (no dual boot machine here anymore). Plus the fact i am testing on 64bit platform as well (i am a glutton for punishment!).
Thanks everyone for your feedback, but I think I have a problem.. I was installing Ubuntu today, talkin' on GAIM, havin' a good time. But then everything froze. I can't move the mouse or anything! I am installing 6.06 and I choose no dual boot, just dove in head first. Am I screwed? I just this thing workin' last night and I don't want to have to re-do everything again... Should I reboot? EDIT: Crisis avoided. I got Ubuntu up and running. Goodbye windows . Thanks again guys!
Edit: Apparently not relevant any more, I took too long to write... Any reason in particular for using 6.06? While it is a long term support release, it is approaching 2 years old now (Ubuntu versioning is [year].[month]), you might have more luck with a more recent release (and besides, another long term support one is due in about 6-7 weeks that will make that 6.06 almost completely redundant). While your hardware might be even older, all the parts that make up Linux are under constant improvement, so it is likely that any issues you had to work around have been fixed with a newer version, so generally best to go with what is the newest. At least you've proven that it does boot! Did you try to install a whole bunch of stuff while using the Live CD? It basically loads into ram, so trying to do too much with not enough ram doesn't end well with the Live CDs unfortunately. Maybe reboot, and just go straight to installation. See it as an opportunity to memorize the steps you need to use for your hardware rather than a pain in the ass than you want to avoid, you'll inevitably be reinstalling a few times (all of us have been there, pretty easy to break it those first couple times if you accidentally do some silly things as root).
I heard 7.x was not stable yet, so i went for 6.06. I'll probably upgrade when i get better with this stuff.
I suggested 6 because it seems to just work on older hardware.. I thought it was what was on my dist-upgrade testing breakable box.. but unfortunately in tonights marathon session I found out it did finally manage to update successfully as a cron job while I was asleep Now it's feisty (7.04) and still complaining about a dist-upgrade.. which isn't happening because 7.10 I know is broken. Anyhooo.. I pimped it up a lot, because brown just sucks.. as requested... Code: # /etc/apt/sources.list [modified-non-US] # See [url]http://help.ubuntu.com/community/UpgradeNotes[/url] for how to upgrade to # newer versions of the distribution. deb [url]http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/[/url] feisty main restricted ## Major bug fix updates produced after the final release of the ## distribution. deb [url]http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/[/url] feisty-updates main restricted ## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu ## team, and may not be under a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to ## your rights to use the software. Also, please note that software in ## universe WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the Ubuntu security ## team. deb [url]http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/[/url] feisty universe ## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu ## team, and may not be under a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to ## your rights to use the software. Also, please note that software in ## multiverse WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the Ubuntu ## security team. deb [url]http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/[/url] feisty multiverse ## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from the 'backports' ## repository. ## N.B. software from this repository may not have been tested as ## extensively as that contained in the main release, although it includes ## newer versions of some applications which may provide useful features. ## Also, please note that software in backports WILL NOT receive any review ## or updates from the Ubuntu security team. # deb [url]http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/[/url] feisty-backports main restricted universe multiverse # deb-src [url]http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/[/url] feisty-backports main restricted universe multiverse deb [url]http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu[/url] feisty-security main restricted deb [url]http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu[/url] feisty-security universe deb [url]http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu[/url] feisty-security multiverse deb [url]http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/[/url] feisty-updates restricted main multiverse universe deb [url]http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/[/url] feisty-proposed restricted main multiverse universe deb [url]http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/[/url] feisty-backports restricted main multiverse universe deb [url]http://www.debian-multimedia.org[/url] etch main Running nicely on Code: juliadream@ubuntu:~$ cat /proc/cpuinfo processor : 0 vendor_id : GenuineIntel cpu family : 6 model : 5 model name : Pentium II (Deschutes) stepping : 2 cpu MHz : 398.301 cache size : 512 KB fdiv_bug : no hlt_bug : no f00f_bug : no coma_bug : no fpu : yes fpu_exception : yes cpuid level : 2 wp : yes flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 mmx fxsr up bogomips : 797.57 clflush size : 32 Code: top - 03:48:18 up 1:24, 2 users, load average: 0.79, 0.54, 0.46 Tasks: 95 total, 5 running, 89 sleeping, 0 stopped, 1 zombie Cpu(s): 3.9%us, 0.0%sy, 0.0%ni, 95.1%id, 0.7%wa, 0.3%hi, 0.0%si, 0.0%st Mem: 385980k total, 367680k used, 18300k free, 9052k buffers Swap: 979956k total, 33840k used, 946116k free, 169908k cached
Corn, try Linux Mint on your PC, it is based on n00buntu but i think a more lightweight distro. I tried it a long time ago and liked it alot. you can use the n00buntu repos as well as deb ones (bit more flexibility imo)
