# Which distro to use on old laptop (p3)



## oli_ramsay (Jun 16, 2009)

Just got this laptop for my mum just for browsing the internet and word processing.

I wanna try using linux on it as I've heard it runs great on older hardware, but I'm worried about compatibility issues (drivers for printers/wireless PCMCIA cards etc).

Would it be worth just using windows 7 due to possible lack of drivers???

Thanks


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## oli_ramsay (Jun 16, 2009)

Found this:

http://www.jarviser.co.uk/jarviser/ubuntuont22.html

seems ubuntu works fine


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## oli_ramsay (Jun 16, 2009)

Then again this guy says Fedora is better 

http://linux-laptop.net/hosted/Fedora-Core-4-T22.html


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## MRCL (Jun 16, 2009)

I used OPENsuse, however I did a short period of time. My crappy laptop thanked me tho, as it runs smoothly on ancient hardware.


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## A Cheese Danish (Jun 16, 2009)

You could also try DSL, I'm sure it would work fine. And I think Fedora is easier to use than Ubuntu. But that is just me.


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## wiak (Jun 16, 2009)

try any distro but with fluxbox or xfce
kde and gnome are kinda resource hogs


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## Error 404 (Jun 16, 2009)

Xubuntu should run fine on it, but DO NOT attempt at putting Windows 7 on it. It will be slower than XP! I know, I've tried it on my Dell Inspiron P3 (see sig for specs), and it is just not worth it. Also, Linux is more likely to have all the drivers than Windows 7; remember, W7 is still BETA, and although Vista worked fine on my laptop (Thanks to vLite, and lots of tweaking, but in the end SP1 killed it), it just took up far too much HDD space and ended up slowing down.

Xubuntu or Puppy Linux would run fine, I'd recommend Puppy over DSL because of the ease I had with installing and using Puppy compared to DSL. And almost everything should work fine, but don't try to enable visual effects unless the laptop has a semi-decent graphics card.


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## daragez (Jun 17, 2009)

oli_ramsay said:


> Found this:
> 
> http://www.jarviser.co.uk/jarviser/ubuntuont22.html
> 
> seems ubuntu works fine



agree!...


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## ShiBDiB (Jun 17, 2009)

Error 404 said:


> Xubuntu should run fine on it, but DO NOT attempt at putting Windows 7 on it. It will be slower than XP! I know, I've tried it on my Dell Inspiron P3 (see sig for specs), and it is just not worth it. Also, Linux is more likely to have all the drivers than Windows 7; remember, W7 is still BETA, and although Vista worked fine on my laptop (Thanks to vLite, and lots of tweaking, but in the end SP1 killed it), it just took up far too much HDD space and ended up slowing down.
> 
> Xubuntu or Puppy Linux would run fine, I'd recommend Puppy over DSL because of the ease I had with installing and using Puppy compared to DSL. And almost everything should work fine, but don't try to enable visual effects unless the laptop has a semi-decent graphics card.





windows 7 on a p3 is just stupidity on ur part..


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## AKlass (Jun 17, 2009)

I say puppy linux


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## Error 404 (Jun 17, 2009)

ShiBDiB said:


> windows 7 on a p3 is just stupidity on ur part..



I did it for teh lulz. Vista with vLite and a 512MB fast USB was actually quite good until SP1 went and screwed it up badly...



AKlass said:


> I say puppy linux


+1


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## oli_ramsay (Jun 17, 2009)

what about fedora?


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## Yukikaze (Jun 17, 2009)

I have an old laptop, an Asus A1000 with a 1Ghz PIII Mobile and 576Mb of RAM (64Mb embedded and one 512Mb SDRAM SO-DIMM, out of that 32Mb are taken by the vidcard). 

I went through half of my B.Sc by using it with Xubuntu/XP/Win2000 for my coding needs until I got my Dell XPS last year (And back then it had just 192Mb of RAM and a 700Mhz processor, I upgraded it for my mom when I had no use for it anymore - 50$ off ebay for the CPU and the memory). After the upgrade the lappie runs WinXP SP3 with nothing to complain about, amazing for a laptop built back in 1999.

So Xubuntu should work, Puppy Linux would work too, I haven't used Damn Small Linux, but it might be worth a shot.


