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Re: [LUG] Ubuntu install taking ages

 

On Tuesday 11 September 2007 12:48, Simon Williams wrote:
> Rob Beard wrote:
> > Maybe it might be worth trying the Ubuntu 7.04 Alternative CD?
>
> My dad downloaded the ISO so I wasn't aware there was a lower spec CD.
> It's only got 256Mb of RAM I think, so that's definitely the problem.
>
> > (or since it is only 1GHz, might be worth trying a Kubuntu CD?).
>
> I'm intrigued about that comment- I thought kde was supposed to be
> slower than gnome?
>
> Thanks
> Simon

Yep, the Alternative cd still contains the same software, but has a number of 
different install methods. Its big advantage is that the alternative 
installer is quite undemanding on ram - allowing what ram you have to be put 
to better use during the install from my own experiences of it. The installer 
is not a graphical one - from memory it is ncurses based I think.
256mb ram will run (K)Ubuntu, but using the alternative cd will actually get 
it installed in the first place. Try to set up a good sized swap partition - 
you may need it! 
I was also a bit confused by the Kubuntu comment - I doubt you would see any 
difference on a 256mb system whether you used KDE or Gnome. Whichever you 
use, I would turn off all the eye candy stuff if possible and stop any 
unneeded services - e.g cups if you don't have a printer etc. 

A much better option would be either a lighter version of the Ubuntu family 
such as Xubuntu which uses XFCE or a distro such as Vector or any of the 
lightweight distros such as Puppy or DSL.
Xubuntu is a bit hard to follow if you are not familiar with XFCE to be 
truthful, but it does work well. Vector is a distro which I like on older 
systems - it looks good and works in the same sort of way as a KDE system. 
DSL is amazing - but again, it isn't quite as user friendly as the main 
distros or Vector.

Mark

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