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micio
10-20-2003, 08:14 AM
I have a thinkpad laptop which is very old: P 120MHz , 24Mb RAM, 1.1Gb HDD. Currently it is running a RH 6.0 but I want to uppgrade it.
My ideal distribution should be:
1 - easy to install (I've tried only RH: 6.0, 7.2, 9.0), I'm not a linux guru, but I can survive without all GUI configuration tools of redhat, gnome and kde.
2 - very light (this is not true for RH, unfortunately) in disk usage and memory usage (I'm carefully avoiding both gnome and kde desktop and using blackbox instead).
3 - not relying on internet (56Kb modem connection)
4 - without rpm management, I'd rather prefere without *any* package manager, tarballs seems to fit better my needs,
5 - Truly open source
in these weeks I spent a lot of time retrieving info on various distro but I did not found the one that fits to me: debian and gentoo seems should be great but both rely on internet connection (apt-get and portage) and have package managers even if the fully support my point 5 requirement above which is fundamental.
How about Slackware?
Does anyone has a suggestion?
deathadder
10-20-2003, 08:18 AM
when it comes to the package management, you can use any OS without package management, you dont need to get the rpm you can always get the source however slackware is a good choice, have never used red hat i cant say how different it is, but red hat uses alot of gui configs and aslong as your know about configuring stuff like network cards by editing text files and usin different commands you should be alright, unless you really need to have the laptop runnin you can always try different os's
any linux os is truely open source, because if you want to you can get the source for it, kernel souce, app sources etc
micio
10-20-2003, 09:05 AM
thankx deathadder!
what I meant for "truly open source" is that I want to support those distro which made open source software their flag. For instance, debian is one of them. I never realized how much open source is important until I read the Stallman's bibliography, I'm C++ programmer and I hope will soon contribute to this world.
A point were I was not so clear: actually I can download iso somewhere else (e.g. at work) but burning cds at work is a painfull activity so I cannot rely too much on it. That's why I could not download all the distros and then try them by myself.
micio
JamminJoeyB
10-20-2003, 09:16 AM
micio, there are lots of which distro threads on here. Burried some where in one of them is a link to a site that will burn the distro of you choice and send it to you for a very minimal price. $5 comes to mind as that price. Since I have broad band I have never commited the site to memory. Search through them and you will find the site. I am sure that if you know what distro you want some one may even offer to make a copy if they have it.
As you have already mentioned Debian would fit the spec of your laptop as it is completly configurable - at first you install a basic base system and then it's up-to-you to install anything after that.
BUT:
>Debian is not the easiest distro to install - however in my sig there's a link to a great walkthrough which is fantastic for those installing debian for the first time.
>Only having a 56k connection - you would either have to buy the 7 cd set from a online store, or you could just get the first CD and configure apt-get to use the dial-up connection (as long as you don't mind waiting for the package to download in the firstplace!)
Even though Debian has the apt-get package manager you are not tied down to it and you can download the tars and compile them yourself.
With gentoo they have just introduced a GRP install whereby you don't need to have an internet connection for the installation as there is a complete snapshot of the packages on the downloaded cd's.
As for Slack I don't really have any experience of it but as far as I know it should fit what you need although the install is a bit daunting for the less experience user - similar to the debian install I have been lead to believe!
Hope this helps.
Jme
JamminJoeyB
10-20-2003, 09:59 AM
jme, I'd have to disagree with you on the slack install. If you can partician your drives and know the hardware in your system it's breeze. If you take the newbie install it throws everything on there. You can take a customized approach, which is what most user do after running slack for a while.
The second distro I ran was slack 8. My first was Mandrake. I only ran mandrake about 4 months. Thought is was a bit slow.
the.spike
10-20-2003, 10:33 AM
You might want to take a look at these guys..
http://www.linuxfromscratch.org
Build your own distro from the ground up. It does go against your "not relying on an internet connection" but only because you need to download a fair amount of source, but this can be obtained on CD (There's a link in there somewhere).
If you can download at work and then burn it might be what you are after..
spike...
micio
10-20-2003, 10:41 AM
thank you all,
I think I'll try debian, GRP download of gentoo is quite confusing me, I tried to follow online instruction without success.
Also, I don't want to get crazy compiling everything, even if I think that sooner or later I want to do it (at least once in my life!).
(Slack user should not read after this line )
Slackware could be a good "pratical" solution to my problem, but, frankly, it hasn't got the "charm" that gentoo, linux from scratch (source code distro!) or
debian ("Debian Social Contract"!) have. My search, indeend was half "practical"
and half based on principles, and I think deb will be a good tradeoff.
so, again, thankx a lot
micio
Originally posted by JamminJoeyB
jme, I'd have to disagree with you on the slack install. If you can partician your drives and know the hardware in your system it's breeze. If you take the newbie install it throws everything on there. You can take a customized approach, which is what most user do after running slack for a while.
JamminJpeyB: Thanks for pointing that out - as I said I don't really have an experience with Slack only what I have hear fro others. :confused:
One of these days I will get around to playing with it - especially if theinstall is as easy as you say! :)
Cheers,
Jme