need help selecting distro for 4 year old laptop

I have a Packard Bell F5280 which I want to wipe clean and install linux on as the primary OS. The machine will be used for web browsing only, perhaps word processing on occasion.

I have limited linux experience but I am an advanced windows user. I have the LiveCD installers of the lastest versions of OpenSUSE, Ubuntu, Mandrova One and Xubuntu. Also this laptop is for an older family member who i would say is a novice windows user.

Initially I was thinking Xubuntu since it is regarded as the better performer for old systems but I have come across Puppy Linux, Damn Small Linux and Feather Linux - all have Firefox and a word processor! I am loking for the one that is easy to install and has the fastest performance. Looks arent too important.

I dont know which distro is best so I'm hoping someone can advise me. The specs on the laptop are:

Celeron 2.8 GHz (desktop version)
192 MB DDR RAM
40 GB HD
SiS M661FX 64MB IGP

Upgrading RAM is possible but I want a distro that will use what I have and give max performance, I dont want to waste money on this machine!!

Many thanks in advance.

 

In my experience Damn Small Linux would be the fastest out of them, but probably the hardest to use for a novice computer user, but I would recommend trying Slax its quite lightweight and simple to use and on that system it could run entirely from ram, making it extremely fast

 

Depends on how you define the 'best'.

If you want simple to install/configure, while relatively snappy, it's hard to beat xubuntu. It is my recommendation.

If you want to delve into the details of configuration, but really care about snappy, then maybe DSL or gentoo.

I've used both gentoo (with XFCE) and xubuntu on and old 400Mhz celeron and besides memory issues with open office, things were pretty responsive.

In the end, it is mainly the choice of applications that will define the end user experience. Much more so than the underlying distribution (so long as your hardware is well supported).

 

Thanks for the replys guys.

I am leaning towards xubuntu first and then puppy second, should xubuntu not work or be slow for any reason. Also, I found a puppy theme that replicates the look of XP. That would be very useful!

In terms of software, only Firefox is essential as everything else isn't too important. This is just a computer to surf the net with.

In terms of hardware, I have read in another forum of a user with the same model of laptop running xubuntu. There was no mention of version or performance. He posted a link to a guide to get sound working so I am assuming everything else works fine.

 

Xubuntu would be my first choice too. Also, it has a good user base to turn to for help if so required.

 

You can find the requirements here.

 

xubuntu (esp after reading the recommended sys req posted by John B) or puppy......puppy is pretty cool actually

 

my experience w/ puppy was great performance-wise, but it is really not the best looking distro around, and it is somewhat limited. definitely try to get xubuntu up and running on your lappy if you can (or perhaps the other great lightweight alternative wolvix?)

 

There will be a XFCE version of Linux Mint but it's currently in beta.

 

The Window Manager you choose will probably have the biggest effect on performance. You have plenty of CPU, but are light on memory. The mentioned XFCE is very good, and will be easy for a novice Windows user. The two 'main ones' KDE and Gnome have both gotten pretty bloated. Hardware is cheap, and users want eye candy. You can turn much of the junk off and make them all work better.

For example, most Linux variants will let you have multiple desktops. A novice user will never use this, so back it down to one and reduce memory requirements (Linux Mint does this by default, I think). You can turn off the bouncing icon crap in KDE with the (very non-intuitive) setting called 'Launch Feedback' in the Control Panel, under 'Appearance and Themes'.

Fluxbox is perhaps one of the lightest window mangers (Damn Small Linux uses this), but it will be sort of alien to a new user. There is no taskbar, right-clicking on the desktop gives you menus.

As far as your real question of which distro? Many will work, I would vote for Ubuntu. Try several and see what you think works the best. You should be able to view memory useage on any of them by just entering the command

Code:

free  <enter>

in a terminal window.

