Total newbie

dean_ham · 14 Jul 2009 at 20:42

Hi guys, I have an old Toshiba laptop maybe 8 years old (PIII 1100MHz, 256ram, 20gig hard drive etc.)

I have formatted the HD and re installed windows xp and basically its too slow even to use the basic tasks that i want to use it such as browsing the web. I cant remember it being this slow when i first had it.

Anyways i have always been interested in trying linux, and im debating wether to try it on this laptop and see if it can handle using just the internet better than XP.

Can anyone point me in the right direction for what i should be downloading, considering i have very poor specs.

Thanks
Dean

Rwac · 14 Jul 2009 at 20:51

Try Xubuntu:

http://www.xubuntu.org/

Intended for lower spec'd machines. basically it is Ubuntu but using a lightweight interface (Window Manager).

Just do the usual and burn the .iso/install.

dean_ham · 14 Jul 2009 at 20:55

ok great, giving Xubuntu 9.04 a go and downloading it now

yashiro · 14 Jul 2009 at 20:56

A Linux that is as functional as Windows XP won't run any faster than XP.
In order to run faster you need to run a reduced system. As new user though a lite version of Linux is somewhat of a pain in the bum.

You should probably try either Ubuntu or Debian to start with. They're similar enough to Windows to be easy to use.
Although they won't offer any real speed benefit over XP.

I'm sure people will say try Puppy Linux, Slitaz, Crunchbang and so on. While they will be faster they're somewhat harder to grasp. Especially for someone new to using Linux. Of those slimmer Linux systems I mentioned there you will get more help if you choose Crunchbang as it's effectively Ubuntu.

dangerstat · 14 Jul 2009 at 21:00

I've got Debian 5 on my (very similar spec to yours) laptop and it runs very well indeed. Just struggles a bit with multiple instances of Firefox with Flash videos

Rwac · 14 Jul 2009 at 21:17

yashiro said:
A Linux that is as functional as Windows XP won't run any faster than XP.
In order to run faster you need to run a reduced system. As new user though a lite version of Linux is somewhat of a pain in the bum.

You should probably try either Ubuntu or Debian to start with. They're similar enough to Windows to be easy to use.
Although they won't offer any real speed benefit over XP.

I'm sure people will say try Puppy Linux, Slitaz, Crunchbang and so on. While they will be faster they're somewhat harder to grasp. Especially for someone new to using Linux. Of those slimmer Linux systems I mentioned there you will get more help if you choose Crunchbang as it's effectively Ubuntu.

Agreed give crunchbag a go afterwards.

See how Xubuntu runs it may be fine for your needs

And it's a bit more friendly

masslac · 15 Jul 2009 at 05:49

CrunchBang isn't different enough to Ubuntu to even be allowed to exist. Openbox is in the repositories.

GarethDW · 15 Jul 2009 at 17:53

Xubuntu not Ubuntu, imo.

Or maybe Fedora Xfce Spin

SteveS · 15 Jul 2009 at 20:14

Xubuntu not Ubuntu,

y r they named so similar! lol whats the difference??

theheyes · 15 Jul 2009 at 20:35

SteveS said:
Xubuntu not Ubuntu,

y r they named so similar! lol whats the difference??

Xubuntu uses the Xfce desktop, Kbuntu uses KDE and Ubuntu uses GNOME.

Xfce looks similar to GNOME, KDE looks a lot different. For what it's worth I prefer GNOME.