Fast Linux on an old Computer?

[lukelukeluke]

Hi you,

I have a pretty old Laptop (400mhz, 256ram, 2vram).
I know that all these popular linux distributions like suse 9.0 or redhat 9.0 are pretty slow on old computers.

Im looking for a Linux distribution that would run on my laptop. And it should run fast!

What i want to do/use on this linux is the following:
- Zyxel ZyAIR B-100 (11mbit PCMCIA WLAN Card).
- Xircom CreditCard (10/100 Ethernet PCMCIA)
- a graphical user interface like KDE
- A development environment for JAVA and C++ should run on it (I can download one at sourceforge, but it should run and it should be fast if possible).
- Command Line workspaces.
- Surfing in the internet with some FAST browser.

What i dont need is much unneeded things on the gui like flying around things or screensavers or desktoppics and so on. It only has to be fast! Any suggestions?

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[stefanwagner]

Distributions aren't slow or fast - the windowsmanager might be.
If you install a lean desktop like fluxbox, it should be fast.
256 MB seems ok for a 400 Mhz machine.
I use eclipse on a 1.000 Mhz/ 256 Mb. The startup is somewhat slow, but after loading it's doing well.

KDE will slow down - perhaps you may disable all the features.

Disabling unused services could help too.

seeking a job as java-programmer in Berlin:

http://home.arcor.de/hirnstrom/bewerbung

 

[LawnBoy]

I'm running SuSE 9.0 on a Celeron @ 450 Mhz, 256Mb ram and it runs fine after you disable unused services. Slow to boot, but operates ok.

 

[jrjuiliano]

This is going to be another opinion...

For a laptop I'm running Gentoo, with KDE even though it's really slow that way.

On my desktop I'm running XFCE4 (both of these machines are 2.0 GHz). It's abso-freaking-lutely wonderful on memory usage (uses 300-400MB of 1GB RAM on medium usage, vs. KDE using much much more). And using idesk really helps me with my need for desktop icons.

At any rate, even though it takes a long time to compile everything from source I still consider it a great distro. And it's VERY customizable to meet your needs.

Something to consider, anyway...

J.R.

 

[stefanwagner]

300-400 MB? For a Windowmanager???
Wow!
Fluxbox uses 2.4 resident and 6.6 shared on my system.

I don't need help with icons - I got rid of them
What a wonderful life!

seeking a job as java-programmer in Berlin:

http://home.arcor.de/hirnstrom/bewerbung

 

[jrjuiliano]

OK, let me rephrase, since I posted that at work...

Running XFCE4, idesk, firefox, aterm, amule, konqueror (still like some kde apps) amarok, akgregator iconbox and some load managers (cpu, ram and net) I'm running right about 240 MB right now.

That's a little better, eh?

J.R.