Which Linux Distrib.

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Ubiquie

25 posts

Geek

#15407 21-Aug-2007 13:45

I'm a newbee, so go easy on me.

I was looking for a Linux distribution to run on an old pentium II, say 450/533 64/128k ram. I thought all linux was created equal, and would run on preety much anything. I downloaded Ubuntu 7.04 only to find the minimum specs are beyond the hardware I have.

Okay, so it is a great looking operating system, I'm sure a faster better machine would do it proud.

The downloads for Fedora etc. all appear to require lots of ram. Can anyone please recommend a distrib. that will run on my hardware?

I really just want to play in command mode, and learn some Linux/Unix commands etc.

Thanks

destined

45 posts

Geek

#83141 21-Aug-2007 13:49

The best distro I can recommend to you if you want to learn is Gentoo (www.gentoo.org). Yes, it will take a while to install on a Pentium II (do a stage 3 install to save time), but it is the best distribution for teaching and guiding you through learning Linux. The main downside (which can be an upside depending on how you look at) is that you have to compile most of your packages for the computer, which will take lots of time on your machine. The user documentation is great for stepping you through installing Gentoo, the people in the forums are friendly and helpful, and you will learn heaps in the process!

m3mberman

34 posts

Geek

#83144 21-Aug-2007 13:58

Talking with experience here, I had a similar machine and after playing with a lot of distros, I finally managed to settle on SimplyMEPIS. It runs nice on a 3/400 Mhz machine and I'm guessing that's 128 MB ram you are talking about. Another alternative, if you are not really keen about graphics would be Damn Small Linux, mind you SLAX is also a good option.
Hope this helps.

coloured

15 posts

Geek

#83160 21-Aug-2007 16:18

I use opensuse on my work laptop, configured to authenticate with the windows domain controller.

I have used everything, slackware, redhat, mandrake, gentoo, to name a few... So far opensuse has been the most friendly of all distros - the most usable day to day linux disto I have had the pleasure to use :)

www.opensuse.org

barf

643 posts

Ultimate Geek

#83195 21-Aug-2007 18:33

XUbuntu is the cut-down version of Ubuntu for lower-memory and older systems.

Sniffing the glue holding the Internet together

Ubiquie

25 posts

Geek

#83250 21-Aug-2007 22:44

Many thanks to all, I will give some of the above a try.

Cheers

rwales

122 posts

Master Geek

#83261 22-Aug-2007 01:22

The best distro I can recommend to you if you want to learn is Gentoo

This is true, although for a first introduction to Linux, Gentoo might be a little steep. Speaking from personal experience, I found installing Gentoo and getting things working (i.e. ALSA, wifi etc. on a VAIO) was an up-hill battle.

XUbuntu is the cut-down version of Ubuntu

Never tried XUbuntu but I found installing/working with Ubuntu (Feisty) a breeze. I would definitely recommend it as an intro to Linux.

chakkaradeep

799 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#83360 22-Aug-2007 16:56

I would recommend either Ubuntu or Novell SUSE

;)

Regards,
Chaks

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