Which version of Linux should I use????

[loopback48]

keratam old buddy, I don't think you'll be doing much with the machine you've got except surfing the web and checking your email. Not enough RAM and the HD is just barely big enough for the OS. Maybe not?!

But one must do what one can with what one has. Try one of the mini distros. Give DSL a try. Go to Distrowatch.com and lookup DamnSmallLinux.

[loopback48]

double post. Sorry.

[JohnT]

Burn yourself a copy of Puppylinux Live CD about 100mb and if you like it install it.....good for old machines.


P-s-s-s-t...Hey kid ..gotta deal on Slackware here....don't listen to those other guys's. They'll just steer ya wrong. It's not really habit forming like they say. It's healthy too.

[saikee]

David38400 & keratam,

Welcome to Justlinux.

For small distros Damn Small Linux is about 50Mb while Pupply is under 100Mb.

One can run a Linux without a hard disk but 64Mb of ram may be a challenge.

[clw54]

Whatever you choose, give it a year or so and then try Slackware.

[JamminJoeyB]

Don't listent to the slackware guy, how about don't listent to the fedora guy. Depenency hell, need I say more?

Seriously, get a distro suited to your hardware and then come talk to us slackware guys about running linux on older hardware. Slackware guys like to see just how crusty a system we can run on slackware, well at least I like to.

[keratam]

thank you thank you thank you very much my dear friends for your responses. i think its time for me to rock!!
i will give a try to DSL, puppylinux and sabayonlinux. i've downloaded the iso image of dsl. the other two i have to.

thank you frens again..

getting the ticket to enter the linux world with all smiles..
-Keratam

[David38400]

Hi to all those Linux people that have replied to my earlier posting. I really appreciate all your help, but I am still confused. My computer is only a couple of years old and has a big capacity so this shouldn't be a problem. I just want to use my computer at home for the usual things like Open Office, Excel etc., and surf the net, download music and play music and videos etc., I have a copy of the UBUNTU book with a live CD so will start here for the moment. I can't wait to get rid of Windows XP!!! No doubt we'll speak again. Ciao

[!kiX!]

If you have a decent box with at least 512 MB of RAM, then I'd suggest you to try either Kubuntu or PCLinuxOS. Both of them make solid starting points, as they are the most newbie-friendly Linux distributions with helpful communities. Of course, it's all about choice in Linux world and you may end up finding something else to suit your liking. I ended up with Arch Linux, but I would not suggest it to any newbies out there, since you would have to have developed at least some knowledge and preferences to install it.

[irlandes]

hi people. here r my system details.. plz suggest me a distro that would be ideal for these:

celeron 333MHz processor, 64 MB RAM, 4GB hard disk.

which distro would run on this well and give me a way to enjoy music, movies, easy with hardware installations and connect to the internet (all common browsing, downloading, uploading, mailing, chatting, etc)

i've tried to install Ubuntu but it has a problem while installing which no one could ideally solve until now as per the related forums. n may be my sytem requirements are far too less for Ubuntu.

thanks in advance for the advice.

-Keratam, Hyd, India.

You are asking a lot for an old computer. With Puppy Linux some of the basic stuff will work on there. The part I am not sure about with Puppy is movies and music. Mail and browsing fine.

[!kiX!]

Music will definitely work with some kind of a light music player. Movies should also be possible to get to work, but I've never tried on a Linux box with that old computer. Perhaps with some light window manager like Openbox?

[Alpine CH]

celeron 333MHz processor, 64 MB RAM, 4GB hard disk.

I have managed to install DSL on an even older computer with 233MHz and 64MB RAM and 6 or 8GB Harddisk. It was a very old Sony Vaio but after some setting up on the display side it runs OK. The only problem I have with it is the wireless application that has to be setup still. But some day that will also work ....

Would be Debian minimal install be an option and then IceWM/ROX or Fluxbox or something? Would be practically DSL but would have the apt-get option of Debian making installs a bit easier.....

[xandrosuser]

I’ve played with Linux for over 10 years and I still consider myself a newbie, but I never felt it was ready for prime time on the desktop. In the last year 2 things have changed my mind, 1 the release of MS Vista and 2 the release of Xandros 4.0. I must say Xandros has been helping me get over my addiction to windows, of the 8-10 different distro’s of Linux I have tried, Xandros is the most user friendly. I have tried it on family and friends from 8 to 80 and they take to it like a fish to water.

Now I know all of you Linux Pro’s will say “but it’s not free” no it’s not free, but it is a worthwhile investment for the windows user who wants to try Linux. It comes with a 1-inch thick user guide that will help even the novice computer user through the setup. And if you can’t do without MS Office like my sister, I installed Internet explorer and office 2003 with Crossover office to make her feel at home. And myself I still use MS FrontPage 2000 to edit the web site that I do for my father’s WWII vets group. So I think this is great, I can still use my old MS software and never give Mr. Bill another dime.

I only wish that when I bought my last laptop someone were selling a Linux ready laptop; I had to settle for if you put XP on it I’d buy it. Of course they tried, they sent one with Vista and I sent it back. Now I know HP and Dell are selling Linux laptops.

The one thing you need to get Linux on more desktops is a distro like Xandros. I don’t know how many of you Linux Pro’s have tried it but they do have a 30-day trial that you can download. I hear very little about this OS, but if you want to get your friends and family who use windows to try Linux this is the one.

http://www.xandros.com/products/home/home_edition.html

[saikee]

I am not a Linux pro but one of my boxes has two free versions of Xandros installed. In a way I have been keeping an eye on Xandros for a while. I would say it is a direct competitor to Linspire.

If I want a MS system I use a MS system. If I want a Linux I use a Linux. Xandro is somewhere in between.

It is the same for someone who wants to use a paid proprietary system or a free open source Linux. To pay for a free system pre-configured in a certain way is a very narrow market.

My basic objection to this distro is as a normal user it mounts the partitions as "c", "D", "E", etc and the standard filing system of /, /boot, /usr, /home are hidden away. I think a normal user needs the root privilege just to see them.

It is a "tragic" way to learn a Linux system that does deal with its fundamental filing system. How would a Linux user know what /usr or /boot is for in Xandros I never know.

May be I am looking at it from a different angle as I do not destroy a MS system to intsall a Linux. I simply mount whatever I need from the MS partitions to get what I want in Linux and there are free programs like ext2ifs that I can mount Linux partition for use inside a MS system.

Therefore to me personally it is much more important to learn the skill to access data from one OS to another system. Many programs and working between different OSes are very similar in nature and it is a truly "rewarding" to be abe to appreciate why things are done in a certain way regardless which system is being used.

There are a lot of things ready made in Xandros for a Linux user but this advantage is pregressively eroded by new versions of Linux like Ubuntu and PCLinuxOS which are equally capable and user-friendly.

I would say Xandros is a good all-rounder and particularly friendly to Windows users. It does so at the expense of being significantly slower than the other distros. It is possible that the free versions are older and so are slower by default.

The quality of a distro can be reflected in the way it handles certain tasks. My Xandros run Lilo and its Xandros installer attempts to multi-boot every Linux in my box by compiling the longest /etc/lilo.conf I have ever seen. Don't think I actually counted the number of systems it tried to multi-boot but it is several times more than 27 images. Its Lilo does not support booting more than 27 images but the Xandros installer apparently doesn't know that.

[quip]

Or how about NOT having that garbage around at all, then you don't have to worry about the kids or wife finding it?

Uhhh...because I like looking at nekkid people...or maybe I'm just a perv.

Either way, I think you're just a little too dismissive of a man, his innovative dream, and the will to make it happen...

Go blackbelt_jones!