Super lightweight Linux LiveCD to run on ancient PC with very little RAM?

KatanaDV20

KatanaDV20

KatanaDV20

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Hey guys I need your help since Im dont know much about Linux and the various distros out there :o

I have a friend who has an *ancient* PC...Im talking 8 years old at least. Its has like 250MB RAM etc. She is having a LOT of trouble with it (it struggles with XP Home). The thing takes 30 minutes (yes...thirty) to boot to the desktop :eek:

My idea was to have her use an extremely lightweight LinuxLiveCD. All she wants to do is browse the web checking her email. Thats it. If she likes it she can do a permanent install.

However the RAM is so little that the distro of choice must have a small memory footprint. Ideally it would have Firefox with codecs to play YouTube etc.

Could you please suggest one?

I will then burn her a LiveCD and we can see how that works until she saves her money to get a new computer.

Thank you :)
 
Most flavors of linux will boot fine with 250MB RAM with a basic install + window manager. Firefox might be more of an issue as it uses quite a bit of RAM and may cause a lot of swap use.
 
Awesome, thanks a lot guys! Will check out your suggestions now. She is open to binning windows which is good. Interested to see how it handles these distros suggested! That Arora sounds cool, Id never heard of it but just read up on it on Wikki.
 
Don your usb stick and give 'em a go mate. Testing will prove which one suits you and your machine best.

Myself, I've heard nothing but good things about siltaz.
 
I think tiny core is looking like it's going to be full of win.

xpud looks great but needs lots of RAM as it uses firefox as the default browser :/

Wonder if it has Midori or Arora packages
 
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