Noob Linux question

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Ibanez3434

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I have a pentium 150Mhz with 32 MB of ram, I want to install Linux on it.. I had heard that madrake is very user firendly, but it requires 64MB minimum. Are there any user friendly Linux Ditros that will run with 32MB of ram?
Thamks.
 
To be honest, it would probably be better to get one of the smaller, nimbler and less pretty ones. Fewer nice graphical tools and other memory-eating things. Which is what you want.

Slack? Gentoo? FreeBSD?
(I vote FreeBSD, btw.)

Of course, it should be quite possible to trim any distro down to size. Key points include a lightweight window manager (icewm, fluxbox, xfce) and careful choice of programs.
You might actually want to try KDE 3.2 as well. It's the fastest KDE yet, and if you use only QT-based programs, (only KDE programs, probably) you'll save some memory. I don't think it'll be fast, but it might be good enough to use.

What are you planning to do with it?
 
You could also get an older version. I ran Mandrake 7.x on a P133 16mb back in the day, and it ran pretty good.
 
I've tried using Free BSD, couldn't figure it. Tried mandrake 10, couldn't figure it out. Basically I'm a noob. This is what I want, a desktop. I just want to surf the internet and stuff.
snapshot1.jpg
 
There are people here that could talk you through those installations and the following setup, myself included. Just ask.
 
HHunt said:
There are people here that could talk you through those installations and the following setup, myself included. Just ask.
Click to expand...
ok, I'm asking. Just tell me what distro to dl,then I'll ask about the installation.
 
Well, if you've still got the FreeBSD CDs, that's my OS of choice, and the only one I can actually remember all steps of the installation for.

However, I must get some sleep, it's 4 in the morning here. I'll be back sometime after breakfast.
 
HHunt said:
Well, if you've still got the FreeBSD CDs, that's my OS of choice, and the only one I can actually remember all steps of the installation for.

However, I must get some sleep, it's 4 in the morning here. I'll be back sometime after breakfast.
Click to expand...
Does FreeBSD have an acctual desktop or is it like DOS?
 
Ibanez3434 said:
I've tried using Free BSD, couldn't figure it. Tried mandrake 10, couldn't figure it out. Basically I'm a noob. This is what I want, a desktop. I just want to surf the internet and stuff.
Click to expand...
Hey, thats my SS! :p Thats Mandrake 10 with "Crystal Tux" Karamba taskbar. It was quite easy to setup, if you have any questions feel free to ask. IMO Mandrake is one of the easiest distros to learn, I have been using it since version 7.
 
saturnine2 said:
Hey, thats my SS! :p Thats Mandrake 10 with "Crystal Tux" Karamba taskbar. It was quite easy to setup, if you have any questions feel free to ask. IMO Mandrake is one of the easiest distros to learn, I have been using it since version 7.
Click to expand...
Yea I still have the Mandrake disk but when it boots I get a prompt simular to dos. Not sure what I'm doing wrong. :confused:
 
What does the prompt say? Is it a login prompt? Do you get the prompt before or after you install?
 
saturnine2 said:
What does the prompt say? Is it a login prompt? Do you get the prompt before or after you install?
Click to expand...
When it boots, after I logon it says,

Last logon: Fri Aug 13 13:01:13 on vc/1
[brian@localhost brian]$ _
 
Ibanez3434 said:
When it boots, after I logon it says,

Last logon: Fri Aug 13 13:01:13 on vc/1
[brian@localhost brian]$ _
Click to expand...

Is this before or after going through the graphics installer? What version of Mandrake? Where did you get it?

To your question about FreeBSD having a desktop or being 'DOS like' (command line), the answer is it can be either. Basically, any Linux (and BSD's) can be made to use a desktop or a command line environment.
 
Tweakin said:
Is this before or after going through the graphics installer? What version of Mandrake? Where did you get it?

To your question about FreeBSD having a desktop or being 'DOS like' (command line), the answer is it can be either. Basically, any Linux (and BSD's) can be made to use a desktop or a command line environment.
Click to expand...

This is after going through the graphical installer, Mandrake 10, http://www.linuxiso.org/
 
Allrighty, just type "startx" to bring you into the gui. If you get an error, you most likely need to configure your video card/monitor. Type XF86Config, and setup the video parameters. Remember, linux is case sensitive.
 
saturnine2 said:
Allrighty, just type "startx" to bring you into the gui. If you get an error, you most likely need to configure your video card/monitor. Type XF86Config, and setup the video parameters. Remember, linux is case sensitive.
Click to expand...

tried startx,

using authority file /home/brian/.xauthority
writing authority file /home/brian/.xauthority
using authority file /home/brian/.xauthority
writing authority file /home/brian/.xauthority

execve failed for /etc/x11/x (errno 2)
giving up.
xinit: No such file or directory (errno2): unable to connect to server
xinit: No such process (errno 3): Server error.

tried all that xf86config stuff, going to try it on a more current computer.
 
Tried it on my P4 2.8 and it worked fine.
so is there any way I can get it to work on this comp?

Pentium 166Mhz
64MB RAM
S3 virge intagrated video card
4GB HD

or

Pentium II 333Mhz
128MB RAM
8mb Trident video card
8GB HD

Maybe an older version?
 
You could run a basic gui on either one of those computers well... I would personally say go with slackware. I'm using it on a pII366 128mb ram with fluxbox as the gui and it's nice.

I can use gnome 2.6 too, but I generally stay with flux...

you'll have to learn a little about command line stuff to get everything working just how you want, but in the end you'll be more satisfied, and able to take better care of your system anyway...

Don't give up, I've run into some problems, but I've made it through... Good Luck :D
 
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