The good news is that Linux works very efficiently and should outperform Windows on the same machine. The Linux kernel is relatively small and can run under 50MB with a basic GUI. Puppy Linux and DSL are two very good ones and should easily install with lots of room to grow. They are not the most elegant distros, but do the job.
In addition many distros include a scaled back version for either old hardware or with fewer bells and whistles. An example would be PCLinuxOS (RPM package manager) which has several versions, including one called MiniMe, or SimplyMEPIS (deb package manager) which has AntiX. Ubuntu (deb package manager) comes with a variety of desktop managers, including Xfce or Fluxbox, which give you a nice looking graphical desktop with less overhead than KDE or Gnome. Ubuntu uses Gnome by default and both SimplyMEPIS and PCLinuxOS use KDE, which take up lots of hard drive space and use more resources. To use Ubuntu download Xbuntu, instead of Ubuntu or Kubuntu. Package management may or may not be an issue depending on how much you want to change your system after it is installed. It is a question of personal preference, but some are better than others. All of the above distros use apt, but PCLinuxOS uses RPM and the others use Debian packages. You have lots of choice with Linux, certainly more than with Windows. You can choose the kernel, the distro, the desktop manager and applications that run on your OS. If you do not need to run an office suite then you can choose just an open source word processor such as Abiword or Kword. Likewise you can choose from any number of browsers and email programs. The danger of course is that you can install too much, so you have to choose. Good luck! ----- Original Message ---- From: spencex333 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [email protected] Sent: Sunday, December 2, 2007 10:05:50 PM Subject: [LINUX_Newbies] recommendations for an old laptop? I have a NEC Versa 6230 with 130 megs of RAM and a 3 gig hard drive. Right now it is running Windows 2000. I'm wondering if I would see a speed improvement with Linux. I only want to use the machine as a wireless internet device. I tried to install Ubuntu 7.04 but continued to get an i/o error at bootup. Then I read somewhere that Ubuntu is a bit bloated. So I'd be grateful for recommendation for a Linux light that is easy for a newbie to install. Thanks, Spence <!-- #ygrp-mkp{ border:1px solid #d8d8d8;font-family:Arial;margin:14px 0px;padding:0px 14px;} #ygrp-mkp hr{ border:1px solid #d8d8d8;} #ygrp-mkp #hd{ color:#628c2a;font-size:85%;font-weight:bold;line-height:122%;margin:10px 0px;} #ygrp-mkp #ads{ margin-bottom:10px;} #ygrp-mkp .ad{ padding:0 0;} #ygrp-mkp .ad a{ color:#0000ff;text-decoration:none;} --> <!-- #ygrp-sponsor #ygrp-lc{ font-family:Arial;} #ygrp-sponsor #ygrp-lc #hd{ margin:10px 0px;font-weight:bold;font-size:78%;line-height:122%;} #ygrp-sponsor #ygrp-lc .ad{ margin-bottom:10px;padding:0 0;} --> <!-- #ygrp-mlmsg {font-size:13px;font-family:arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif;} #ygrp-mlmsg table {font-size:inherit;font:100%;} #ygrp-mlmsg select, input, textarea {font:99% arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif;} #ygrp-mlmsg pre, code {font:115% monospace;} #ygrp-mlmsg * {line-height:1.22em;} #ygrp-text{ font-family:Georgia; } #ygrp-text p{ margin:0 0 1em 0;} #ygrp-tpmsgs{ font-family:Arial; clear:both;} #ygrp-vitnav{ padding-top:10px;font-family:Verdana;font-size:77%;margin:0;} #ygrp-vitnav a{ padding:0 1px;} #ygrp-actbar{ clear:both;margin:25px 0;white-space:nowrap;color:#666;text-align:right;} #ygrp-actbar .left{ float:left;white-space:nowrap;} .bld{font-weight:bold;} #ygrp-grft{ font-family:Verdana;font-size:77%;padding:15px 0;} #ygrp-ft{ font-family:verdana;font-size:77%;border-top:1px solid #666; padding:5px 0; } #ygrp-mlmsg #logo{ padding-bottom:10px;} #ygrp-vital{ background-color:#e0ecee;margin-bottom:20px;padding:2px 0 8px 8px;} #ygrp-vital #vithd{ font-size:77%;font-family:Verdana;font-weight:bold;color:#333;text-transform:uppercase;} #ygrp-vital ul{ padding:0;margin:2px 0;} #ygrp-vital ul li{ list-style-type:none;clear:both;border:1px solid #e0ecee; } #ygrp-vital ul li .ct{ font-weight:bold;color:#ff7900;float:right;width:2em;text-align:right;padding-right:.5em;} #ygrp-vital ul li .cat{ font-weight:bold;} #ygrp-vital a{ text-decoration:none;} #ygrp-vital a:hover{ text-decoration:underline;} #ygrp-sponsor #hd{ color:#999;font-size:77%;} #ygrp-sponsor #ov{ padding:6px 13px;background-color:#e0ecee;margin-bottom:20px;} #ygrp-sponsor #ov ul{ padding:0 0 0 8px;margin:0;} #ygrp-sponsor #ov li{ list-style-type:square;padding:6px 0;font-size:77%;} #ygrp-sponsor #ov li a{ text-decoration:none;font-size:130%;} #ygrp-sponsor #nc{ background-color:#eee;margin-bottom:20px;padding:0 8px;} #ygrp-sponsor .ad{ padding:8px 0;} #ygrp-sponsor .ad #hd1{ font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold;color:#628c2a;font-size:100%;line-height:122%;} #ygrp-sponsor .ad a{ text-decoration:none;} #ygrp-sponsor .ad a:hover{ text-decoration:underline;} #ygrp-sponsor .ad p{ margin:0;} o{font-size:0;} .MsoNormal{ margin:0 0 0 0;} #ygrp-text tt{ font-size:120%;} blockquote{margin:0 0 0 4px;} .replbq{margin:4;} --> ____________________________________________________________________________________ Never miss a thing. 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