This may be a noob question, but is there an OS that boots really quickly that is only for browsing the internet (using anything but IE!). At the moment, I boot up on many occasions just for the internet and not for anything else. Seems a bit of a waste!

Thanks in advance for any replies

fast os for internet

Try Linpus Linux Lite, It is the exact same OS as that found on Acer ee netbooks

What are your computers specs?

it's an old pc
amd643200+ X2, 1GB ram on an asus an8e; nvidia 7900 with XP pro

Just use ubuntu with xfce. (xubuntu). Very lightweight and easy to use.

It may be pretty heavy, but it's also very quick and lightweight, and shouldn't have a problem running on an older computer.

Though I suppose you could always try one of those DSL (Damn small linux) or portable linux os's or something.

why turn your computer off at all? just leave it on, more harm that good will come to your comp cold starting it all the time.

well i think u should get chrome os because it is made for networking it loads super fast etc. but im not sure if the full thing is out so get the beta version see how u like it and if no then linux mint

I recommend using Chrome too

I would suggest ChromeOS, but it is only supported by a handful of PCs right now (lack of drivers support).

Chrome works on most computers now... It has been updated by Google. Drivers are not an issue

With a claim of a boot time of 7 seconds (cold boot/power button), the Google Chrome OS is expected to be released on netbooks near the end of 2010, however Google announced Jan 24th that it will come with a "media player that approximates the functionality of Windows Media Player". The Chromium OS open source project, which invites developers to participate, was released in Nov, 2009.- the same time Google gave a sneak preview of the OS.

(as reported by eweek.com)

Here is a review of the top 10 fastest booting linux distributions.

http://www.downloadsquad.com/2009/12/30/10-free-fast-booting-linux-distros-that-arent-chrome-os/

Moblin or Browser Linux seem like the best fits for your needs, but read through the review and let us know which one you pick as i would be curious as well.

Livekiosk looks pretty cool as well. although if boot speed is a requirement i am not sure this would match well with the distributions that boot from your harddrive as Livekiosk is CD based. Looks great for ease and simplicity though.

That's actually not a bad machine at all. Is this your main machine? If so then I assume you'll want to dual boot? If it's just web browsing you want, then I would reccomend a bog standard Debian install with a lightweight window manager like Fluxbox or maybe LXDE. If it's Vista or XP with full bloat that you're running now on that same machine, you should notice a big difference. If it's very light and fast that you want, then I'd recommend Puppy Linux.

I've no experience of chrome, so I cannot recommend it. Personally I wouldn't want an OS that is basically the platform for a browser - and google are in the adware business - so well work it out for yourself.

Chrome was designed exactly to do that.