Topic: Linux anyone?

[anomaly]

i am considering running Linux. never had too much exp with it. the laptop im considering running this on is a Dell Latitude L400

the specs:

700Mhz PIII

256Mb pc100

Ati mobility 4Mb

hard drive is currently being upgraded.

anyway is there any one on here that is a Linux user that could tell me why to or not to use a Linux OS vs win 2000 pro OS? the main purpose for this laptop is portable internet, media use and maybe simple games.

thanks for your time...

[DAwG]

Linux should do the trick there, for the purposes that you have in mind I don't see any reason to install windows 2000.  The thing about the latest versions of Linux is that they have a GUI very similar to Windows so there shouldn't be much of a learning curve.

[nanaki254]

i sometimes use ubuntu lol.

[quorn]

Here's a con:
A modern distribution of Linux complete with GUI (like Ubuntu or anything else using Gnome or KDE) will push that machine to the limit.  You'll need to find a slimmer desktop/GUI, something like Fluxbox.  I had a P3 850 with 320MB of RAM, and a default installation of Ubuntu slowed it to a crawl--in 2006.

Yes, it's true that Linux will run on old or outdated computers, but not without the user getting deeply involved in all the choices and customizations that it makes possible.

Your machine is ~Windows 2000 age.  Either use that, or GET TOUGH.   

[raVen]

quorn is right .  Yes you can run most Linux distro on that box , but the moment u want gui , ur killing it .

I would reccomend win 98 for that config . or a stripped down win2k . Whichever route you take , please upgrade the memory . The display driver of those days mostly had the shared memory model , so your ram will be eaten by the video memory .

Does this machine have a usb drive , if it does can it boot from the usb drive . If it can you are in luck . There are some linux distro which will run from a thumb drive [google them ] .

 I have one on my keychain for emergencies and to copy photos from hot co worker's machines , esp when they act pricey and dont want to give me their passwords . 

[DAwG]

they do have a number of stripped down distributions of linux that should run pretty well

[nanaki254]

quorn is right .  Yes you can run most Linux distro on that box , but the moment u want gui , ur killing it .

I would reccomend win 98 for that config . or a stripped down win2k . Whichever route you take , please upgrade the memory . The display driver of those days mostly had the shared memory model , so your ram will be eaten by the video memory .

Does this machine have a usb drive , if it does can it boot from the usb drive . If it can you are in luck . There are some linux distro which will run from a thumb drive [google them ] .

 I have one on my keychain for emergencies and to copy photos from hot co worker's machines , esp when they act pricey and dont want to give me their passwords . 

1 keychain? lol i have 3. One of which i "dissected" out of curiosity...it was just a 128 MB one.... yet the shell for it was larger than my 1GB

[DAwG]

http://nimblex.net/
http://featherlinux.berlios.de/
This one I guess is designed for older systems:
http://www.dynebolic.org/
There's a lot of different types to choose from on this site:
http://www.linux.org/

[mephisto_kur]

Windows 2000 will run beautifully on that machine.  Just load that up if you have a copy.

[Smoke]

i have a laptop similar to those specs.it runs xp rather well as long as you keep it clean.p3 600mhz i believe with 128 mb ram.

[anomaly]

thanks guys, the reason i am asking is for the simple fact that there were no xp drivers ever made for this lil guy. so the video is a little funky and locks up here and there...other than that i would just go with xp cuz it ran fine. aside from the video errors.

and to raven, its just got fixed 4Mb on board video. and the ram is maxed out. its a super light notebook. about the size of a piece of paper 1" thick and less than 3lbs. so these limitations are to be expected for a notebook of that time period. but it was basically free (payment for fixing a friends pc) and will suit my needs.

anyway, i just got the hard drive last night.

WD 120Gb 8Mb buffer 5400 rpm. they just don't make smaller drives worth buying any more. i mean the smallest cheapest drive i could find was a 40Gb for $49 before S/H. at that price point $69 for a 120Gb seems to good to pass up. anyway now i have enough space for a few OS's.

i will run A win 2k like meph suggested i just need to find a bootable win 2k cd. the one i have will not work with out a floppy drive and the notebook doesn't have one. 

[Smoke]

mine is a latitude also.hey i have the floppy drive if you want it.is yours the kind where the cd drive and battery are in the front and slide out?

[anomaly]

mine is a latitude also.hey i have the floppy drive if you want it.is yours the kind where the cd drive and battery are in the front and slide out?

i know the kind. there swappable with my Dell external drive that came with my notebook. right now it has a DVD/CDRW in it. my notbook has no other internal available media drives in it except for the hard drive. thats how they got it so small and thin.

to speak of it, my bro has the same kind of Dell laptop as you and im pretty sure he has a floppy as well. thanks for reminding me. 

[BoneyOne]

Yup, been using different versions of Linux for a while. Eventually settling on Ubuntu (I love the apt-get). But for older hardware Ubuntu is not the way to go. I suggest to try out Xubuntu. It's a sibling to Ubuntu, but built upon XFCE which is meant for more of a lightweight system (great for older hardware). You can check out from http://www.xubuntu.org/

[anomaly]

thanks for the link man