Anyone else playing with Linux desktops?
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- Stephen O Connor
- Sr. Rocketeer
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I grabbed a copy of Ubuntu a week ago and installed it on a P4 Windows Machine that somebody gave me. Nice straightforward install that partitioned the drive into Linux and windows sectors. I am very impressed by the ease of install and the clean interface. It came with a great suite of applications to begin with and Synaptic will grab and install more software with a few clicks.
At boot up, I'm given a choice of ubuntu or windows. Ubuntu is the choice unless I am checking out web pages using Windows browsers.
Put Ubuntu on an old P3 at 866 mhz and 256 mb ram--it runs great!
I'm going to try DSL (Damn Small Linux) on an even older P3 (maybe 300mhz) and 64 mb ram.
I am also considering putting Yellow Dog Linux on one of my hard drives on my G5 PPC. Has anyone done this? I am a little hesitant as it is my production machine, but I really like linux. I guess alternatively, I can get another cheap machine and set it up next to my workhorse.
Also considering putting it on an old G3 imac running 333 mhz with 384 mb ram as soon as OSX.3 gives it up.
Has anybody put YDL on a drive of their PPC? How has it gone?
Also interested in any other experiences you all may have had with Linux distributions.
If you haven't given it a try--I heartily recommend it. If nothing else, it can give new life to an old machine.
Steve - Last Edit: 17 years 9 months ago by Stephen O Connor.
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- damo
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i'm going to stick Ubuntu on an old laptop i've got just to have a play
but it is old. will be interesting to see how it works
- www.c3p0.se - sweden
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- Stephen O Connor
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damo wrote:
i'm going to stick Ubuntu on an old laptop i've got just to have a play
but it is old. will be interesting to see how it works
If you have 256 mb and a faster PIII, you should be good. If you have less, try the Xubuntu variant which runs leaner--calling for 128 MB ram. There is also Puppy Linux and DSL for slower and older machines. DSL claims to work with command line on as little as 8 MB ram.
Kubuntu is another release suggesting 256 mb ram that is said to be more Windows-like.
Steve - Last Edit: 17 years 9 months ago by Stephen O Connor.
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- SureLurksalot
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Try VECTOR Linux if you have an older machine.. I have had some wonderful results with it even on older p2 machines....
Currently running kubuntu on my production machine, snappy, robust distro.
I have also used Mepis for a time as well as Slackware, Minislack, SUSE, Knoppix, and many others. Of my favorites I would have to say vector and ubuntu take the top 2 positions. I guess I am a bit partial to Debian based distros, I have tried red hat, fedora core, gentoo, mandrake, and many others and I tend to not like anything RPM based due to package dependencies etc.
Theres just nothing easier than to apt-get (or slapt-get) whatever you want to add.....It seems like so many distros come pre-bloated these days... I prefer to start with less.....and add only what I need.... - Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
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- Stephen O Connor
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Okay--that's it. I'm ordering a new hard drive for the PIIII 2.4 ghz with 1.25 gb ram.
I need to set up a computer where I can set up enough partitions to try more of these flavors. I haven't tried KDE or xfce yet.
I came to this when I got a dedicated server running CentOS. I started learning linux command line via ssh. I'm only a few weeks into this and I am addicted. Not that you have to use command line. Ubuntu, for example, has a robust, easy to use GUI.
If you haven't tried it yet, find an old machine and give it a shot. Or have a distro like ubuntu create a partition for you leaving your Windows install intact. With the latter, you are given a choice of OS into which you boot.
Steve
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- SureLurksalot
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Multi-boot environments are cool, relatively easily set up and are a great way to test drive distros.
Another way to test drive stuff is to invest in a copy of VMWARE and install distros like mad within your windblows environment: NOTE: not all distros like to be run in a virtual environment, but many, many do without problem.
Over the years of messing about with various flavors of nix and bsd I have have come to the conclusion that not all flavors like all hardware and it's always a good idea to have a spare hard drive about for testing different ones and find one which "likes" your hardware. When you do find a distro that you like and get it properly config'ed to your system it will really make that old system scream!
Another cool way to see if a distro is right for your system is to try one of the many flavors that come in a LIVE CD version, you can test it out without even installing it to your hard drive..... - Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
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