Reccomend me a good Linux version to run on an old laptop

[kevman]

I want to get some good use out of my old laptop, what version of Linux can I run on it efficiently ?

 

[xcript]

Xubuntu

 

[Nothinman]

I tend to put Debian on everything but any distro will work because they all come with virtually the same software. You might not want to run the full Gnome or KDE desktop but you can install XFCE, Blackbox, Enlightenment, WindowMaker, etc on just about all of them.

 

[Khyron320]

I have a 700mhz laptop with the same ammount of ram and i am very happy with ubuntu 5.10 using gnome. Xubuntu is probably the better choice though.

The only issue i have is im not really able to play movies... but i think thats a CPU limitation because i couldnt play them in win98 either... well without chopping like crazy

 

[imported_DarkPhantom36]

I'd totally second either xubuntu or debian.

 

[bluestrobe]

a 1ghz 384mb laptop here with Ubuntu 7.04. Some of the games don't run but for the basic user, it works.

 

[Rottie]

what about 333mhz with 160mb?

 

[bluestrobe]

I tried to install it on a 1.7ghz celeron/256mb RAM desktop and Ubuntu didn't work well. The LiveCD was like running XP on a 486.

 

[Fayd]

live CD's are ALWAYS like running XP on a 486. what else is new?

you cant make a judgement about an operating system if the only way you've ran it is off a live CD...

 

[bluestrobe]

Originally posted by: Fayd
live CD's are ALWAYS like running XP on a 486. what else is new?

you cant make a judgement about an operating system if the only way you've ran it is off a live CD...

Yea, livecd can be slow but not as slow as on the test desktop. The mouse cursor would move in 1" increments and everything took minutes to load including accessing the drop down menus and so forth. This hasn't happened on any other system I installed Ubuntu on but they were all of higher specs except my laptop.

 

[Nothinman]

live CD's are ALWAYS like running XP on a 486. what else is new?

Not at all, startup times of the LiveCD and apps on the CD are slow but once the app is started it should run at normal speed.

 

[thehstrybean]

Originally posted by: xcript
Xubuntu

 

[BurnItDwn]

I run OpenBSD4.0 on my old p3 450 laptop with 192mb of ram.
I used to use XFCE as the window manager, but it was a bit slow with that much RAM so I switched to fluxbox.
It takes a while to start firefox, but otherwise the system runs perfectly fine.

I used windows 2000 on it for quite a while as well, but windows 2000 kinda sucks with only 192mb of ram.



Thanks to a FS/FT post, I now have a p4 laptop with 512mb of ram... OpenBSD4.1 runs so fast on it ...

 

[Blain]

Do Linux distros now offer some kind of driver emulation that makes them compatible with win-modems?

 

[Nothinman]

Do Linux distros now offer some kind of driver emulation that makes them compatible with win-modems?

There are a few supported WinModems from what I remember but I've never had to use them.

 

[Brazen]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

Do Linux distros now offer some kind of driver emulation that makes them compatible with win-modems?

There are a few supported WinModems from what I remember but I've never had to use them.

Hmm, yeah I've installed linux on a couple laptops with winmodems, but I never actually paid any attention to whether the modem was even usable. It may have been or it may have not. Modems are pretty out of vogue right now, so you will probably have a hard time finding a first hand account about this. Your best bet would probably be to google "linux" and your modem name and see what comes up.

 

[kevman]

UPDATE:

Installed Xubuntu got it running without a hitch!

Thanks!