linux suggestion for old hardware?

[edmicman]

I do tech support for the local library and they have a serious malware problem with their hodgepodge of PCs. The two PCs are running windows ME and NT4 workstation (gasp!) and I would like to replace both of them with some sort of linux solution so I don't have to deal with the weekly crap of running adaware/spybot, etc. The problem is the hardware is pretty bad. The oldest machine is a Pentium Pro 200 with 64MB of RAM. The other is a PIII-800 with 128MB of RAM.

Their only request is that it have basic internet browsing functions and be able to work with Word or Office documents (hence I'm planning on Firefox and OpenOffice). I was thinking of going with Ubuntu, but that would probably only work with the faster PC. Is there a flavor of linux that would work on the slower one that would still be able to run firefox and openoffice? Is one windowing manager lighter on resources than another (gnome vs kde)? Any other suggestions?

I'm not all that familiar with administering linux, but I'm looking to learn and I'm at ropes end with this situation, plus they aren't willing to spend extra money on new hardware or software if they don't have to. Thanks for any advice!

 

[n0cmonkey]

I'm recommending slackware today.

 

[jspsh]

try vector linux for the Pentium Pro 200

 

[dashiki]

depends on what level luser are you? Mandrake is easy to install. if they are just looking for web/mail/word then any distro is fine. try Ubuntu.

 

[edmicman]

thanks for the ideas. I've played with a number of livecds and think I'll check out some more...I know that knoppix loaded on the p200 but KDE wouldn't load....I wasn't sure if there was something else out there that *might* work or if I was SOL with trying to get a decent window manager and user experience on that. I've got more flexibility with the PIII though.

 

[silverpig]

The version of linux doesn't matter as much as what software you load. Mandrake firefox is the same as Slackware firefox. The difference is in how you set everything up and manage it all.

So software choice is your thing here. Don't use KDE or Gnome, especially on the P200. XFCE-4 will run nicely on the P3, and maybe fluxbox or IceWM on the P200.