128mb Ram...

Hi guys,

It has been a while since I last wrote in this forum. I haven't been using OpenSuse for a while since work got so hectic. My little sister has an old laptop that my Dad gave her. It is a poor machine with a Pentium III processor and 128MB of RAM. She doesn't really want to do much with it, just surf the Internet and check her emails. The laptop currently runs Win98!!! This is a sin!

So I was wondering what decent linux distro I could install for her, that is both easy and can run smoothly on 128MBs?

All suggestions are welcome!
Thanks

I'd recommend Arch Linux for that machine, if you want a fairly quick setup and you know something about Linux already.

Puppy Linux

I agree with ken_yap, a while back I used puppy linux on a live cd for months on end for basic websurfing and such.
though my requirements were more then that, it got me through

I agree with ken_yap, a while back I used puppy linux on a live cd for months on end for basic websurfing and such.
though my requirements were more then that, it got me through
[/b]

Someone that uses a Puppy Linux Live CD for months, says so much. I am still trying to figure out whether it is good or bad, but is says a lot.

Sorry Mark, had to do it.

Seriously, there is so much to be said for those who dumpster dive to rescue PCs that are thrown away like sacks full of kittens. :huh: There is always a distro that can run on old hardware. These are distros that are still kept up to date, so that you are not giving up anything when it comes to security. We have light weight desktop managers that run great on old hardware. Just saying that, "My PC is old", is not an excuse for having to run Windows 98, and having to leave yourself vulnerable.

Is there any way that you can slap a bit more (cheap) ram into the laptop? I have a laptop with a PIII and 192 ram happily running Sam. I'd say maybe something Slackware-based, or Arch if you're savvy. Actually, there's one or two pre-configured Arch-based distros out there that might be worth a try. I'd definitely stick with a lightweight desktop manager like Xfce, though.

I agree with ken_yap, a while back I used puppy linux on a live cd for months on end for basic websurfing and such.
though my requirements were more then that, it got me through
[/b]

You'd get better results with low RAM by installing Puppy to HD, and get faster boots and no need for the CD anymore. You only have to run the HD installer wizard after booting to RAM.

Thanks for your help guys! I will try out all your suggestions and get back to you when I have settled on a distro that feels better for this laptop.

Have a nice day!