What's a small distro a little less demanding than Puppy?

[Arkitech]

I'm working on trying to breathe life back into an old Compaq Presario 4910. I tried running the latest version of Puppy Linux on it, but it pretty much chokes on it and does'nt quite make it to the desktop from the live CD. I'd like to find a lighter distro that still can run Open Office if possible. Any suggestions?

 

[Chiropteran]

It would be easier to help if you mentioned the specs of that computer. CPU, RAM, etc.

I've used vectorlinuix before in older machines and seemed to run fairly well all things considered, here are the system requirements:

http://vectorlinux.osuosl.org/docs/vl60/manuals/vl6_installation_guide_en.html#requirements

 

[Paperlantern]

What in the world are the specs of that machine? Puppy should have no issues coming up on a machine that is 266 - 500 mhz at the low end, maybe less with small tweaks, and like 128MB RAM to be comfortable. i know those are old but are you trying to put it on like a 300 mhz with 32MB of RAM or something?

 

[lxskllr]

If you can't run Puppy, you can't run LibreOffice. LibreOffice is a bit of a pig, and uses a ton of resources. TinyCore is probably the smallest that's feasibly usable as a desktop O/S. I like SliTaz, but I think it's requirements are similar to Puppy.

 

[Nothinman]

The problem will be Libre Office, not Linux. If you can't get a base install running acceptably, then Libre Office has no chance.

 

[Barfo]

Try with an older, non-Ubuntu build of Puppy.

 

[VinDSL]

Try with an older, non-Ubuntu build of Puppy.

Bingo!

My preferred Puppy distro is Macpup Opera 2.0

Linkage: http://macpup.org/opera2.php

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAljSNALFrM

It's based on Puppy Linux 4.3.1, and has a gorgeous e17 DE.

And... It runs great on my ancient circa-1999 eTower - 667MHz Celeron w/192MB RAM

 

[Arkitech]

Wow, just realized I never responded back to my own post.

The PC in question is using a Celeron 550mhz w/ 64mb of ram.

I've been able to install DSL on it, but since it's no longer being updated and rather bland looking I'd rather use another distro. I've tried installing Tiny Core (and MicroCore) but I get stuck with a HDC error ( http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php?topic=10862.0 ). Today I had some small success w/ Wary Puppy but I could'nt achieve a frugal or full install due to a weird mount issue.

 

[iGas]

IMHO, roll your own is the way to go if you want the absolute minimal, however it going to take much time to compile and bug fix.

Tiny Core, Damn Small, Puppy, and TinyMe fill the bill for the lazy.

Minimal Gentoo install with with no desktop environment, or a lightweight desktop environment.

IMHO, the best is minimum Debian install, and apt-get package/s that you need.

http://www.debian.org/distrib/netinst

 

[ArisVer]

The PC in question is using a Celeron 550mhz w/ 64mb of ram.

Your ram is low for a GUI interface.

 

[Arkitech]

Your ram is low for a GUI interface.

I think you're right, after playing with this rig for a couple of weeks I've decided to abandon it until I can at least get it up to 128mb.

 

[GoStumpy]

I think you're right, after playing with this rig for a couple of weeks I've decided to abandon it until I can at least get it up to 128mb.

Garage sales are your friend

 

[jhu]

Linux kernel with statically linked ash shell will be the smallest distribution ever.

 

[stacey1981]

Tonycore Linux does it for me. Less than 10Megs.

 

[232660336771100]

An Arch linux install with Openbox stand alone will be very light but still would require at least 128mb of memory.