Which Distro?

sabashuali

sabashuali

Ani Ma'amin
Hi all

Further to my 'slightly' over excited post regarding the newold laptop,
What is the quickest distro out there which still supports a desktop enviorment?

Time is of no essence as this laptop will start off the network and it will not be my main PC
untill it is ready to be one....

Thanks....

Sorry... I should have mentioned the hardware....
I am hoping it is more but for the moment, lets assume it is a PIII 700Mhz with 128MB RAM.
 
I think any distro will be good if configured for that type of machine. Maybe a low setup Mandriva with IceWM or a light desktop environment? You could try Fluxbox, Enlightenment, Xfce.... Definately not KDE or GNOME though.
 
Yes, the thing that will slow it most is the heaviness of the GUI you choose, but of course that is not the only factor. A P3 w/128mb RAM would run Mandriva with Xfce quite happily, so anything under that would be even faster. I guess it really depends on what you intend to do with it.
 
mmmm not really sure yet.

I suppose experimental at first. But probably my own workstation away from the squaters' machine which will run windows for the less fortunate...
hehe, only jesting.

I am really not 100% sure. It will not be for anything but light office work and internet surfing. Maybe I will make it my gateway? As it is probably silent most of the time, perhaps it will be good for standing between my home and the WWW goblins.....as a hardware firewall?

As you can see... I have not got a solid idea just yet.
But as always suggestions are greatly welcomed..... :cool:

By the way, AT, do you get to choose the desktop enviourment at the begining of the installation? or is it something you need to do once you have mandriva installed and running?
My only problem with Mandriva is that it comes on a DVD and this laptop will definately not have a DVD drive.... :(
 
Laptops are not really designed to be on all the time, as evidenced by their poor cooling and delicate components. Therefore, a laptop would probably be a poor choice for an always-on device such as a firewall. Furthermore, you could actually sell that laptop for enough to buy 3 or more systems which are each good enough to act as a firewall or lightweight server, so IMHO it'd be a waste all the way around. In conclusion, I do think a dedicated firewall system would be a really good thing for you, I just don't think using the laptop for that purpose would be in your best interests.

If I was you, I would choose a general-purpose distro such as Mandriva or Ubuntu (Ubuntu has a better implementation of Xfce, but Mandriva has better wireless support). Just use a medium to lightweight window manager and disable any unnecessary services. My mom's actually got an old HP laptop with a 600MHz PIII and 256mb PC100 and she runs Mandriva 2006 just fine, even with KDE. [ot]Normally I would have a Linux rig do auto-updates, but with a laptop this is impractical since it is not on during a regular schedule. In my mom's case, I wrote a simple update script, gave her sudo privileges to run it, and stuck a nice-looking icon for it on her desktop. Just thought the info might help... Yes, my mom runs Linux. She asked me for it, so don't bother heckling. :P[/ot]
 
RThat's great AT.

As usual, a really good informative reply.
I will conceder all your suggestions.

Unfortunately due to the nature of this gift, I cannot sell it.....
So I am afraid it is the laptop or nothing.....

But I hear what you are saying.
I would probably use it for surfing and general hardware education....

[ot] I wish my mom would listen to me rather that calling her IdioT (never thought of this one before) in all the time [/ot]
 
sabashuali said:
By the way, AT, do you get to choose the desktop enviourment at the begining of the installation? or is it something you need to do once you have mandriva installed and running?
My only problem with Mandriva is that it comes on a DVD and this laptop will definately not have a DVD drive.... :(
Click to expand...
Yeah.. I'm not AT, but the answer to your question is yes. When you install mandriva (and most/all other linux distros) you get an option of what gui to use. Bear in mind, this isn't a full list of every gui available, but you'll be able to choose between several. I dont quite recall which ones, but I think the ones immediately available are Gnome, Kde, Ice WM, and "other". As for the DVD problem, you can always just download a few iso's to fit on cds and your set.. or if you dont have broadband, go to cheapbytes.com and order a couple disks for real cheap. Anyway, hope it helps.
 
Thanks Fred.

What CD's are the must ones? Is it logical like -
1 will have the base system and from 2 onwards are all packages?

I have broadband so it is no problem to DL a few iso's.

By the way things have just got a hell of a lot better!

Not one but two! Yes...
One is a Compaq Armada M300 with Pentium III (not sure of the speed) and 128MB RAM. And the other... wait for it -
P4 m (for mobile... how creative) and not sure about the RAM (probably 256MB).
I think the P4 is a 1.8 or so..... ooooohhhhh the joys!!!!

[ot] Does anyone know how to reset the CMOS on these babies?[/ot]
 
You lucky b*tch, :D.

CMOS I was wondering myself, there might be a battery area or a jumper if you open them up from underneath.
 
sabashuali said:
One is a Compaq Armada M300 with Pentium III (not sure of the speed) and 128MB RAM.
Does anyone know how to reset the CMOS on these babies?
Click to expand...

I own a Compaq Armada M300 :)

All you need to do is pull the battery out to reset the CMOS. That also removes any passwords :) These Armadas are not very secure!

I know all there is to know about the M300. It comes it two flavours - ~500MHz & ~600MHz. Both models can support a maximum of 320MB PC100 RAM. (64MB Built in + 256MB stick)

The M300 is tiny, so there is no room for CD-ROM or FDD. Hopefully yours will come with the MEU (mobile expansion unit) that includes these devices
 
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