hello, i'm new to the world of linux and was wondering what would be the
best O/S for a P3 1 ghz/256meg.
PrDtR
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hello, i'm new to the world of linux and was wondering what would be the
best O/S for a P3 1 ghz/256meg.
PrDtR
"PrDtR" (prdtr@vianet.ca) writes:[color=blue]
> hello, i'm new to the world of linux and was wondering what would be the
> best O/S for a P3 1 ghz/256meg.
>
> PrDtR
>
>[/color]
Just about anything. The curve isn't linear. 486s with 4megs of memory
are very distant, 200MHz Pentiums with 36megs of RAM are reasonably close,
and 1GHz computers with 256megs of RAM are basically next to current. Pretty
much the only way the 1GHz machine differs from current computers is a
relatively minor increase in clock speed, but since 1GHz is fine for
most people's useage, the increase in clock speed isn't going to be
noticed much (especially not when memory bus and I/O bus will be what
sets the limit for most useage).
Michael
thanks for the speedy response, recommend anything?
"Michael Black" <et472@FreeNet.Carleton.CA> wrote in message
news:f37r4l$1b9$1@theodyn.ncf.ca...[color=blue]
> "PrDtR" (prdtr@vianet.ca) writes:[color=green]
>> hello, i'm new to the world of linux and was wondering what would be the
>> best O/S for a P3 1 ghz/256meg.
>>
>> PrDtR
>>
>>[/color]
> Just about anything. The curve isn't linear. 486s with 4megs of memory
> are very distant, 200MHz Pentiums with 36megs of RAM are reasonably close,
> and 1GHz computers with 256megs of RAM are basically next to current.
> Pretty
> much the only way the 1GHz machine differs from current computers is a
> relatively minor increase in clock speed, but since 1GHz is fine for
> most people's useage, the increase in clock speed isn't going to be
> noticed much (especially not when memory bus and I/O bus will be what
> sets the limit for most useage).
>
> Michael
>
>[/color]
PrDtR wrote:[color=blue]
> thanks for the speedy response, recommend anything?
> "Michael Black" <et472@FreeNet.Carleton.CA> wrote in message
> news:f37r4l$1b9$1@theodyn.ncf.ca...[color=green]
>> "PrDtR" (prdtr@vianet.ca) writes:[color=darkred]
>>> hello, i'm new to the world of linux and was wondering what would be the
>>> best O/S for a P3 1 ghz/256meg.
>>>
>>> PrDtR
>>>
>>>[/color]
>> Just about anything. The curve isn't linear. 486s with 4megs of memory
>> are very distant, 200MHz Pentiums with 36megs of RAM are reasonably close,
>> and 1GHz computers with 256megs of RAM are basically next to current.
>> Pretty
>> much the only way the 1GHz machine differs from current computers is a
>> relatively minor increase in clock speed, but since 1GHz is fine for
>> most people's useage, the increase in clock speed isn't going to be
>> noticed much (especially not when memory bus and I/O bus will be what
>> sets the limit for most useage).
>>
>> Michael
>>
>>[/color]
>
>[/color]
Just my 2 cents: I run Slackware 11 on two P3 laptops (850MHz and 900MHz) with 256MB
ram and ATI Rage Mobility. KDE and XFCE both run fine.
I think some of the newer, graphics hungry distros would be too piggish. Stick with
any of the "smaller" distros with a leaner desktop/window manager - not that KDE is
lean =:-)
On Fri, 25 May 2007 19:39:21 -0400, PrDtR wrote:
[color=blue]
> thanks for the speedy response, recommend anything?[/color]
Sure, it might be a good idea to learn a different way of
posting. To aide in readability, don't top post, this helps later when
someone is searching the archives for something, trim your follow-ups to
the specific part of the post you're answering. But that is something you
will become accustomed to over time.
I agree with poster Michael Black about your hardware, should be fine for
normal computing. Obviously not a game machine.
Poster King Beowulf offers good advice about a light window manager
rather than one of the desktop environments. The distro mentioned,
Slackware, is noted for good descriptions in the configuration files.
A lot depends on your skill level and how much time and effort you are
willing to put into learning. Some of the more commercial (or trying to be
commercial) distros are very easy to install and configure. Some of the
better ones aren't as easy to install, especially on "bleeding edge"
hardware. So, a lot depends on your ability and your equipment. Things
like printers and wifi cards often give novices difficulty.
Posts like yours often turn into flame wars as people argue about *their*
favorite distro.