 

The SiS part may be troublesome too. Support for SiS thinner than Nvidia, Intel, and probly even ATI.
You may have to manually edit Xorg. Just to be safe, try booting into "safe graphics mode" the first time.
And you'll probly want to use the alt-install CD, not a LiveCD. LiveCD's need 256 RAM to run reliably.

 

Good point on the SIS, Telkwa. Basic good old Knoppix might be a good choice, for basic web/email. It's KDE GUI will not be too alien to a novice, and it's hardware requirements are lighter than most other distros. A hard drive install would probably work well.

 

I have a Inspiron 2600 celeron 1ghz, 256 MB ram, running PClinuxos with the xfce desktop. Fast, light, and easy to use. The Xubuntu live cid wouldn't boot for some reason, so if you have problems, try pclinuxos.

 

Thanks for the help everyone.

I will try the xubuntu live cd to see if everything is working ok. If so then I will proceed to install with the alt-cd. All failing, I will use puppy linux or pclos, whichever works i guess!

 

I suggest that you give SimplyMepis a try, your system meets the available system requirements list, and it's one of the fastest distros out there.

You can use XFCE with it if you need to, if performance is lacking, but the default KDE will be more windows like and full featured.

Check out this great thread while your at it.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=187152

 

OK I have the laptop and Linux hates it.

Xubuntu doesnt work, I get past the first menu screen, the loading bar comes up again then i get a blank screen with a flashing line and the system hangs.

I try PCLOS and the system hangs in normal livecd boot, I try safemode and i get a message like "using 8 pages for memory buffer" or something like that!

Ill post the exact error message in a bit when the laptop has restarted.

I HATE LINUX RAR!!!

edit: oh my bro upgraded it so it has 512mb ram

 

The laptop kicked out an error message that said "I HATE LINUX RAR" ?? Never heard that one...

You're misdirecting your anger and frustration. SIS wrote their drivers to work with Windows. Microsoft doesn't even have to do anything. SIS does all the work. Yet when someone running Windows downloads the drivers and their video card works, they always say, "Everything 'just works' with Microsoft!"

Linux developers get no love. They have to sit down and figure out how to make all those thousands of products work with Linux.

So you are in the unfortunate position of owning a laptop with an SIS chipset. SIS probably hasn't lifted a finger to write Linux drivers, and since they're not exactly a dominant force in the graphics world, those hard-working Linux developers are focusing their attention elsewhere.

If you had an old ThinkPad you'd be saying "I LOVE LINUX" right now.

 

Well obviously "i hate linux" was not the error message. I'll be sure to nominate you for an award for that.

Xubuntu and PCLOS failed where DSL did not. I just tested it and it worked but looked worse than win98. But at least i made it to the desktop.

I made it past the blank screen (xubuntu is so damn random) and its stuck on the following for over 30 mins now:

* Starting Common Unix Printing System: cupsd

Also, I've had this problem posted on the ubuntu forums for a day now and not a single person has responded. So much for the "expert community".

 

Debian could work, download the debian CD1 and install it. It's a bit more "involved" than getting Ubuntu up and running but it's easy enough if you follow the instructions...you just have to select to install the "desktop" in addition to the base.

downloads: http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/4.0_r2/i386/iso-cd/

they have an XFCE one at the bottom if you want to use that (the regular one has Gnome as the desktop environment).

 

I have been using VectorLinux 5.9. Working fine on a Satellite 2805 with 20gb hdd and 192mb ram. The install is a bit techy but after it's up and running it's fine. Posting from the above mentioned machine now. Keith

 

Try using the Alternate install CD. It won't boot up as a LiveCD, but it is compatible with a much larger range of hardware. It's what I have to use with my desktop since I have a weird mix of hardware... the LiveCD just dumps to a busybox command line and won't do anything after that.

 

I dont like the alt cd since it doesnt even install xfce. Since i cannot configure wireless/ethernet unless im in the desktop to use ndiswrapper, this is a poitnless solution. Is xfce included on the cd?