*nix for an older PC?

I have an old PC I'd like to get up and running for some basic tasks (like output to my TV for some basic gaming, media streaming, and some very basic web browsing, etc) so I've been looking for a very light linux distro thats still somewhat easy to use (still a relative newbie to linux, I have a fair understanding of it though, and I know how to use google so)

the stats of the PC are:

400Mhz celeron
128MB RAM
30GB HDD

Now I have tons of RAM for this system, the problem is only one of the DIMM slots work on it (the rest have bad pins) and I only have 128MB modules, so this as much as I can put in it, I'd hate to see this system go to waste as it runs fine aside from being outdated and the DIMM problem.

 

since ram is concern chose pure lxde or Fluxbox based system

mint lxde 8, mint xfce 8, fedora xfce 13, xubuntu 10.04, papermintos linux and vector linux


all of them are very good and light on resources lxde is very light its work well with the help of swap it will work also i it dont work choose Fluxbox based system they ran on 64 ram as well

http://vectorlinux.com/products[/ur...all Linux they are pretty light wight too :))

 

please check that as well

http://forums.linuxmint.com/search.php?sid=27d83e0063d1545d23894f666334feae

also create swap with help of gparted tool before making installation

best thing you can do is create partitions including swap with live cd then shut down for 2-5 mins let your ram free after that start and do installation

 

check this

http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/puppy-5.html

 

http://antix.mepis.org/index.php/Main_Page

antix is what you need. It's debian so you have access to that huge repo. It runs about 30mbs ram or so at idle and is a truely amazing distro. Check it out, I swear you won't be disappointed.

Install smxi and exoodles to make setting up graphics cards and multimedia that little bit easier.

http://smxi.org/
http://ex.505.ru/

Edit:- exoodles is already installed

I used to advocate the use of puppy or slitaz etc but nothing compares to antix for low end machines.

 

no idea about antix.mepis but as far new puppy is based on ubuntu lts its pretty rock solid and very good on resorces its takes aprox 100 mb ram when playing vlc etc also you got swap of 256 so there is no ram problem

thanks for your review on antix beavenburt i check that one as well

 

I'll try them all, not looking for a speed demon, just something to play around with.

 

I have an old Toshiba laptop, 300 mHz, either 64MB or 128MB of Ram (can't remember) and a pcmcia wireless adapter. I installed Slackware, which was a bit of a challenge, but everything works. Don't use Gnome, use a lighter desktop. One thing to consider, I installed from a CD and my laptop was sooo slow, the installation took about 4 hours.

Jim

 

http://kmandla.wordpress.com/2010/07/19/five-distros-for-slow-machines/

based on this, my recommendation would be wholeheartedly for Debian.

 

Well based on his whole blog, I think Crux linux would be his heartiest recommendation to get things running.

However, based on my experience, I have found NetBSD and OpenBSD to work amazingly well on old machines. What's even better is you don't even have to waste time using google for answers with them, since their websites (between the FAQ and manuals for OpenBSD and the Guide for NetBSD) have all the answers you'll need.

Cheers,

Alphalutra1

 

Well Debian also has the superb packaging system and repositories and thats where it outscores all.

 

It's all about antix baby. It'll fly on those specs with access to the largest repo in linux world. Hell, even gnome-core runs in only 50megs ram when installed in antix!

 

True, AntiX is looking to be a real good prospect.

 

It's amazing linuxforall. The only reasons I don't run it fall time is that i'm capable of installing my own debian system, plus my pc is man enough to run something more resource intensive.

 

Might give it a try on my P-III Vaio, currently its running Lubuntu.

 

Download the full iso with icewm and fluxbox and give it a thorough test. You'll love it, trust me.

 

I most certainly will, thanks a lot.

 

I've probably bigged it up too much now and you'll be disappointed.

 

No, you're right, it is quite nice. I've tried it before myself....

 

Woof Woof !!
http://www.puppylinux.com/
For the more mature HW

 

Been trying Antix on an old laptop that i have been given with only 128mb of ram and an 8mb graphics card.

Very suprised just how well it actually runs, the basic version boots and runs very fast suprisingly, the full version whilst a little slower runs quite well.
As i am only really wanting it for browsing it looks like it has sprung new life into a 9 year old laptop.

 

Have you tried Crunchbang linux? Its also supposed to consume minimal resources.
http://crunchbanglinux.org/

Based on and 100% compatible with Debian Squeeze.

 

Great choice.