Linux for Thinkpad X30 (Pentium 3, 256 MB RAM)

I'm getting a cheap laptop and I want to put linux on it. This is what I need to run on it:

VLC
Firefox
Thunderbird
Openoffice
Tux Racer, Quake3

What linux would run the fastest on it? What would boot up the fastest? Ubuntu would be really nice but if another distro is faster, I'd be willing to try.

Here's it's specs:
Screen Size: 12"
Weight: 3.6lbs
Condition: Used/Refurbed
Processor: Intel P3-m, 1200Mhz Processor
RAM: 256Mb
Hard Drive Size: 20Gb
Connectivity: 10/100NIC & 56K & USB
Operating System: XP PRO

 

From what i have heard linux does run faster(vista) do not know about xp but I think you have made a good decision.

 

Oh no, I mean what distro of linux would be the best?

 

Xubuntu sounds like a good choice for that laptop.

 

so many choices.... it's hard to know where to begin. But for the most part, 'speed' will be dictated by the bells and whistles that one distro has vs. another rather than any fundamental system differences. Thus, if speed matters to you, you can run a lightweight distro, e.g. Xubuntu, or a highly-configurable distro, e.g. Gentoo.

In terms of boot times, you can either start as few services as possible at boot time, or look at replacing your init (not for the faint of heart): there are efforts to 'parallelize' the startup of all the daemons, services etc. during boot up. The main one is called initng and works on Ubuntu, Gentoo and others, though it's still beta.

Given that it's only got 256M ram, it may be best to keep the eye candy off. In which case Tailic is right, and Xubuntu would be a good choice. That's what I would use

If you really want to dig into linux and (possibly) squeeze a % or two in performance, try a source-based distribution like Gentoo.

 

XP SP2 runs just fine on my 700 Celeron/320M RAM. 256M is a little bit low but my boot up XP's footprint is only about 185M so still within range.

So unless you must try linux, I would say the XP Pro that is already there is a better option.

Open Office can be a little hard(be it under linux or Windows) but still runnable.

It sounds like a nice spec though.

 

Tux Racer doesn't run on Windows, and since XP still takes more resources than Linux (even if it's runnable), it won't be a good machine for Quake3. Not to mention XP would cost him at least $90 for an OEM version, whereas Linux is free. If he's getting a cheap laptop, I don't think paying more for software is in the plan.

I'd agree with the Xubuntu suggestions.

 

I was assuming XP Pro is already there "Operating System: XP PRO".

And BTW, my closed to 8 years old celeron 700 runs Quake 3 just fine at 640x480(or 800x600).

And there is Tux Racer for Windows.

 

I have heard good things about Arch Linux and Linux Mint from users on this forum. Check them out. Also, if you'd like to see a more complete list of all the options out there, visit www.distrowatch.com.