Comments on: Linux without pain?

Question: Linux without pain?

words1 — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 20:30:31 -0800

I know nothing about Linux but would like to try it on my spare laptop...

which is a Dell 266mHz Inspiron, circa 1999, currently running windows 98 (uck). This computer has been sitting unused for several years, and I would like to do word processing and email, etc., nothing fancy. I'm fine with Open Office, Firefox, etc.

Is there a simple, free version of Linux downloadable and installable by the near-clueless? I am particularly concerned about drivers.

By: 5MeoCMP

5MeoCMP — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 20:35:45 -0800

If it has a CD-ROM drive and you have access to a CD burner, then download Knoppix. You can boot a Linux image from the CD, and still access everything on the hard drive. You won't have to delete, repartition or anything.

By: andrew cooke

andrew cooke — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 20:50:20 -0800

suse is easy to install and big (so presumably many drivers). however, knoppix has the advantage of try before you install.

By: autojack

autojack — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 20:56:30 -0800

I third the Knoppix suggestion. It will probably be a bit slow on that system due mainly to its use of KDE, but think of it this way - the first thing you can teach yourself is how to make it run a more lean desktop environment :-) I believe Knoppix has a few others available that you can switch to.

Or, look for a Knoppix-based distro that is _designed_ to run on older hardware. There are some out there, though I don't know their names right offhand. Freshmeat has a Linux distro category that probably includes many options along those lines. Or, if you're familiar with IRC, get on irc.freenode.net and ask for tips in #knoppix.

By: orthogonality

orthogonality — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 20:56:57 -0800

Ditto Knoppix.

By: orthogonality

orthogonality — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 20:59:32 -0800

On postview:

autojack writes "I third the Knoppix suggestion. It will probably be a bit slow on that system due mainly to its use of KDE,"

I was running it the other day on my four year-old desktop, 866MHz Pentium III with 512 MB of RAM, and the GUI seemed fast enough for Firefox and Xchat and a (not graphics intensive) game or two.

By: ptm

ptm — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 21:33:52 -0800

Here is a good location for explaining the differences. I have a Knoppix CD and it's fun to play with but there are many ways to expand from there.

By: Zed_Lopez

Zed_Lopez — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 23:10:25 -0800

Be warned that even Linux experts often find it a pain in the butt to get all of a laptop's hardware working right. Here's the canonical source of people's accounts of getting particular distros running on particular laptops (with a big section on Dells.)

For an old machine, you probably want to go without Gnome or KDE and go with Fluxbox or another lightweight window manager. There are many to choose from. I like RatPoison, but it's not for everyone; in fact, it's for damn few.

In addition to Knoppix, you might want to check out Damn Small Linux, which you can boot from a LiveCD, like Knoppix, but is designed to be lightweight for old hardware. Don't know how good its drivers are, though.

By: ori

ori — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 23:51:02 -0800

RE Knoppix: Ubuntu's nice too. They'll actually cover shipping and media and send you a free CD.

By: 6550

6550 — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 00:00:30 -0800

I'll second Damn Small Linux. It's pretty neat and loads alot faster than Knoppix does.

By: loquacious

loquacious — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 00:53:02 -0800

I also like Knoppix. Knoppix and live-on-CD distros like it have probably done more for Linux than anything else. Since I've been playing around with Knoppix, I'm now considering Suse or another distro for a permanent or dual-boot desktop configuration.

I don't find Knoppix to be that slow at all, and I've run it on P3 machines with less than 500 mhz of speed and only 128 megs of ram. Considering that it's running mostly from CD, it's damn fast. It nearly boots as fast as a 2K/XP install on hard disk.

By: 6550

6550 — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 01:00:12 -0800

I'm not saying Knoppix is slow, just that DSL loads into RAM faster. Also DSL is a 50 MB download which makes it pretty nice just try a linux out.

By: pompomtom

pompomtom — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 03:30:22 -0800

I'd say Ubuntu for the same reason everyone else is saying Knoppix. Less intimidating too. I've had it going fine on a PII 400, 384Mb.

By: ph00dz

ph00dz — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 06:34:00 -0800

Yeah... same with me, pompomtom -- I love knoppix and all, but ubuntu lives on my laptop. They have a very helpful laptop specific forum as well...

Welcome to linux, words1! I think you'll be impressed with how well this stuff works these days.

By: words1

words1 — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 07:35:02 -0800

Thanks for all the advice -- I now go forth to play.

By: jmd82

jmd82 — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 10:03:29 -0800

I'll add in with I hope you have a lot of spare time. I made the mistake of converting my laptop from w2k to RH linux last year during the school year while I was working. I somply didn't have the time to invest in how to get linux fully functionaly they way I wanted it and even mundane things like installing programs required ample time to figure out so I caved in and reverted back to windows. FWIW, I'm also fairly adept at figuring out computer problems so good luck!