Results 1 to 17 of 17
  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Atlanta, GA
    Posts
    3,419

    Linux Distro for my old laptop!

    Here's the kicker, the laptop is a Pentium 166, with 64MB Memory, 2 GB harddrive.

    I'm currently running some old slackware derivative, and it's really not suiting my purposes as its not being updated anymore, theres hardly any support for it, and it doesnt work with anything.

    I need a good linux distro that I can put on my laptop, and it needs to be able to (hopefully natively, but if not, than without crazy modding)
    • run fluxbox
    • play MP3s (maybe) (it'll be tough to get it to work with my soundcard, but I can tinker around with it in the command line, I've done it before)
    • wirelessly connect using a PCMCIA card (if possible)
    • run gAIM
    • run an email client, lynx (the basics)
    • not kill my laptop (super important)


    I'm currently leaning heavily towards debian, being that it seems very configurable, and I can probably get it to work well on my laptop.

    If anyone has better ideas, please let me know.



    DISTROS NOT TO SUGGEST (for various reasons)
    • Knoppix
    • DSL(DamnSmallLinux)
    • Mandrake
    • Mandrake(obviously)
    • Vector Linux
    Ask about custom logo design! :: TalkSka.com - Your source for Ska News and Forums. Join today!
    AIM=IQPhat
    MSN=xshare101@hotmail.com
    EMAIL=Use the board's email system, please.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Connecticut
    Posts
    5,460
    Debian is nice but you'll need to find the drivers yourself. RedHat installed by default on my box, while Debian needed this-and-that-driver.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Atlanta, GA
    Posts
    3,419
    Originally posted by DanX
    Debian is nice but you'll need to find the drivers yourself. RedHat installed by default on my box, while Debian needed this-and-that-driver.
    Yea that's something I was thinking of too. I don't think RedHat (Fedora, rather) would work on my laptop thouhg, would it? Is RedHat very configurable during the install so that I can basically tell it not to install almost anything, including KDE, gnome, etc., and will I actually have any room left on my HDD after installing it?
    Ask about custom logo design! :: TalkSka.com - Your source for Ska News and Forums. Join today!
    AIM=IQPhat
    MSN=xshare101@hotmail.com
    EMAIL=Use the board's email system, please.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Western Canada
    Posts
    1,889
    I like debian. It can be as big or small as yout want.

    never had any driver problems either

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Atlanta, GA
    Posts
    3,419
    Originally posted by westcan
    I like debian. It can be as big or small as yout want.

    never had any driver problems either
    Alright, so do you think the best course for installation is to download the minimal CD and do the network download? Or should I get the full thing on an ISO and install? I'm leaning towards minimal CD.
    Ask about custom logo design! :: TalkSka.com - Your source for Ska News and Forums. Join today!
    AIM=IQPhat
    MSN=xshare101@hotmail.com
    EMAIL=Use the board's email system, please.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Western Canada
    Posts
    1,889
    Originally posted by Xshare
    Alright, so do you think the best course for installation is to download the minimal CD and do the network download? Or should I get the full thing on an ISO and install? I'm leaning towards minimal CD.
    I prefer the netinst

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Location
    Fairfax, Virginia
    Posts
    6,834
    Debian Sarge.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    3,103
    I always recommand slackware for older systems. Install is simple and customizable and it is compiled for i386.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Atlanta, GA
    Posts
    3,419
    Originally posted by sasha
    I always recommand slackware for older systems. Install is simple and customizable and it is compiled for i386.
    Hmm, the fact that it comes on 4 CDs kinda scares me though, for this old of a system.

    also: for debian, sarge or woody? I'm going with sarge currently (14% downloaded for the netinst.iso), but is there a reason to stick with woody?
    Last edited by Xshare; 10-11-2004 at 07:31 PM.
    Ask about custom logo design! :: TalkSka.com - Your source for Ska News and Forums. Join today!
    AIM=IQPhat
    MSN=xshare101@hotmail.com
    EMAIL=Use the board's email system, please.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Kansas City, MO
    Posts
    71
    I'm big on the Redhat "Fedora" distros... 7.3, 8, 9, and Core 1/2.
    Promethyl Corporate.
    Webhosting and Development.
    http://promethyl.com/

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
    Posts
    1,366
    I've heard good things about gentoo..
    - Matt

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Kuwait
    Posts
    5,104
    Gentoo is great for this sort of stuff. I set it up on this old 160 Mhz, 96 Meg RAM, 20 gig HDD Dell box to play around with Apache/PHP. I even had Fluxbox and Mozilla going on it!

    Gentoo is extermely configurable (since its a source based distro) and is very easy to maintain. Plus, like with other source based distros, you won't get all the extra cruft like you would with say RH. Give it a try.

    I can recommend some applications for you :

    mp3blaster (command line mp3 player)
    links2 (has javascript and primitive table support, and can be compiled to have image support (with framebuffer))
    mutt (probably one of the top 5 command line email clients. With procmail+fetchmail can be a very powerful tool)
    centericq (ICQ/Yahoo!/AIM/IRC/MSN/Jabber ncurses based client)

    Good luck with your distro hunt Good place to search for isos is linuxiso.org

  13. #13
    I love Gentoo and I'd recommend it too, although you may have some difficulty with the 2G hard drive. Portage is a little on the chunky side.

    Make sure to compile your own kernel to get all the drivers you need.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Jun 2003
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    6,616
    Originally posted by fyrestrtr
    Gentoo is great for this sort of stuff. I set it up on this old 160 Mhz, 96 Meg RAM, 20 gig HDD Dell box to play around with Apache/PHP. I even had Fluxbox and Mozilla going on it!
    How long did it take to compile? 2 weeks?

    Rus
    Russ Foster - Industry Curmudgeon
    Freelance Sysadmin for Hire - email vaserv@gmail.com

  15. #15
    That's another good point. I wouldn't particularly recommend a stage 1 if you do choose Gentoo. Stage 3 would be best to start, since it'd put you instantly online. You can always recompile everything later if you don't need to use it for a few days.

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Dec 2001
    Posts
    1,815
    You could install debian woody, then you can do apt pinning or use back ports if you wanted to., unless you really want or need to use sarge. I haven't had any driver problems with woody by the way, and I have some old NICs/sound cards.

    With that laptop, I'd start with a vanilla install, then add what you need as you go, no sense in putting a bunch of crap on there that you may not need.

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Kuwait
    Posts
    5,104
    Originally posted by jvds
    How long did it take to compile? 2 weeks?

    Rus
    GRP is nice

    Mozilla took a day (distcc rocks)

    Which I forgot to mention in my earlier post. If you have another computer laying around Xshare, you can use distcc to greatly speed up compiles on your old laptop. You can even use distcc to build your system, so you aren't sitting there staring at scrolling output of gcc and buildscripts for a week or so.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •