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View Full Version : Which Linux for OLD computer?



Kumagoro
02-16-2005, 08:55 PM
I have a compaq armada which is 266 MHz and has 64 MB of ram.

I have run knoppix 3.3 and 3.4 on it as a poor mans install. It runs very slowly and is barely useable.
I have Win ME on it which runs smoothly and is perfectly useable.

Could someone please let me know of a linux distro which would run nicely on this and is kept
up to date.

live CD or install

I ideally want it to have Kismet on it and if poss aircrack and weplab.

Thank you for your help

gnarvaja
02-16-2005, 11:09 PM
Which GUI are you using? I can run reasonably well if I use xfce instead of KDE (default). You may want to remaster/reconfigure your Linux to run only with the essential pieces.

--GN

Kumagoro
02-16-2005, 11:14 PM
I ideally dont want to have to mess around with too much. getting to know linux on an old comp
makes it a lot harder.

I think i have tried all desktops that come with the knoppix live cd they all seemed to drag it down to
much.

If i do an install to the hard disk will it make much difference in performance?

UnderScore
02-17-2005, 12:42 AM
See this thread: http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=17000 where I mention Debian. The default Debian Sarge install is about 350MB. You could install xfce, windowmaker, or icewm as they are low resource usage window managers. As for low resource usages applications, look to Damn Small Linux to provide examples.

gnarvaja
02-18-2005, 06:14 AM
If i do an install to the hard disk will it make much difference in performance?
Yes, CDs are a lot slower than HD, especially in old hardware.

--GN

Kumagoro
02-18-2005, 08:23 PM
Thanks for the replies.

I will have a go at a proper hdd install of damn small linux seeing as if i do
a total knoppix install it will take 2+ GB