I run Debian 4.0 (Debian/GNU Linux); the *stable* version, "Etch" on a
system just such as you describe and I am very happy with it but I use a
light window manager, IceWM. I also have it on a 380MHz K6-2 and it is
slow but something like DSL (Damn Small Linux) runs very well on that
older system.
Your original question mentions "best". Naturally, personal preference and
experience influence this. Ultimately, you will have to decide what works
best for you. You might consider starting by trying some of the live
distros if you have a CDROM to boot from, to get the feel of things with
open source software before you install to your hard drive. "LFS, Linux
from scratch" using the easy to follow guide would end up with you knowing
a lot about how things work and how to configure and repair but it won't
give you a useful working system in one afternoon. The help forums
and newsgroups for the various distros also differ in how much they
welcome new users and how friendly the "community" is, and that will
matter to you when you need to ask for help, so lurk and listen to those
as you are testing a distro.
There are lots of terms in this reply that will give you things to google
for more information and searching is always the best way to start.
The Distro Watch site keeps track of popularity and new releases.
[url]http://distrowatch.com/[/url]
Hope this helps.
Rodney
Rodney wrote:[color=blue]
>
> I run Debian 4.0 (Debian/GNU Linux); the *stable* version, "Etch" on a
> system just such as you describe and I am very happy with it but I use a
> light window manager, IceWM. I also have it on a 380MHz K6-2 and it is
> slow but something like DSL (Damn Small Linux) runs very well on that
> older system.
>[/color]
I run Debian Etch with XFCE on most of my systems. It's noticably
quicker than Gnome or KDE but still not a 'lighweight' system. Those
systems have typically at least 756 MB RAM.
On the really wimpy systems I just loaded up DSL - a 486 DX4 with 24 MB
ram runs. I can't really say "runs well" but it does what I want it to
do - run vncviewer to access the control panel for MythMusic. Apps are
slow and you have to limit yourself to lightweight apps.
Another old laptop has 96 MB ram and a PII-266; this actually runs
pretty well using lightweight apps like Abiword. It is running DSL-N.
Fedora is pretty bleading edge; ?ubuntu are supposed to be really good
but I would guess your system is probably at the lower end of usability
for any of the Ubuntu clones. I'd get the liveCD, fire it up and see
what you can do. Same with DSL.
On Fri, 25 May 2007 19:06:54 -0400, PrDtR wrote:
[color=blue]
> hello, i'm new to the world of linux and was wondering what would be the
> best O/S for a P3 1 ghz/256meg.
>
> PrDtR[/color]
You'll be a lot happier if you add some RAM to that system. The processor
is fast enough for any distro but you'll have trouble with 256M if you
want to run Gnome or KDE. I gave my sister a 500MHz PIII Laptop with 384M
of RAM and Fedora Core 5. It works fine for e-mail and web browsing but I
can't compile a kernel on it. With 512M of RAM you should be able to do
anything, but you'll be happier if you have more than that. If I were you
I'd up that machine to at least 768M. With 768M or 1G you can use any
distro that you want. If you have to stick with 256M then use a
lightweight Window manager instead of Gnome or KDE, any distro will do as
long as you don't install Gnome or KDE.
In article <pan.2007.05.29.16.43.17@yahoo.com>,
General Schvantzkoph <schvantzkoph@yahoo.com> wrote:[color=blue]
>You'll be a lot happier if you add some RAM to that system. The processor
>is fast enough for any distro but you'll have trouble with 256M if you
>want to run Gnome or KDE. I gave my sister a 500MHz PIII Laptop with 384M
>of RAM and Fedora Core 5. It works fine for e-mail and web browsing but I
>can't compile a kernel on it.[/color]
Something's wrong with your config if you can't build a kernel in 256 MB. I
set up Gentoo on a 450-MHz K6-III recently (equipped with 256 MB, IIRC),
and it had no trouble compiling not just the kernel, but KDE, Firefox,
Thunderbird, and nearly everything else. It took a bit longer than it
would've on newer hardware (days instead of hours), but it never conked out.
Did you have some swap space configured?
_/_
/ v \ Scott Alfter (remove the obvious to send mail)
(IIGS( [url]http://alfter.us/[/url] Top-posting!
\_^_/ rm -rf /bin/laden >What's the most annoying thing on Usenet?
