can you recomend me a lightweight Linux distribution.

[Rajiv Vyas]

Couple of weeks ago, Sahotoglu wrote:
> Hello,
> I have an old Dell laptop that has 128 mb ram and 3GB
> harddisk. I would like to have Latex, matlab, and
> mathematica on it. I don't want to it to be slow. So I
> would like something lightweight. Since I am a newbie
> I would like to be able to install programmes like in
> Ubuntu using something like synaptic.
> Can anyone recomend me a distribution.
> Thanks in advance.
> 
Sometime ago, Sahutsonmez wrote:
>Hello,
>I have an old Dell laptop that has 128 mb ram and 3GB
>harddisk. I would like to have Latex, matlab, and
>mathematica on it. I don't want to it to be slow. So I
>would like something lightweight. Since I am a newbie
>I would like to be able to install programmes like in
>Ubuntu using something like synaptic.  
>Can anyone recomend me a distribution. 
>Thanks in advance. 


If you still haven't decided on one, there are three possible
distributions you can try:

Vidalinux VLOS 1.2 – this is sleek and I would highly recommend it if
you are not planning on installing ton of software. It's based on the
Gentoo Linux distribution and uses the Anaconda installer. On the
positive side: It gave me perfect high resolution for my old PII 400
Compaq. Looks rock solid and is good with overall detection of
hardware. It also launches apps much more quickly than other
distributions. Downside: Took more than three hours to install and
also the boot/load time is equal or longer than Ubuntu and other
distribution.


VectorLinux 5.1: This is very nice if you are looking for a quick boot
and load time and I think it's one of the best in recognizing
hardware. It's based on Slackware and is relatively easy to install.
Distroatch says that it's known as the "fastest non-source distro on
the planet!"
Here's a review: http://madpenguin.org/cms/?m=show&id=4966
Positives: very quick to boot and fast with launching apps; solid with
hardware recognition. Negatives: No Gnome or KDE. It's mainly fluxbox
and other lightweight GUIs; might need to tweak resolution the way you
need to in Ubuntu or other distributions.

Gentoo: Never tried it but I was recommend this by a Linux expert at a
large IT company. He said: "there's nothing like this." From what I
have heard, positives are: Rock solid, and super fast. Negatives:
could take days to install depending on your machine and your
expertise.


Hope that helps.

Rajiv