Which Linux distro should I use?

I've got an old Dell Ispiron L100r computer running on a 1GHz Pentium III processor with 384 Mb of CL3 RAM and a blank 18.6 Gb Hard Drive that I want to put Linux on but I'm not sure which distro to get. I'm new to Linux but I learn fast and I'm fairly proficient with both the Windows and MacIntosh operating systems already. If I can find some I'll be adding more RAM, hoping to increase it to 1Gb.

suggested so far

Ubuntu (x5)

Fedora (x3)

Gentoo (x2)

Xubuntu (x1)

Damn Small Linux (x1)

Ubutnuru (sp?) from what I hear is the easiest to learn. I'm not really big on linux knowledge however.

Ubutnuru (sp?) from what I hear is the easiest to learn. I'm not really big on linux knowledge however.

Ubuntu. :P

Ubuntu would be the default choice most people will through up because it comes ready to use right after the install. I think Fedora is another usable desktop distro right out of the box but I haven't used it personally (maybe that's something I can try tomorrow :anxious: ). Both use Gnome (the desktop system) by default so they'll look fairly similar at first.

I would also suggest Ubuntu, but since your system specs are low, Xubuntu would be better suited for you.

maybe that's something I can try tomorrow :anxious: )

Sounds like a good excuse to get out of cooking christmas-eve dinner =)

I'd go with ubuntu as a first distro, (They're supposed to have a snazzy new ui with gg and the new version of kde (edit: whoops, ubuntu uses gnome by defualt, doesn't it?))

My personal choice is gentoo, and for web servers it would have to be fedora. Gentoo is pretty overwhelming at first, so I wouldn't recommend it to someone new to linux.

http://distrowatch.com is a good site to browse around before going ahead.

Ooh, yeah, another person coming to the *nix side! /me hands him a cookie

With those specs, you have rather decent options. On the RPM side, you could go with Fedora 8. It's a nice OS if you can deal with yum.

On the Debian side, you can choose between Ubuntu (I've been using it for about two years and it's fantastic), or you can pick Gentoo. Both have excellent hardware support and are quick to learn for newbies to the OS.

You also might want to consider Damn Small Linux, something designed for a business-card disk that makes old computers run like champions. I haven't used it personally, but I do know people that have reported decent success with it.

Let us know what distro you chose and how well it's running.

Ubutnuru (sp?) from what I hear is the easiest to learn. I'm not really big on linux knowledge however.

Dunno about you, Nad, but Ubuntu is jut too easy for me.

I had to switch to Fedora 8 (FTW) to get breathing agasin. I also use Vista, if you're wondering.

Just a random fact, Mac OS X does run on Vista, if you do some tweaking... My friend and I are on a quest to run it on a PC. An RL quest.

Thanks for the advice.

I think I'm going to go with Xubuntu for the low specs it requires.

On a side note I don't know about Vista but one of my friend's uncles put OSX on an XP computer. It not that the difficult you just have to make sure your hardware supports OSX.

Ubutnuru (sp?) from what I hear is the easiest to learn. I'm not really big on linux knowledge however.

 

 

 

Dunno about you, Nad, but Ubuntu is jut too easy for me.

 

 

 

I had to switch to Fedora 8 (FTW) to get breathing agasin. I also use Vista, if you're wondering.

 

 

 

Just a random fact, Mac OS X does run on Vista, if you do some tweaking... My friend and I are on a quest to run it on a PC. An RL quest.

Meh, I figured the goal of an OS generally was to be as user friendly as possible while giving plenty of power to the user if they want, along with good security.

Is Ubuntu limiting at all in what you can do in it?

Also, you say you can run Mac OS X on vista... that doesn't make any sense. You don't run an OS on another OS, you would mean to say probably that you can get it to work with your hardware. (or, perhaps, you can emulate it through vista but I don't know if that is possible).

Ubutnuru (sp?) from what I hear is the easiest to learn. I'm not really big on linux knowledge however.

 

 

 

Dunno about you, Nad, but Ubuntu is jut too easy for me.

 

 

 

I had to switch to Fedora 8 (FTW) to get breathing agasin. I also use Vista, if you're wondering.

 

 

 

Just a random fact, Mac OS X does run on Vista, if you do some tweaking... My friend and I are on a quest to run it on a PC. An RL quest.

 

 

 

Meh, I figured the goal of an OS generally was to be as user friendly as possible while giving plenty of power to the user if they want, along with good security.

 

 

 

 

 

Is Ubuntu limiting at all in what you can do in it?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, you say you can run Mac OS X on vista... that doesn't make any sense. You don't run an OS on another OS, you would mean to say probably that you can get it to work with your hardware. (or, perhaps, you can emulate it through vista but I don't know if that is possible).

The only thing that I can think that Ubuntu limits to you is the "root" user account. Of course, if you just use the "sudo" command with your own password in that OS, you won't really need it.

By the by, you ever hear of virtualization? With that, I can run Linux in XP, or XP in Linux (or anything I really choose in any other OS, depending on the emulation program).

The only thing that I can think that Ubuntu limits to you is the "root" user account. Of course, if you just use the "sudo" command with your own password in that OS, you won't really need it.

Even then it's only a stupid user precaution. You can still re-enable root by giving it a password. I did exactly that on my little goof around 7.10 server on my LAN because I got tired of using sudo all the time.

Ubutnuru (sp?) from what I hear is the easiest to learn. I'm not really big on linux knowledge however.

 

 

 

Dunno about you, Nad, but Ubuntu is jut too easy for me.

 

 

 

I had to switch to Fedora 8 (FTW) to get breathing agasin. I also use Vista, if you're wondering.

 

 

 

Just a random fact, Mac OS X does run on Vista, if you do some tweaking... My friend and I are on a quest to run it on a PC. An RL quest.

 

 

 

Meh, I figured the goal of an OS generally was to be as user friendly as possible while giving plenty of power to the user if they want, along with good security.

 

 

 

Is Ubuntu limiting at all in what you can do in it?

 

 

 

Also, you say you can run Mac OS X on vista... that doesn't make any sense. You don't run an OS on another OS, you would mean to say probably that you can get it to work with your hardware. (or, perhaps, you can emulate it through vista but I don't know if that is possible).

Yes, that's what I'm saying, emulation. Running Mac OS X on top of Vista. Pearpc.

It's hard to install, though.

i would say ubuntu but something a little more "lightweight" might have superior performance on a PC that old

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I tried downloading damn small linux, but I'm a bit confused on how to do it. I go to the DSL index on the places that let you download it, but I'm not sure what to do from there.

Assuming that it's like any other operating system, just burn it to a CD. Then, put the CD into your computer and restart it. If you're going to dual boot with Windows, then it could be a bit different. Just make sure you know what you're doing.

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Sorry. I guess I could have phrased that a bit better. What I meant to say is that I don't know what file to download.

I believe I misunderstood what you were saying, kinda my fault. Anyway, I think you can just go here and download the file named "dsl-n-01RC4.iso".

...Or you could download the current version here...

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Sorry for directing to the old version the first time, lol. Anyway, I'm pretty sure you need the "dsl-4.2.1.iso" file. However, if you want, you can read it yourself.

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Pretty much, you could burn it at a slower speed if you want, then you'll have a smaller chance of something going wrong.

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I know nothing about burning files with a Mac. But, if you're sure that you burned it correctly, then it might be that you need to change your system BIOS to boot from your CD-ROM first.

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