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best version of Linux for an old computer?

K

kyzen

Golden Member
I have a super old computer that I just can't justify putting any Windows OS on. I'd like to give Linux a whirl; I'm thinking of using the machine as an internal webhost for my roomies and I on our LAN. Any suggestions on versions of Linux to use that can actually perform OK with the slow system?
 
Pretty much anything if you don't use a GUI, which you should not on a webserver. Therefore I would say use pretty much whichever distro suits your taste. I would definately stick with something that has automatic package management so you don't have to worry about updates - that leaves, as far as I know, Fedora, CentOS, Debian, and I think Gentoo. Gentoo I would stay away from though cuz you'll spend forever and a day waiting for packages to compile on a fast machine, let alone an old slow machine.
 
debian, or (possibly) ubuntu server install (although I would stick with debian)

Gentoo, if you want to learn the inner working of linux and, and arn't in a hurry (note, I have done a stage one install on a box that slow, so I know how slow it really is)
 
Does Debian have a GUI?

It'd be easier for me to get started with one; plus it would be infinitely easier when I need to call my room mate to have her do something to the machine for me when I'm out of town.
 
Originally posted by: kyzen
Does Debian have a GUI?
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It doesn't matter, but no. It doesn't. There are however many many many Window Managers and a couple of Desktop Environments available. You should think about upgrading if you really want that stuff though, at least your ram.

It'd be easier for me to get started with one;
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What would make it easier?

plus it would be infinitely easier when I need to call my room mate to have her do something to the machine for me when I'm out of town.
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Just SSH in and do the stuff yourself. 😛
 
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It'd be easier for me to get started with one;
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What would make it easier?
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Unless there's very detailed documentation on it, I suck at command line stuff.

quote:

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plus it would be infinitely easier when I need to call my room mate to have her do something to the machine for me when I'm out of town.
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Just SSH in and do the stuff yourself.
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Not always possible if I don't have a net connection and people are whining about something not working 😛 Though I imagine I won't be using Linux for anything used by lots of people anytime soon, there's still about a dozen people with full access to my network who tend to whine a lot when something is broken.
 
Originally posted by: kyzen
Unless there's very detailed documentation on it, I suck at command line stuff.
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There's a LOT of documentation out there. Most of the GUIs that can make Linux more GUI friendly require a lot of ram.
 
Unless there's very detailed documentation on it, I suck at command line stuff.
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Generally the CLI stuff is better documented and works better than the GUI stuff. Being able to type 'man <command>' for any binary on the system is a huge win over any GUI helpsystem.

 
Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
Originally posted by: kyzen
Unless there's very detailed documentation on it, I suck at command line stuff.
Click to expand...

There's a LOT of documentation out there. Most of the GUIs that can make Linux more GUI friendly require a lot of ram.
Click to expand...

Ok, well, I'll probably give it a whirl when I get home then.

Any links to some sort of "getting start with Linux" guides would save me some search time later, if anybody feels like helping my lazy arse out 🙂

 
Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
drag has a bunch of links in his sig.
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yep.

If you want to give debian a try look for 'debian desktop survival guide' in google. You'd want to avoid running a complex GUI.. KDE or GNOME are straight out of the question. They've gotten tremendiously bloated lately. Although you may be able to get away with using something like Fluxbox or Icewm. (also setting color to 16bit helps a lot.. by default it's 24bit (same as 32bit in windows)

There are a few text based browsers and one text based makes a good minimal graphical browser... links2 can run in gui mode or text mode. Other text-only ones are lynx and w3m
 
I would do Debian with xfce4 for the wm, but don't default to gui.

Learning the command line is MUCH better then the GUI, as when you look at the GUI, you already know what command it's running, and why, and that is critical.
 
Regarding something not working: If it is set up and working once, there are very few things that can happen short of a hardware failure. I just got out of my brother's hylafax server, and noted he has had stable power at his house for 211 days.🙂
 
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