Which distro for older PCs and schools?

[theniteowl]

Hi All,
Any recommendations on linux distrobutions for a grade school environment on older hardware?

I have tried a few distros like Edubuntu and Kubuntu but they run very very slow. I am running on a 450Mhz Intel box with 128 meg of ram which is probably about average for older PCs I can get hold of to donate to the schools. I would like to find a distro to work well in the educational environment on the older hardware.

It is also entirely possible that the system needs tweaking and I am a relative newbie so would not know where to begin.

I did try out the current free Xandros release which runs pretty well. It looks like some of the software is only trial version though so I will have to do a lot of tweaking there to get all free software up and running. It kind of kills the nice fast install if I have to modify the heck out of it once it is in place.

I know there are distros out there specially designed for educational purposes and I am looking. Any suggestions?

As far as the Xandros release, it was an impressively easy install and a good looking desktop. I get the feeling though that the default desktop is homoginized between typical linux and windows environments based on the Ubuntu releases I have looked at.

At my age I still learn something new every day, but I forget two others.

 

[thedaver]

I think you'd like Debian with it's less-is-more approach. But you are, unfortunately, running very thin on memory for a GUI.

Note that the actual window manager you choose under the X gui can make a material difference in performance vs. functionality.

D.E.R. Management - IT Project Management Consulting

http://www.dermanagement.com/

 

[theniteowl]

I could probably upgrade the memory to 256 Meg but most likely the other computers I will have to work with will not have that much either.

So far the Xandros distro is working the best but I have not yet tried Debian. I booted the Xubuntu version this morning (not installed) which is supposed to be slimmed down for older devices but it ran pretty slow. To be fair though it was only booted from CD and I did not have any time to really play around with it. But there are so many releases out there I thought asking for opinions might help me narrow down the field for testing.

After reading a bit on the K12 Linux in Schools project I might consider a diskless workstation approach but that of course means I have to have a server which vastly complicates matters. Better in the long run but it means a hell of a lot of learning on my end to implement and a higher end device to act as the server.


At my age I still learn something new every day, but I forget two others.

 

[geirendre]

Try PuppyLinux or VectorLinux for Lightweight distro's.

Maby check out Skolelinux, it's a debian based distro for schools.

http://www.puppylinux.org/user/viewpage.php?page_id=1

http://www.vectorlinux.com/

http://www.skolelinux.org/

 

[Kozusnik]

Although the name is not appropriate for children, Damn Small Linux should be thin enough for those machines. You'll need to install several apps after the OS. There's not much there.

However, if I were you, I'd look at K12 LTSP (Linux Terminal Server Project). I tested it at home running on an AMD 1700 with 1GB of RAM. The clients seemed to be very snappy. A small server (or two for redundancy) should serve at least 20 desktops. Just use the P-IIIs as thin clients.

I'm sure the good people of Tek-tips would be more than willing to assist in the config.

Good luck,
Mark

 

[theniteowl]

geirendre, I could not get through to the sites for vectorlinux or skolelinux but the puppylinux looks interesting.

kozusnik, I did look at the info provided on the K12 LTSP project and it sounds like it has great potential but it does of course ramp up the complexity of things.
I would have to know the specific needs of the school and their existing network to implement it but it looks promising. The problem is with the increased complexity comes a whole lot more learning I have to do to get to a position I could configure it and I just wonder if I will have the time in the long run. I really want to put together a server/workstation pair to try it out though.

Maybe when I migrate the rest of my files off my old PC it will make a good test server. Windows got nuked in some truly bizarre fashion that I have not been able to repair so I just moved to another machine and have not messed with it recently. It's probably the only machine I have ever NOT been able to get running again without a full OS reinstall.

Thanks everyone. I am going to play around with distros a bit more then delve a little deeper into customisation.


At my age I still learn something new every day, but I forget two others.

 

[jshurst]

You mentioned Xubunutu above...I really like that distro, it's light and superfast. I think you should try a harddrive install, it should be a lot faster than a live cd.

 

[theniteowl]

Xubuntu did not seem to want to give me the option of installing, it just booted from the disc. Not sure if I have to press a key or combination during boot to get to an installation screen or if I downloaded a different distro.
I have not played with it in a while as I have had a lot of house repairs to do but I need to get back and look at it sometime soon.


At my age I still learn something new every day, but I forget two others.

 

[chrissie1]

If xubuntu is anything like the other two then it has an install icon wich you have to click/doubleclick.

Christiaan Baes
Belgium

"My new site" - Me

 

[theniteowl]

Would that be an icon available after booting into the desktop?
The EduBuntu and KuBuntu distros I tried gave me an installation menu at boot rather than going straight to the desktop.

At my age I still learn something new every day, but I forget two others.

 

[Trevoke]

windowmaker, fluxbox, fvwm and enlightenment are very light window managers. If you're not afraid to try out new stuff, go for it.
Fvwm is very customizable and you may be better off looking for a theme or two (fvwm-crystal was my favorite for a long time).

"That time in Seattle... was a nightmare. I came out of it dead broke, without a house, without anything except a girlfriend and a knowledge of UNIX."
"Well, that's something," Avi says. "Normally those two are mutually exclusive."
-- Neal Stephenson, "Cryptonomicon"

 

[rzs0502]

I recently installed Zenwalk 2.8 (now 3) from

http://www.zenwalk.org

It's a based on my distro of choice, Slackware.
Zenwalk is about 450Mb and runs very well on my old PIII with 256Mb RAM
It uses the lightweight XFCE Window Manager and has one application for each function.
Also has a nice tool called netpkg to adding/upgrading packages from the net (also handle dependencies)

Although I'm a Slackware user, I have been quite impressed with this lightweight distro.


"If you always do what you've always done, you will always be where you've always been."