 Free Scan: Update Your PC's Outdated Drivers to Optimize Performance 
October 16th, 2007, 08:15 AM
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#1 (permalink)
| | Ultimate Member
Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Sydney, Australia
Posts: 3,703
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Hey all,
I have just inheritted an old laptop...
Its a P3 900Mhz with i think 128MB ram, dvd-rom... not sure on other specs off top of my head...
Windows runs like a dog on it... So i'm thinking about toying around with a Linux distro on it, but have no idea what a good distro would be...
So... any and all help would be appreciated...
Have meddled with Mandrake aaaagggggeessss ago... And thats about all the linux experience i have... So something fairly forgiving would be a good start...
Cheers!
JayMan
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October 16th, 2007, 09:59 AM
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#2 (permalink)
| | "she does what she does"
Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Boston, MA
Posts: 5,781
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__________________
When life hands you lemons, make lemonade. But when life hands you a load of crap, don't make anything.
Trust me on this one.
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October 16th, 2007, 04:57 PM
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#3 (permalink)
| | Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: NE Pennsylvania
Posts: 725
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I'd have to say pclinuxos I suppose.
Looking at your specs and to have some nice features.
Get the livecd version and try it out first, works nice for every machine I ever tried it on with little fuss.
Just my opinion.
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October 16th, 2007, 06:36 PM
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#4 (permalink)
| | Folding@home since 1862!
Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: ~/
Posts: 8,102
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I second Trendy. Ubuntu is great for starters. Maybe check out Ubuntu Studio also. It's come with a good bit of programs pre installed.
Debian would be my next recommendation.
Good Luck!  | |
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October 17th, 2007, 12:35 AM
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#5 (permalink)
| | Super F@D Folder
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 5,004
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wait for the new version of ubuntu in 2 days  lol. I second...or third...or something ubuntu | |
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October 17th, 2007, 12:42 AM
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#6 (permalink)
| | Ultimate Member
Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Sydney, Australia
Posts: 3,703
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I think I saw somewhere that ubuntu needed 256MB ram to run the GUI installer... Could be an issue with the laptop probably only having 128MB...
Or do you think it'll still run?
Cheers
JayMan | |
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October 17th, 2007, 11:23 AM
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#7 (permalink)
| | Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Virginia Beach, Va
Posts: 603
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If it gives you issues you could try out Xubuntu. Basically same OS just different window manager (Xfce).
Xfce is a nice window manager, and definitely not as heavy as say Gnome (Ubuntu default) or KDE, which are full desktop environments.
I have an old IBM Thinkpad i1300 with Gentoo using Xfce4 and it screams for its age.
Some screenshots of Xubuntu.
__________________
"There are only 10 kinds of people in the world, those that can read binary, and those that cannot."
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October 18th, 2007, 01:36 AM
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#8 (permalink)
| | Ultimate Member
Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Sydney, Australia
Posts: 3,703
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I think i might be able to find some more ram for the laptop laying around at work...
If not... can grab a 256MB stick for about $30 (AUS) from ebay... Not too much to lay down to get the laptop workable...
JayMan | |
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October 18th, 2007, 03:02 AM
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#9 (permalink)
| | Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2003
Posts: 949
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I am using Ubuntu on an old machine 950/384 and it chugs very slowly. Ubuntu is great and I have used it on better machines and no complaints. You might want to go with a more lightweight flavor.
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Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you,
Jesus Christ and the American G. I. One died for your soul; The other for your freedom
Last edited by excuzzzeme : October 18th, 2007 at 03:47 AM.
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