Good distro for old notebook?

**dpatel512** · 01-04-2005, 04:42 AM

Hey

For quite some time now, I've had an urge to make the switch over to linux. There is some interesting literature that is available both online and at bookstores that deals with linux. The problem is that most of the books and e-books are intended for certain flavors of Linux.

I have a Sony Vaio notebook that has a config like: PII 366mhz, 64mb RAM, 6.0gb hdd. Can someone recommend what flavor of linux I should put on this notebook? Also, does anyone recommend any books that would compliment certain distros (i'm a total newbie to linux so any beginners type of stuff would be great!)?

Thanks
DP

P.S. Is reading and practice the best way to learn linux? How did u guys learn how to use linux?

**chris-harry** · 01-04-2005, 05:06 AM

ok... i am going to suggest Knoppix and debian... knoppix really just runs off a debian type of flavour... knoppix is very simple to use, and is (as a bonus) a live CD...

knoppix is very stable, and will work perfectly fine with your PII 366mHz, (in fact, i have a 200mHz and it works perfectly fine on that). even debian will work on your system.

some books... well if your going to use knoppix, then the book is "Hacking Knoppix" or simular... i havent got a link for you... sorry...

P.S. Is reading and practice the best way to learn linux? How did u guys learn how to use linux?

this is really a hard question to answer... because every body learn differently... "The best teacher in life is yourself"... i learn by playing around with it.. stuffing it up and fixing it... seeing if i play with this what will happen type of thing...

hopefully i have been help full...

and EVIL

**chris-harry** · 01-04-2005, 05:42 AM

just found this link for you... http://www.pjls16812.pwp.blueyonder....pix/index.html... i think that will help you alittle bit.... i found it in this thread http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtop...=15179&start=0

hopefully i have been helpful... and evil

**chris-harry** · 01-05-2005, 03:34 AM

sorry... i posted the wrong book... me error... opps...

pps:

i posted "Hacking KNoppix", i dont know if this is a book or what... but i should of put "Knoppix Hacks"... sorry... i am not the best with names...

**dpatel512** · 01-05-2005, 07:22 AM

This may seem like a pointless question (or more of a "stupid linux newbie" question), what are the differences between various distros? Why use one over the other? Also, do u recommend using a certain "window manager" (?) such as KDE or GNOME over any other ones?

**Markus** · 01-05-2005, 09:41 AM

With your amount of RAM, KDE is probably out of the question so choose a lighter Window Manager like IceWM, Fluxbox...
Also I would choose a lighter distro like http://featherlinux.berlios.de or www.damnsmalllinux.org or just plain www.debian.org
You can browse some options in www.distrowatch.com

**chris-harry** · 01-05-2005, 10:01 AM

what are the differences between various distros? Why use one over the other?

they are different, they do different things... some act as servers, some act as Personal Comuters type of thing. they also run different types of programs... thats as simplicit as i can get it...

**dpatel512** · 01-06-2005, 01:44 AM

Cool...i've been looking around and seeing what info is out there on various distros. Aesthetically, it seems like you can do anything with any distro and window manager. I'm not sure as to what the real differences are between various windows managers.

As far as distros go, I think I might go with debian. What do you guys think of Mepis and Slackware?

**chris-harry** · 01-06-2005, 05:13 AM

remember... people prefer different distros... i prefer debian, mainly because i like it... for no real reason...

so... to shorten what i said... try a few distros, different desktop managers... and you will find one which you love and cant be torn away from it...