Low spec Linux desktop?

Kymmy · 04-11-2010, 19:58

What's the best linux distro to put on an old laptop (low end p3 with limited memory) that will allow just simple web browsing via a wifi dongle?

Sirius · 04-11-2010, 20:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kymmy

What's the best linux distro to put on an old laptop (low end p3 with limited memory) that will allow just simple web browsing via a wifi dongle?

I have used the following in the past.

http://puppylinux.org/main/Overview%...%20Started.htm

http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/

http://antix.mepis.org/index.php?title=Main_Page

idi banashapan · 04-11-2010, 20:03

Ubuntu do a netbook version. Www.Ubuntu.com

admars · 04-11-2010, 22:31

Lubuntu http://lubuntu.net/ would be better than ubuntu, but the 3 Sirius suggests would be my top 3 for an old PC.

Slitaz as well may be worth a look.
I've got an old PII 450 I play with. Antix, DSL and Puppy and its offshoots run ok on it. Anything Ubuntu runs badly.

Debian, or Slackware can be made to run well, if you want to put the effort in yourself, otherwise Antix, DSL and Puppy are good 'cos other ppl have done the hard work for you

I generally end up going back to XP on that PC as it seems the best

Kymmy · 05-11-2010, 10:28

It already has a win2k install on it (need win2k as the bespoke software on it won't run on anything else) but wanted a simple dual boot that would run a web browser faster than the win2k

Thanks guys for the answers will try a bit of experimentation

papasmurf · 06-11-2010, 05:27

I'd give knoppix a try.

Kymmy · 25-12-2010, 08:37

Only tried puppy but the system will not boot fully (I think the cd drive is on it's way out as a partedmagic iso will not boot either)

Quam256 · 25-12-2010, 08:44

Is there main site I can pick all of these up from .?

Kymmy · 25-12-2010, 08:53

If you read back in the thread most have links to their sites.. Only tried puppy linux one of my main machines and it works great

damien c · 25-12-2010, 09:10

I had a laptop which was a old P3 450mhz I think can't quite remember, but I bought some extra ram for it to take it to 300mb of ram got the ram from the crucial site.

I ended up putting xp on it as I couldn't get a linux to work on it, thank's to the base station playing up.

I did look at the puppy linux which seemed to be the best option when looking around the net, but allot of people had issue's where they couldn't get it to dual boot they had to have it as the main boot option, and then install the 2nd os and then it seemed to work but I cannot remember where I read it though it was about 5 month's ago.

In the end I bought a new laptop for Â£350 run's better and does what I need it to do without taking nearly 5 minutes to boot, and then 5 miutes to open firefox.

Kymmy · 25-12-2010, 09:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by damien c

In the end I bought a new laptop for Â£350 run's better and does what I need it to do without taking nearly 5 minutes to boot, and then 5 miutes to open firefox.

Not an option here as some of the bespoke ECU software requires specific hardware, also cheaper laptops don't tend to last too long with us.. Must be somethign to do with sand/sun/and being driven over..

The laptop I'm stuck with is an old Toughbook, newer ones won't run the software

damien c · 25-12-2010, 12:32

The old toughbook's are excellent, had one myself but my laptop is used mainly for internet and Rcon for gameservers.

Stuart · 25-12-2010, 12:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kymmy

Not an option here as some of the bespoke ECU software requires specific hardware, also cheaper laptops don't tend to last too long with us.. Must be somethign to do with sand/sun/and being driven over..

The laptop I'm stuck with is an old Toughbook, newer ones won't run the software

Ahh, the old bespoke hardware..

We used to use a broadcast quality video capture system at work. We needed to upgrade the PCs it was running on. The boss wanted half height cases, but that would have caused a slight problem. The cards were 3/4 length, full height and took up the space of two PCI slots. It also required a hard drive bay for it's own HDD.

On the plus side, it was powerful enough to allow realtime editing of up to two simulataneous streams of uncompressed standard definition video on any machine with at least a Pentium 75.

Matty_ · 25-12-2010, 17:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quam256

Is there main site I can pick all of these up from .?

Have a look at http://distrowatch.com/

Quam256 · 25-12-2010, 19:25

I tried the Ubuntu and Ubuntu netbook version ,both would load so far and then just freeze.
Just looking for a second option.