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## oli_ramsay (Jun 17, 2009)

Thanks, I take it DSL = damn small linux


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## Papahyooie (Jun 17, 2009)

Damn small linux (yes, DSL) would be the fastest as the entire OS runs in RAM, and with 256mb of ram, thats way more than required for the 50mb DSL takes. That OS is FAST! Programs open up like lightning. If you want a little more versitility though, try gOS. (goodOS) Its based on google web apps. I use it on a P3 system for my living room for guests to use when over, parties, etc (so as to eliminate the need to maintain it, no viruses and the like) and it runs just fine with 256mb. Its very versitile too. Plays DVDs, mp3's pretty much anything you want out of the box, and people dont even realize its not windows. They're like "Whoa! how'd you get windows to look like that I want mine to look like that!" After they've been using it for hours, so learning curve is nil, as everything is self explanatory once you've set it up. Has apps for web, email, office, productivity, entertainment, and very lightweight.


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## oli_ramsay (Jun 17, 2009)

I think imma go for puppy linux, looks nice and very light on resources







EDIT: after reading papahyooie's post I might try DSL!

decisions, decisions...


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## Papahyooie (Jun 17, 2009)

If you like puppy linux, go for it. It has the same capability to be loaded into RAM.

KDE looks nicer too.

But try out gOS as a live CD sometime you may find it easier. Especially for the linux uneducated.


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## Deleted member 3 (Jun 17, 2009)

Just use Windows. If you want to use Linux don't bug your mom with it. Upgrading memory would be nice, but isn't even necessary.


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## Papahyooie (Jun 17, 2009)

Id disagree, if I could convince my mother to even try gOS I know she would love it. Then I wouldn't have to save her from virus and spyware attacks, fragmentation, registry degradation every couple of months due to terrible computing habits. Linux varients can be SO much easier to use than windows if you find the right one, and if your user doesnt need more than basic productivity.

Not to mention with those specs, she would have to stay on top of maintainence constantly to keep it from slowing to a crawl (reformats every 3 months anyone?) And if she doesnt know how to do that (which I assume she doesnt) then guess who gets to perform said maintainence?

Im no linux fanboy, but (virtually) zero maintainence and zero viruses is VERY tempting to someone who has to maintain others' computers all the time. (like my living room computer I spoke of)


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## oli_ramsay (Jun 17, 2009)

Would I even have to run an anti-virus/firewall?


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## Deleted member 3 (Jun 17, 2009)

Papahyooie said:


> Id disagree, if I could convince my mother to even try gOS I know she would love it. Then I wouldn't have to save her from virus and spyware attacks, fragmentation, registry degradation every couple of months due to terrible computing habits. Linux varients can be SO much easier to use than windows if you find the right one, and if your user doesnt need more than basic productivity.
> 
> Not to mention with those specs, she would have to stay on top of maintainence constantly to keep it from slowing to a crawl (reformats every 3 months anyone?) And if she doesnt know how to do that (which I assume she doesnt) then guess who gets to perform said maintainence?
> 
> Im no linux fanboy, but (virtually) zero maintainence and zero viruses is VERY tempting to someone who has to maintain others' computers all the time. (like my living room computer I spoke of)



I spent 9 months of my life working at a company where the users (stores) used Linux. Trust me, it wasn't as straight forwarded for them as it was for us.

User friendly or not, recognition is far more important, only Windows has that.


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## oli_ramsay (Jun 17, 2009)

I feel like a total noob here but how can I DL DSL?  Which one is the right ISO?

http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/download.html

leads me to this:

http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/damnsmall/


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## Yukikaze (Jun 17, 2009)

This perhaps ?

http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/damnsmall/current/current.iso


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## A Cheese Danish (Jun 17, 2009)

Try this: http://linux.softpedia.com/progDownload/Damn-Small-Linux-4-Download-31635.html


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## Papahyooie (Jun 18, 2009)

Be aware, DSL has a small learning curve for the linux uninitiated. I'd go with puppy linux if I were you, as the start menu and whatnot are more familiar. Or install KDE or something on DSL (though that would defeat the purpose of keeping it small footprint). Then again, 256 megs is more than enough for DSL+KDE. Something to think about, she may not like the interface. Also, If I'm not mistaken, you have to mount drives all the time when plugging in usb drives, camera cards and such, which is hard for most people to get the hang of. gOS is will mount them automatically, not sure of puppy linux. 

Also, no, you dont really have to run antivirus, and mostly anyone who hacks through your router is going to run away when they see you have a linux computer running on your network lol.


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## xfire (Jun 18, 2009)

Puppy is quite easy to use and very compatible with hardware.  
You can also try Xubuntu. No difference in interface from Ubuntu just a bluer theme.


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## lemonadesoda (Jun 18, 2009)

Win XP lite.  Give you mum a "user" level of security and nothing higher. Install an antivirus. Job done.

You may not be able to add more RAM to the machine, many P3 laptops were limited to 256MB due to ZX chipset.  If you CAN up it to 512MB it will make a world of difference.

PS. Win WK3 will run quite happily on a 256MB machine on P3-650 so long as you ONLY use it for basic productivity applications.


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