Best Linux build for a slow Eee900 with the dog slow 4gb SSD? DSL or Puppy Linux?

[TurtleCrusher]

I'm looking to switch my Eee900 to linux as winXP SP3 (and XPlite) is frustrating slow in loading everything. When something hits the HDD, the system doesnt hang but its unusable until something has loaded. When I surf the net there are HDD hits every time I go to a new page, despite tweaking everything in FF and Chrome. I've tweaked it to all hell, yet it still takes 3 to 5 minutes after boot to run without deadly pauses. Heres the specs:

900mhz Celeron M (Pent 3 equiv, downclocks to 600mhz on battery)
2GB DDR2
4GB dead dog slow SSD
GMA 915
1024x600 9"

Does either of these OSes support the Eee900? I!d love have have a windows replacement with a very small footprint. Hopefully have it all run in memory. I use this netbook for light browsing and some word processing. Some light video as well (non-flash).

Which linux distro is suited for this? I need something that isnt going to thrash my HDD like windows does.

 

[RavenSEAL]

Ubuntu NB edition?

 

[TurtleCrusher]

Ubuntu NB edition?

Considering Ubuntu NB edtion is meant for most netbooks, my netbook is CONSIDERABLY slower than most in the read/write department. A slow 4200rpm runs circles around this. I doubt Ubunto NB is the way to go. If its anything like the normal Ubuntu, its even slow than XP on this tiny netbook.

 

[lxskllr]

I have that same machine, except mine has the even slower 16gb SSD :^D

I use regular Ubuntu on it. It's a little pokey, but I was expecting pokey when I got it. It's quite usable, but you just can't expect desktop like performance. If you need more speed, I'd go with Puppy. DSL is a cool distro, and it has an amazing amount of features for it's size, but I find it way too spartan for a daily driver. I wouldn't bother with the "light" *buntus. They aren't that much lighter for the features they're lacking.

 

[RavenSEAL]

Unless you wanna go command line, i doubt there is anything that can run faster than debian/gnome unless you wanna go back to 1998.

 

[TurtleCrusher]

I have that same machine, except mine has the even slower 16gb SSD :^D

I use regular Ubuntu on it. It's a little pokey, but I was expecting pokey when I got it. It's quite usable, but you just can't expect desktop like performance. If you need more speed, I'd go with Puppy. DSL is a cool distro, and it has an amazing amount of features for it's size, but I find it way too spartan for a daily driver. I wouldn't bother with the "light" *buntus. They aren't that much lighter for the features they're lacking.

I've been trying to install Puppy EEE celeron version, but the installer just isn't detecting the USB drive that it booted from. Gah!

I'm going with easy peasy next. Puppy is GREAT from a cheap USB drive, but I want it installed on my HDD!

 

[lxskllr]

It may be different now, but I didn't notice a difference between Easy Peasy(then Ubuntu-eee) and standard Ubuntu. Maybe they made some optimizations since then. You could use EXT2 as your file system, and that should reduce some write lag at the expense of fault tolerance. I'm using EXT4 on mine, and haven't compared the 2.

 

[TurtleCrusher]

Wow, Easy Peasy is just that, easy. Its installing without any hassle. We'll see the performance once its on my SSD, but surely it'll be better than Windows. The theme* looks pretty similar to my server box, Fedora 13.

 

[VinDSL]

Gotta love those Eee PCs... :thumbsup:

 

[billyb0b]

xubuntu is light