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Ultra-light (preferably levitating) linux?
Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2006 8:23 pm
by Trond
What linux distro should I choose for this old computer?
CPU: 233 Mhz
Was: 133 Mhz
Memory: 128 Mb
Was: 64 Mb
HD: 1.something Gb
CD: 52x
Can't boot from CD (But I want a CD distro where I can start the install after booting some floppy linux)
Edit: I posted the wrong specs (or actually the correct specs but for the wrong computer). I don't know if this computer can boot from CD, but I think so.
I want a distro with a desktop environment that has uniform look and feel.
This means I won't use DSL since it uses fluxbox and fluxbox doesn't use Gtk, so the desktop menu doesn't look like the other menus.
DeLi linux uses IceWM which also draws its own menu (and even uglier). It's not an option.
Featherweight Linux is way too heavy as it will use 1/2 the hd after installation.
Feather Linux uses fluxbox and IceWM.
Candidates with cons:
Bonzai Linux - Too slow? - KDE
DragonLinux - Made for co-existance with Windows/Dos
OpenBSD - (Not linux), Too slow?
NetBSD - (Not linux), never tried it so I don't know how stuff is done
Puppy Linux - Looks like it uses non-gtk menu, I don't like dogs!!!!!!
Tiny Linux - Floppy installation only?
Old version of Slackware - Old
What do you people think?
And as I searched I ran across this which I thought was kind of funny:
As Linux distributions strive to be more "user friendly" and to compete head-on with MS-Windows, the hardware requirements keep rising. Most distros now expect you to have a Pentium with 32meg RAM and lots of HDD space. Yes, indeed, you sure need a powerful machine for all that point-and-click eye-candy.
Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2006 8:53 pm
by Beach
Personally, I would go with a minimal install of Debian with XFCE as the windows manager. You can get a good setup and only use about 700mb or so of hard drive space. This is the combination I am putting together for the next PureWinLin project.
Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2006 9:01 pm
by Trond
Beach wrote:and only use about 700mb
Only? That's half of the disk!
Edit: Where are you planning to host such a huge project?
Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2006 9:21 pm
by GeoTrail
I have an old laptop I'd like to install Linux on.
It has a 266 MHz cpu and 96 MB of ram. The harddisk is only 400 or 500 MB. Any takers? Guess the HD will be the biggest challenge.
Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2006 9:32 pm
by thamarok
Trond wrote:Beach wrote:and only use about 700mb
Only? That's half of the disk!
Edit: Where are you planning to host such a huge project?
Try XUBUNTU. It worked fine on my old machine and yes it has a 1Gb hard drive.
Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2006 9:50 pm
by Trond
thamarok wrote:Trond wrote:Beach wrote:and only use about 700mb
Only? That's half of the disk!
Edit: Where are you planning to host such a huge project?
Try XUBUNTU. It worked fine on my old machine and yes it has a 1Gb hard drive.
Don't make me laugh.

I want something fast.
Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2006 10:08 pm
by dracflamloc
I got debian with fluxbox and g++ and libs necessary for PB onto 500MB booting off a 1GB flash drive
Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2006 10:11 pm
by thamarok
Trond wrote:thamarok wrote:Trond wrote:Beach wrote:and only use about 700mb
Only? That's half of the disk!
Edit: Where are you planning to host such a huge project?
Try XUBUNTU. It worked fine on my old machine and yes it has a 1Gb hard drive.
Don't make me laugh.

I want something fast.
XUbuntu is fast! it uses XFCE and I can remember how fast it was on my old 233Mhz CPU!
Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2006 12:20 am
by Joakim Christiansen
Why not DSL?
Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2006 12:35 am
by dracflamloc
Damnsmall would be a good choice if it offers yout he apps you need. It can be installed to HD i'm pretty sure.
Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2006 12:51 am
by Beach
Trond wrote:Beach wrote:and only use about 700mb
Only? That's half of the disk!
Edit: Where are you planning to host such a huge project?
Ummm... ever heard of compression?
Seriously, I'm able to get it down to under 300mb compressed - this is with all libs required for PB programming, Firefox, and a few other things I think are necessary.
Edit: Regarding hosting - I have my own server which I host a few of my clients sites on. Also, PureStorage is there with a little over 2GB of user data currently.
Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2006 11:57 am
by Trond
thamarok wrote:Trond wrote:thamarok wrote:Trond wrote:Beach wrote:and only use about 700mb
Only? That's half of the disk!
Edit: Where are you planning to host such a huge project?
Try XUBUNTU. It worked fine on my old machine and yes it has a 1Gb hard drive.
Don't make me laugh.

I want something fast.
XUbuntu is fast! it uses XFCE and I can remember how fast it was on my old 233Mhz CPU!
No it isn't. On this computer I can boot and shutdown zenwalk before Xubuntu has finished booting. Also I don't like how it deletes my files without asking.
Joakim Christiansen wrote:Why not DSL?
dracflamloc wrote:Damnsmall would be a good choice if it offers yout he apps you need. It can be installed to HD i'm pretty sure.
What did my post say about DSL?
Beach wrote:
Ummm... ever heard of compression?
Seriously, I'm able to get it down to under 300mb compressed - this is with all libs required for PB programming, Firefox, and a few other things I think are necessary.
I have like 30 mb hosting so I think I would need some über-compression for that.

Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2006 11:59 am
by Trond
GeoTrail wrote:I have an old laptop I'd like to install Linux on.
It has a 266 MHz cpu and 96 MB of ram. The harddisk is only 400 or 500 MB. Any takers? Guess the HD will be the biggest challenge.
If that's all of your requirements (you don't want it to look ok) then you should get DSL.
Re: Ultra-light (preferably levitating) linux?
Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2006 12:08 pm
by mskuma
Trond wrote:Puppy Linux - Looks like it uses non-gtk menu, I don't like dogs!!!!!!
Yes it is non-gtk because AFAIK gtk contributes to bloat, and that's the reason Puppy doesn't have gtk by default, but having said that - on their forum there are people who have reported a build with gtk. Apart from that point, it's a very good distro for lightness since you can run it from a 128Mb USB if you wanted to.
Re: Ultra-light (preferably levitating) linux?
Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2006 12:31 pm
by Trond
mskuma wrote:Trond wrote:Puppy Linux - Looks like it uses non-gtk menu, I don't like dogs!!!!!!
Yes it is non-gtk because AFAIK gtk contributes to bloat, and that's the reason Puppy doesn't have gtk by default, but having said that - on their forum there are people who have reported a build with gtk. Apart from that point, it's a very good distro for lightness since you can run it from a 128Mb USB if you wanted to.
It does have Gtk but it's not used for the desktop menu.