OS for very slow notebook

Kothas

Posts: 52   +0
Hello,
I got very slow notebook. It's specs:
Intel Celeron, 756MB RAM and 64MB VGA. What OS I should chose? I found Ubuntu, MeeGo, CrunchBandLinux and Chromium OS. What is the best for me? I prefer playing old games and watching films.
 
I'm just curious as to what year that little notebook was made? My question has nothing to do with what type of O.S. to put on it, it's just me being curious.

As far as a non-Microsoft O.S. for your notebook, I'm a strong supporter of Ubuntu! I made the switch to Ubuntu little over a month ago and have never regretted it. Also there is a real "plus" with running with Ubuntu, it's uses very little system resources and I'm sure that it would work just fine with those limited resources you stated. If you did indeed decide to go with Ubuntu, please try and find yourself version 10.10, for 10.10 right now, from all I've read about 10.10 vs. 11.04, most are saying that 10.10 is the champion. To many bugs and fixes with version 11.04 right now, I'm holding off upgrading my version until 11.10 is released.

In regards to your RAM, I think 756 will due, for my primary computer loaded with 4 Gig's usually hangs out around 350MB to 500MB of RAM being used in a (lite) use and (idle) state. Also your video RAM of 64MB's should be fine, for on my (in home server) it's using a very old Nvidia GeForce 4200 Ti 128MB AGP video card, and for the most part it doesn't use up all resources on the card. You didn't state what power rating your old Intel Celeron processor is running at! But I suspect that it's in between 500MHz to maybe 800MHz, could be weaker, but that's just my best guess. If my "best guess" is right, than you will have no problem running Ubuntu 10.10!

My only serious recommendation that I'm going to give before I leave here, is that when you find version 10.10, look for their "notebook" version, I don't think their "desktop" version will do good for your little system.

Good luck to you and please have yourself a nice day! :)
 
I wouldn't necessarily use a new Linux with an old PC. A couple of years old distro could work faster. Or maybe with a lightweight UI - stay away from the latest GNOME/KDE, they're too bloated for that little of memory.
 
Games are usually Os dependant, but older games and others like Java based games should be OK with *nix OS'.

Don't even think about Ubuntu or Kubuntu with that system either - As Mictlantecuhtli said, they're far too bloated to be of use.

Xubuntu would be OK though, if your insistent on using the 'buntu family of distros. To be honest, any distro (thats Linux edition to you) that has XFCE as a Desktop Environment option could be considered - It is lightweight, and will run considerably faster on older hardware.

If it was me, I'd be using XFCE along with either Debian, OpenSuse, or Fedora as my distrobutions. For me, the top choice is Debian, but the other two suit newcomers better. Xubuntu is also an option.

Other, even lighter distro's like Puppy Linux are worth a mention as well. :)
 
Presuming you aren't putting Chrome OS or something like Jolicloud on it, how often will it be online (if at all).

If its not going to be used for internet access, XP with SP1 would probably run the fastest on it (will noticeably slow down with SP2 and SP3). But I wouldn't bring that computer online at all - do software installs through cd or flash drive with the data downloaded elsewhere. Windows games will run without using WINE and Media Player Classic Home Cinema will play anything you throw at it (unless its HD where you will be limited by the processing power).

Again, I am not recommending an old/un-updated version of XP for the computer if you have plans of taking it online.
 
I agree with Leeky. Kubuntu and new Ubuntu aren't an option for your notebook. If this is first time you are going to use Linux, you will be more comfortable with Xubuntu. I hear good things about CrunchBang, uses OpenBox window manager which saves more memory than XFCE.
 
if you prefer windows, you could think of using win 2000 - it was pretty good in it's day.

i have a similar vintage notebook set up with win 2000 and puppy linux. it performs better than i would expect. puppy is a good option for small machines
 
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