Recommend a distro for old Toshiba laptop

[sathyan]

Since Windows XP is going out of support in spring I plan on moving my dad's old laptop (specs below) to Linux over the holidays. I'm most familiar with Ubuntu but other distros would be ok if more appropriate.
I have the current Ubuntu w/Unity installed on my desktop and Ubuntu 11 w/Gnome classic 2D installed on my even-older laptop. When installing on my laptop (IBM Thinkpad T40), Unity would not run acceptably. Would that be an issue with this Toshiba?

thanks

Toshiba Satellite M105-S3041
Intel® Core™ Solo Processor T1350,
512MB DDR2,
80GB 5400rpm (S-ATA),
DVD SuperMulti (+/- R double layer),
14.1” TruBrite™ widescreen WXGA,
Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950,
Intel® PRO/Wireless 3945ABG (802.11a/b/g)

 

[FrankRamiro]

Since Windows XP is going out of support in spring I plan on moving my dad's old laptop (specs below) to Linux over the holidays. I'm most familiar with Ubuntu but other distros would be ok if more appropriate.
I have the current Ubuntu w/Unity installed on my desktop and Ubuntu 11 w/Gnome classic 2D installed on my even-older laptop. When installing on my laptop (IBM Thinkpad T40), Unity would not run acceptably. Would that be an issue with this Toshiba?

thanks

Toshiba Satellite M105-S3041
Intel® Core™ Solo Processor T1350,
512MB DDR2,
80GB 5400rpm (S-ATA),
DVD SuperMulti (+/- R double layer),
14.1” TruBrite™ widescreen WXGA,
Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950,
Intel® PRO/Wireless 3945ABG (802.11a/b/g)

The recommended minimum requirements to run Ubuntu in the default Unity desktop are:

1 GHz x86 processor
1 GB of system memory (RAM)
15 GB of disk space
Graphics card capable of 1024x768 resolution
Either a CD/DVD Drive or a USB port (or both)

for that PC you can easely run Xubuntu,Lubuntu,Debian Wheezy,Mint 14, and others with 500 mb Mem ram or less

 

[jae]

Debian stable w/ lxde, snow Linux 4 mate, or Lubuntu.

You pretty much want to stick with light weight desktop such as mate and lxde.

 

[sathyan]

I tried Lubuntu in a VM. It looks a lot like Windows which should ease the transition.
Is there any way to load up a let's say 8 or 16 GB flash drive with a bunch of live cds (choosable at boot time)?
I'm thinking I could bring all the options with me when I visit my folks.

 

[lxskllr]

Setting it up from Windows, you can try yumi...

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/yumi-multiboot-usb-creator/

It may work in Wine on GNU/Linux, or you can try this...

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/multiboot-create-a-multiboot-usb-from-linux/

 

[jae]

I tried Lubuntu in a VM. It looks a lot like Windows which should ease the transition.
Is there any way to load up a let's say 8 or 16 GB flash drive with a bunch of live cds (choosable at boot time)?
I'm thinking I could bring all the options with me when I visit my folks.

I use a program called sardu. I load up Linux distros, antivirus bootables, windows installation DVDs, and windows rescue media. I use it for computer repair.

 

[slashbinslashbash]

Probably a good idea to upgrade that machine to at least 1GB of RAM. It would be really cheap and give you some more options.