Which Linux to choose?
- Thread starter Vipera
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Heh -- puppy long did better at wifi than anything save for backtrack for me. Also if you can spare a USB port (I know lots of laptops of that vintage like to drop it down to 2 ports so it might not be ideal) there are lot of rather nice N compatible wifi cards that are almost the same size as a lot of bluetooth cards (the raspberry pi crowd quite likes them) and will beat out the nasty miniPCI things they stuck in most laptops from around then. Likewise if you can (many will want one from a given manufacturer) you might consider replacing the miniPCI one.
When you say you tried debian and fedora what window manager did you use? They often ship with the beefier ones like modern gnome and KDE where something like XFCE or LXDE will scream along (or at least until you run out of ram using modern firefox, thunderbird and office stuff). Skype for linux leaves a tiny bit to be desired but it is usually not too bad.
It is generally better if you install them as you are installing the OS (or if the OS comes with a respin for that window manager) but if you can be bothered to deal with the fallout (usually not an awful lot beyond adding in management tools if it did not come automatically and changing the terminal colours). Install them as you would install any other program, usually best to let it do its own thing when it comes to suggested extras, and then you can select a new one at the login screen.
When you say you tried debian and fedora what window manager did you use? They often ship with the beefier ones like modern gnome and KDE where something like XFCE or LXDE will scream along (or at least until you run out of ram using modern firefox, thunderbird and office stuff). Skype for linux leaves a tiny bit to be desired but it is usually not too bad.
It is generally better if you install them as you are installing the OS (or if the OS comes with a respin for that window manager) but if you can be bothered to deal with the fallout (usually not an awful lot beyond adding in management tools if it did not come automatically and changing the terminal colours). Install them as you would install any other program, usually best to let it do its own thing when it comes to suggested extras, and then you can select a new one at the login screen.
I feel dumb for not posting in here!
I have used pretty much every Linux Distro there is for pretty much every reason possible. I would suggest checking out Lubuntu, Bodhi Linux, Debian with LXDE installed, Arch Linux (or ArchBang if you don't want to set up your own GUI), Peppermint OS, and CrunchBang Linux. I also second testing out PuppyLinux, something like puppy linux precise is amazingly stable and great for Old computers. I used to use it all the time on my old laptop. There is also a great list here for netbooks and old computers.
http://distrowatch.com/search.php?ostype=All&category=Old Computers&origin=All&basedon=All¬basedon=None&desktop=All&architecture=All&status=Active
http://distrowatch.com/search.php?category=Netbooks
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightweight_Linux_distribution
Personally I always suggest checking out different distros to find one that works best for you and what you want to do.
I have used pretty much every Linux Distro there is for pretty much every reason possible. I would suggest checking out Lubuntu, Bodhi Linux, Debian with LXDE installed, Arch Linux (or ArchBang if you don't want to set up your own GUI), Peppermint OS, and CrunchBang Linux. I also second testing out PuppyLinux, something like puppy linux precise is amazingly stable and great for Old computers. I used to use it all the time on my old laptop. There is also a great list here for netbooks and old computers.
http://distrowatch.com/search.php?ostype=All&category=Old Computers&origin=All&basedon=All¬basedon=None&desktop=All&architecture=All&status=Active
http://distrowatch.com/search.php?category=Netbooks
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightweight_Linux_distribution
Personally I always suggest checking out different distros to find one that works best for you and what you want to do.
I personally use Lubuntu or CrunchBang for the minimalistic aspect. They're both lightweight, and goes easy on older hardware. Specs on your laptop?
EDIT: Oi, got ninja'd by The Catboy.
EDIT: Oi, got ninja'd by The Catboy.
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