From: jch on
"jch" <jch(a)nospam.com> wrote in message
news:hqr3tt$v15$1(a)news.albasani.net...
> I've got an old laptop with a 500MHz CPU and 128M RAM. What version of
> linux would run on such a limited system? Right now I have Windows ME but
> would like to replace it with linux just to play around. I don't want
> puppy linux which from what I gather resides on a CD. I actually want to
> load linux on the HD and run it from there. What would you receommend?
>
> Thanks.

Just to follow up to post my findings, since I asked for recommendations,
I've experimented with Slackware, Absolute Linux, Puppy Linux, Damn Small
Linux and Debian. So far they all work on my minimal system and that is
more than I expected. Furthermore, there is A LOT more free space on my HD
than was available when I had Windows ME installed. Increasing free disk
space and usability for my old laptop were the main drivers in ditching
win-ME and going for a light weight Linux installation.

So far I like Debian the best and I've discovered LXDE. I can run IceWeasel
(Firefox), aMule (downloading content), and play around in a terminal window
at the same time on my 128M system. Aptitude works very well downloading
and updating various packages and somewhow with LXDE, I got back the use of
my laptop system standby and hibernate functions which I didn't have with
iceWM, fluxbox, xfce, or other lite managers I worked with. I really like
LXDE and recommend it though I don't care for the panel icons and I'm
looking for a way to change those. I've just finished downloading Lubuntu
(a lite version of Ubuntu) though its in beta and updated only 4 days ago.
I hate to tear down my system to look at it but will try to do so later.
Lubuntu also uses LXDE/openbox as well. Linux is cool.


From: ray on
On Wed, 28 Apr 2010 18:56:28 -0400, jch wrote:

> "jch" <jch(a)nospam.com> wrote in message
> news:hqr3tt$v15$1(a)news.albasani.net...
>> I've got an old laptop with a 500MHz CPU and 128M RAM. What version of
>> linux would run on such a limited system? Right now I have Windows ME
>> but would like to replace it with linux just to play around. I don't
>> want puppy linux which from what I gather resides on a CD. I actually
>> want to load linux on the HD and run it from there. What would you
>> receommend?
>>
>> Thanks.
>
> Just to follow up to post my findings, since I asked for
> recommendations, I've experimented with Slackware, Absolute Linux, Puppy
> Linux, Damn Small Linux and Debian. So far they all work on my minimal
> system and that is more than I expected. Furthermore, there is A LOT
> more free space on my HD than was available when I had Windows ME
> installed. Increasing free disk space and usability for my old laptop
> were the main drivers in ditching win-ME and going for a light weight
> Linux installation.
>
> So far I like Debian the best and I've discovered LXDE. I can run
> IceWeasel (Firefox), aMule (downloading content), and play around in a
> terminal window at the same time on my 128M system. Aptitude works very
> well downloading and updating various packages and somewhow with LXDE, I
> got back the use of my laptop system standby and hibernate functions
> which I didn't have with iceWM, fluxbox, xfce, or other lite managers I
> worked with. I really like LXDE and recommend it though I don't care
> for the panel icons and I'm looking for a way to change those. I've
> just finished downloading Lubuntu (a lite version of Ubuntu) though its
> in beta and updated only 4 days ago. I hate to tear down my system to
> look at it but will try to do so later. Lubuntu also uses LXDE/openbox
> as well. Linux is cool.

I'm glad you found something that works for you. I'm becoming more
impressed with Debian as time goes bye. Have it on one of my desktop
machines and on the wife's eeepc (4gb SSD).