In article <p-OdncVYyJNwE8HbnZ2dnUVZ_jGdnZ2d@giganews.com>, Scott Alfter wrote:[color=blue]
> In article <pan.2007.05.29.16.43.17@yahoo.com>,
> General Schvantzkoph <schvantzkoph@yahoo.com> wrote:[color=green]
>>You'll be a lot happier if you add some RAM to that system. The processor
>>is fast enough for any distro but you'll have trouble with 256M if you
>>want to run Gnome or KDE. I gave my sister a 500MHz PIII Laptop with 384M
>>of RAM and Fedora Core 5. It works fine for e-mail and web browsing but I
>>can't compile a kernel on it.[/color]
>
> Something's wrong with your config if you can't build a kernel in 256 MB. I[/color]
He never said how big the Hard drive on the box was. Like many
older laptops... they (until recently) were kinda small on most
models. The Kernal source is NOT puny either! BTW OP how BIG is your
Hard drive in your sisters Laptop?
--
From the Desk of the Sysop of:
Planet Maca's Opus, a Free open BBS system. [url]telnet://pinkrose.dhis.org[/url]
Web Site: [url]http://pinkrose.dhis.org[/url], Dialup 860-618-3091 300-33600 bps
The New Cnews maintainer
B'ichela
On Tue, 29 May 2007 22:07:00 +0000, B'ichela wrote:
[color=blue]
> In article <p-OdncVYyJNwE8HbnZ2dnUVZ_jGdnZ2d@giganews.com>, Scott Alfter
> wrote:[color=green]
>> In article <pan.2007.05.29.16.43.17@yahoo.com>, General Schvantzkoph
>> <schvantzkoph@yahoo.com> wrote:[color=darkred]
>>>You'll be a lot happier if you add some RAM to that system. The
>>>processor is fast enough for any distro but you'll have trouble with
>>>256M if you want to run Gnome or KDE. I gave my sister a 500MHz PIII
>>>Laptop with 384M of RAM and Fedora Core 5. It works fine for e-mail and
>>>web browsing but I can't compile a kernel on it.[/color]
>>
>> Something's wrong with your config if you can't build a kernel in 256
>> MB. I[/color]
> He never said how big the Hard drive on the box was. Like many
> older laptops... they (until recently) were kinda small on most models.
> The Kernal source is NOT puny either! BTW OP how BIG is your Hard drive
> in your sisters Laptop?[/color]
It has an 80G drive, I upgraded it from the original. For some reason
kernel builds core dump on this system. At one time it had 512M and it
was able to build kernels without a problem. The reason it's down to 384
is that one DIMM died and I had to replace it with one of the original
DIMMS that came with the machine. The system passes Memtest86 so I don't
think it has any other memory problems. Also it's stable for everything
except kernel builds.
On Fri, 25 May 2007 19:06:54 -0400, PrDtR wrote:
[color=blue]
> hello, i'm new to the world of linux and was wondering what would be the
> best O/S for a P3 1 ghz/256meg.[/color]
You can run just about any distro on it. I have an old -- nothing newer
than 5 years -- system (1 GHz Duron; 512 MB RAM; MSI K7T Pro2-A MB [7
years old]) for testing and backup running multibooting, stock installs
of Fedora Core 5 and 6, PCLinuxOS 2007, and OpenSUSE 10.2. All run just
fine with either KDE or GNOME GUIs.
Since you're a Linux newbie, I suggest you start with PCLinuxOS
([url]www.pclinuxos.org[/url]) or one of the Ubuntu ([url]www.ubuntu.com[/url]) variants.
They're the easiest to install and setup, although OpenSUSE
([url]www.opensuse.org[/url]) installed and configured itself mostly "hands-off,"
too; however, the optional 3D GUI wouldn't work. Graphics card too old.
Stef
V Tue, 29 May 2007 23:15:30 +0000, General Schvantzkoph napsal(a):
[color=blue]
> It has an 80G drive, I upgraded it from the original. For some reason
> kernel builds core dump on this system. At one time it had 512M and it
> was able to build kernels without a problem. The reason it's down to 384
> is that one DIMM died and I had to replace it with one of the original
> DIMMS that came with the machine. The system passes Memtest86 so I don't
> think it has any other memory problems. Also it's stable for everything
> except kernel builds.[/color]
heat???
On Fri, 25 May 2007 19:06:54 -0400, PrDtR wrote:
[color=blue]
> hello, i'm new to the world of linux and was wondering what would be the
> best O/S for a P3 1 ghz/256meg.
>
> PrDtR[/color]
Unless you add some memory, I'd recommend against using either gnome or
kde - they are too resource heavy. Most any distro with a 'lighter'
desktop should work. I'd suggest you look at the Elive CD and explore
Xubuntu.