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Re: [LUG] old laptop linux

 

On Wed, 4 Aug 2010 19:14:07 +0100
Roland Tarver wrote:

> On Wed, Aug 4, 2010 at 6:54 PM,  <alexfido@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > hi to all,i have aquired an old laptop dell latitude,450mhz cpu,6gb
> > hard drive 256 ram,can any one suggest a distro that will run on
> > this. but please remember its got to be fairly idiot proof to in
> > stall. cheers alex the (upancoming idiot) noob
> 
> Hi Alex :-)
> 
> I'm pretty new too; but have read about several distro's for older
> hardware. I added 2 articles to the "useful links" page of the dcglug
> site (in the older hardware section), they may be of use:-
> 
> http://www.dcglug.org.uk/node/95
> 
> There are lots of distros for older hardware it would seem. Puppy
> linux might be a good place to start. It runs in ram and is really
> quick.
> 
> http://puppylinux.org/main/index.php?file=Overview%20and%20Getting%20Started.htm
> 
> Other options:-
> 
> Vector Linux.
> 
> DSL - Dam small linux is often mentioned but does not seem to always
> get great write ups.
> 
> Slitaz linux has a very small 30MB install CD.
> 
> A customised version of Debian perhaps? (i dont know enough about
> this. Probably more difficult to install?)
> 
> Why not have a look on distrowatch.org for any more lite-weight
> distros?
> 
> Although I have done a _little_ reading about "lite-weight" distro's I
> have not had time to install many on my old hardware. Others will have
> greater experience and be able to provide better guidance.
> 
> I would have thought Puppy linux would be a reasonable place to start.
> It is available as a live CD so that you can simply try it out. It
> seems fairly easy :-) and I believe is now based on ubuntu 10.04.
> 
> I hope this helps? I would be interested to know how you get on? If
> you find any good articles perhaps you could add them to the useful
> links page?
> 
> Best wishes
> roly

As well as installing a "built for older computers" distro, you could
try installing Ubuntu or Debian but only installing a command-line and
then apt-getting only what you need - XFCE used to be highly
recommended for lower-end machines, but it seems to be getting more and
more RAM-hungry, which is a shame.  You could go for something like
IceWM or FVWM, etc.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/LowMemorySystems

Grant.

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