which one??

[pawz]

Hello folks. I have here a 500Mhz PC that I would like to turn into a Linux machine, but I know nothing about Linux.

So far I have tried Debian and Ubuntu, and neither of them got as far as the desktop before a problem arose. Probably easily sorted by one who knows the syntax. I bought a Debian book to try and help me through, but that seemed not to address my particular problem, so I came 'on the forums' and received patronising gobbledegook from one lot of posters who seemed to delight in giving me answers they understood but which I didn't. Wasn't this forum BTW.

Now, here I am again...hoping to get a bit further on this time

Tell me which flavour of Linux you think I need and I will give it a go. I think I also tried Red Hat, years ago, on another machine, and that actually got to the desktop, and then crashed when I next booted - but that was then and this is now and times change. I would value help from the Linux community, so that I can broaden my own knowledge and maybe in time help others - and further the spread of Linux.

[Kieren]

Since you aren't running the fastest computer maybe try installing an older distribution to go with it?

How about Fedora Core 5?

[Freston]

Welcome to the forums!

I hope you will enjoy your 'adventure' with Linux There is no guarantee, but here is what other people have found to be good distro's for Older hardware.

If you have specific questions, feel free to post them. We'll try not to answer them in C-syntax

[matx]

Gentoo is worth a try if you got the time. I found a lot of distros did not work with my PC, but seems that gentoo worked first time.

However, you may have a long wait compiling from source on a slow machine! But worth it if all else fails.

[voyageur]

u need VectorlInux..
its fast as a ferrari even in p2 systems.

[yawningdog]

With all due respect to matx, I would NOT recommend Gentoo. That's the only distro that I've ever failed to install, only because I ran out of time and patience.

Slackware isn't known for its user-friendliness the way other distros like Ubuntu are, but I bet it works better on older hardware. After experimenting with a dozen or so distros, Slack is the one I always manage to come back to. I always recommend Ubuntu for the new user, but since that's already a wash, I'd go with Slack.

[voyageur]

Slackware isn't known for its user-friendliness the way other distros like Ubuntu are, but I bet it works better on older hardware. After experimenting with a dozen or so distros, Slack is the one I always manage to come back to. I always recommend Ubuntu for the new user, but since that's already a wash, I'd go with Slack.

Vectorlinux is developed on the Slackware11.o
so its awsone , easy simple and fast.

[Freston]

I know you're trying to help. But please vote in the poll, that'll help more in the long run.


We can't have a distro discussion every time someone makes a 'which distro' tread. We wont resolve the question before hell freezes over.

Lock?

[techieMoe]

Welcome to the forums, pawz. The question of which distribution to use is a very common one, and we've all been in your situation at least once. As such, we've compiled a set of helpful articles and threads (along with a couple of popularity polls) that will hopefully help you make a more informed decision on your own. Choosing a distro is a very subjective thing.

http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/lin...ead-first.html

The only advice I offer is to ignore those who shout out their favorite distribution and claim that it is the be all and end all of Linuxes. There is a distribution out there that will do exactly what you want, but that's not going to be the same distribution for everyone. We all have our favorites. Hopefully with some reading and research you can find out which is yours.