Another which distro thread, with a twist

[clutch137]

Don't get excited, the twist is just that I did my research (thats a new one I'm sure)

I recently started having trouble with XP on my laptop forcing a long awaited switch to Linux

I've googled, done several distro quizzes, and narrowed it down to a few choices. My newbism however continues to follow me through valiant efforts of abandonment.

Hardware: P3 500, 96mb, 8gig
Goal: To use my laptop as my main computer for fairly elementary tasks. Wireless(including tools for wardriving or finding a connection wherever I go, nothing malicious), Office, Music + loading an mp3 player etc... My questions are not what program should I use, just the ability to do so. I'll do that research once I've solved the first problem (distro)
Background: A couple of the later versions of RedHat, STD Live, very familiar with Windows 9x-XP (I feel no sense of abandonment fyi)

Because of the older hardware, I am looking primarily for speed. Software compatibility is high on the list (which will be addressed in a moment). Everything I come across seems to be past my threshold due to ram spec.

I've come across several distros which caught my eye, XUbuntu, OpenSuSE, Damn Small Linux and Slackware. I like OpenSuSe and XUbantu over Slackware and DSL, but have several questions.

1. With my hardware, it seems that XUbuntu (my first choice) may be to hefty for my machine. With speed being my first objective, what kind of performance might I expect? (For comparisons sake I can run XP fairly smoothly by itself, but can only run a few programs before the hardware begis to bog)
2. OpenSuSe is loosing points primarily due to its SuSe base. I need stable, compatible software and really don't know much about how a program interacts with the OS. XUbuntu is debian based, which seems pretty common. (theres that newbism haunting me again). Can I run software made for Debian linux (or another base) with a SuSe base linux? (or vice-versa?)
3. Which of these distros is more new user friendly than others? Don't get me wrong, I have some experience but after almost a 10 year run on windows I don't want to be thrown into a 100% command line envionment. Slow and steady wins the race.
4. Would it hurt to run an older distro for speed purpose or preferable to use the best (newest) to eliminate bugs?

Thanks for whatever responses I get to a (surely) tired question and sorry for the long post. I'm in the home stretch on my decision and its been a long time coming. See you on the other side!

[oz]

1) Probably not much in the way of speed because 96MB of RAM is rather weak. Consider adding more RAM.

2) No, OpenSuse uses RPM packages and Xubuntu uses DEB packages. I doubt that OpenSuse will on 96MB of RAM, anyway.

3) It boils down to personal perspective... each user has to decide which distro is the most user friendly from their own point of view. I personally think that Slackware is the most user friendly of those you mentioned, but many would disagree.

4) No, it won't hurt your computer, if that's what you mean. Yes, a newer distro (version) might eliminate bugs.

Have fun experimenting with Linux.

[clutch137]

Thanks for the response, do you think I'm just SOL with 96megs? I would rather not upgrade such an old machine since I should be getting a newer one soon.

[oz]

Maybe not totally out of luck. You can check this DSL wiki entry to get some idea about RAM requirements/recommendations:

Minimum Hardware Requirements - DSL Wiki

Of the distros you mentioned, I think DSL or Xubuntu would be probably be the most responsive on your current hardware.

[clutch137]

Although I tried searching this question, I didn't get many results.

My concern with DSL is software compatibility. I would think that DSL uses older (and therefore smaller) files that may not be compatible with newer linux programs.

Please, correct me if I am wrong.

PS- my search was "Damn Small Linux DSL run "new program" OR "newer program" compatibility"

[oz]

I would think that DSL uses older (and therefore smaller) files that may not be compatible with newer linux programs.

You can find the DSL packages (and their version numbers) listing here:

Damn Small Linux, The Debian packages

You can compare the version number listed for any package with the current version of that same package to see how old (or new) it is.

[clutch137]

I'm referring to individual files more so than the entire package, such as using an old version of RUNDLL32 to save space. An older version of RUNDLL wouldn't properly run newer DLL files (Theres windows showing through, hope I didn't offend anyone... NWS?)

[oz]

If you want to run the latest in packages and/or files, some sort of hardware upgrade would be the way to go, whether it be with individual components, or the entire computer.

Either way, do let us know how it works out for you.

[clutch137]

Thanks for the advise, I'll give Xubuntu a try and if I'm not happy with the speed I'll install DSL. Hopefully my next post will be from Linux

[i92guboj]

Don't get excited, the twist is just that I did my research (thats a new one I'm sure)

Not really, but it's true that it's less common that I would like it to be.

Hardware: P3 500, 96mb, 8gig
[...]
I've come across several distros which caught my eye, XUbuntu, OpenSuSE, Damn Small Linux and Slackware. I like OpenSuSe and XUbantu over Slackware and DSL, but have several questions.

A pity, because slackware and -much better- dsl are probably the best options, due mostly to your ram limitations. If you can, add as much ram as you can to your box. You are probably using sdram, it's cheap these days.

1. With my hardware, it seems that XUbuntu (my first choice) may be to hefty for my machine. With speed being my first objective, what kind of performance might I expect? (For comparisons sake I can run XP fairly smoothly by itself, but can only run a few programs before the hardware begis to bog)

I really advise you not to choose it, ubuntu is not the lightest distro. Even if you choose xfce. With that amount of ram you should be looking at a standlone wm, and not into a full blown desktop like xfce.

2. OpenSuSe is loosing points primarily due to its SuSe base. I need stable, compatible software and really don't know much about how a program interacts with the OS.

SuSE is out of the question with your ram specs.

XUbuntu is debian based,

And there all the similarities end. Ubuntu has nothing to do with debian nowadays.

Can I run software made for Debian linux (or another base) with a SuSe base linux? (or vice-versa?)

It's not advisable to use packages made for a distro on another distro, even if the package format is the same. However, all linuxes can run the same software. If there's no native package, you can compile it yourself.

3. Which of these distros is more new user friendly than others? Don't get me wrong, I have some experience but after almost a 10 year run on windows I don't want to be thrown into a 100% command line envionment. Slow and steady wins the race.

Ubuntu. Those the definition of "easy" varies from one user to another. I find graphical environments hard to understand sometimes. It all depends on the concrete case.

4. Would it hurt to run an older distro for speed purpose or preferable to use the best (newest) to eliminate bugs?

It's better to run a small distro like dsl, which is actively updated and maintained. Running a very old distro might be suitable or not. If you are going to be connected to internet, you definitely don't want dated software, because that means having 4 years of well known vulnerabilities open to the world.

DSL, puppy linux, vector linux, etc. might all be suitable. If you can raise your ram to at least 256-512 mb then you will have a better experience overall.