Tag Archives: zenwalk

Lightweight Linux Choices For Older Computers

Posted on by

I traded laptops last week, trading my newest i3 laptop for an older Centrino laptop. I bought my laptop with this intention, as I really do not need that much horse power for what I do, and another family member can make better use of it.

The best part of the trading is the new ‘old’ laptop sent me down the Linux trail. Because it is an older laptop, the Linux distro it can reasonably run is a little more restricted. A lighter desktop is fine with me as I have come to appreciate function over form.

Why have any processor gobbling cycle time to fill a desktop with monitors and gadgets is not the best use of resources imo. I prefer a less resource hungry desktop for the most part. I am guessing I am an average user, and once I load up a web browser, the web browser looks and acts the same under a lean Linux Distro as it does running in big name distributions.

Lubuntu, PCLinuxOS LXDE, Puppy Linux, Salix OS, Zenwalk, and VectorLinux, all found there way to my download directory. These distributions are known to be both fast and light; any or all of these distros and their close cousins are a good fit for older hardware.

I found a whopping 486 megabytes of usable ram and a sixty gigabyte hard drive on my ‘new’ laptop. I left Windows XP on half the hard drive and formatted the other half to have some fun with.

What I found is Puppy Linux is the very powerful in terms of doing things. Puppy crams an awful lot of system tools into one small package. I use Puppy often to recover files from broken or virus infested Windows computers. Puppy works flawlessly every time I slide the cd in a computer. I have yet to find a situation where Puppy Linux can’t do whatever I need it to do.

Doing whatever I need Puppy Linux to do includes installing Grub if it is over written or otherwise made inoperable. Puppy Linux is small, needing less than one gigabyte of hard drive space if you choose to install Puppy Linux to a hard drive. If you want to load a spreadsheet off of a Windows Hard drive, Puppy Linux can do it with the included spreadsheet. Same for text or document editing. Puppy Linux is one very impressive lightweight Linux Distribution.

Lubuntu and PCLinuxOS with LXDE desktop are practically twins, with PCLinuxOS edging out Lubuntu with some additional bling installed by default. Adding the same few programs to Lubuntu levels the playing field. I thought PCLinuxOS was a tad snappier, but I am fond of PCLinuxOS, so my observations may be skewed. Either distribution has all the software anyone wanting to use the LXDE desktop is likely to want or need. They both are fast, easy on resources, and accept my desktop tinkering with ease.

Salix OS walks a very close walk to Slackware, and as such Salix OS is a very solid distribution. Salix OS like all Slack distros is not the queen of eye candy distros, not that the others are either. The repository is full of software and Salix OS will meet the needs of anyone wanting a fast, solid, light weight distro with Slackware compatibility.

VectorLinux is also sports a LXDE desktop. VectorLinux is the prettiest to look at right from install. VL is fast, and comes with a large amount of programs installed. I think VectorLinux edges out Puppy when it comes to how many programs can be placed on one CD. VectorLinux uses Lilo for the boot loader. For whatever reason, Lilo and I do not think alike.

I installed grub a few times, overwriting Lilo, and VectorLinux refused to load, presenting me with a kernel panic error, except in one attempt when everything loaded and worked as it should. I am sure I caused the problems, though I could not manage to find what I was doing wrong.

I wanted VectorLinux to work for me, as VectorLinux is an easy to manage, slice and dice distribution. VectorLinux has been reported as something not quite Linux by writers more adept than myself. For my needs and abilities VectorLinux has never been a disappointment or led me to a dead end. I downloaded VectorLinux 7, Alpha 4, and it gives a choice of either Lilo or Grub for a boot loader. I hope the final version does the same. Lilo is great of you dual boot, if you want more, you have to make it happen.

Zenwalk is another favorite distro of mine. Though Zenwalk has also been accused of deviating from the straight and narrow of ‘real’ Linux, I find it easy to use. Zenwalk has more than enough packages in the repository to keep most users happy. If there is any downside to Zenwalk, it is Zenwalk walks a pretty close path to Slackware, and Slackware is not intended to be exciting in its looks. Zenwalk improves Slackware’s looks a lot in the looks department, and is a very good choice.

When it came to memory usage, Puppy and VectorLinux reported the most free ram when checked. With the exception of Zenwalk which uses XFCE desktop and needs more memory, all the distros left me with more than enough ram to do everything I would want to do. Zenwalk used a little over half my available ram, which I am sure would still allow me to do everything I would want to do. Zenwalk with XFCE is a quick nimble desktop and distro.

The Linux winner for my desktop was arrived at in an unlikely manner. Puppy garned a slice of my hard drive because it is such an amazing little distro and such a small foot print. As much as I wanted VectorLinux on my laptop, I could not get VectorLinux to multi boot with more than Windows.

What tipped the scales is I made arrangements to recover files and remove virus infection from a Desktop running Windows. The desktop was reduced to unusable by virus and other Windows ailments. While I was removing viruses, the owner thought the Linux desktop was pretty, and noticed his computer was suddenly as fast or faster as it was when new.

He asked if I could install ‘That Linux thing’ for him on his Desktop. I explained the options for install, and he chose to delete Windows completely and learn how to use Linux. I installed PCLinuxOS LXDE on his desktop, installed Gnome Games, and a few other programs. I spent about thirty minutes explaining how Linux works and what he needed to do to keep it running and install programs.

The next day he called me asking how to use a specific program. I had never used that program, and that is what decided the Linux would be on my Laptop for the near future. I installed PCLinuxOS LXDE myself, installed the program and called him back with a solution. Puppy was already on my hard drive by this time.

Share

Linux Testing Crashing and Burning

Posted on by

I decided it was time to play around with newly released Linux distros the other night night. I know it is not the greatest decision as far as computers go, to play with the operating system when it is late. Getting to bed at four in the morning reinforced that thought.

It started out simply enough, I thought I would check out the new Linux listings at Distrowatch
and see what distributions are popular. There has not been a lot of movement in ratings of different distributions but there were some new releases. I broke out some blank cd’s and off I went.

I started out innocently enough thinking about a recent conversation I had at a local netboook show and tell. One of the people there also uses Linux and we talked about our choices. One distro we both had used in the past was PCLinuxOS and we both agreed PCLinuxOS is a solid distribution. I had moved on to Minime which became obsolete, and he has moved on to Tinyme for his netbook which he runs off a xd card and does not use his hard drive.

He mentioned a recent release of Minime was out. That was my starting point. I found the updated Minme torrent download, downloaded the iso and copied it to cd. Minime said it could not run as a live cd. Oh well, that was fun, not.

Mepis released a new beta iso, and I thought it may run well on my netbook. I downloaded the iso, copied it and started it up. It ran fine as a live cd, so I installed Mepis to my hard drive. mepis installed quickly, and ran okay except it would not shutdown properly. That should have been a hint to stop for the night.

I thought, well maybe Debian would now work with my netbook wireless. Repeat, to install. Debian made it to the wireless configuration but does not support my wireless card. In the past Debian made no changes to my hard drive, but this time that was not the case. Grub was gone and Windows was in jeopardy.

This is where the fun began as midnight came and went. As Zenwalk worked before, except for my wireless card, the new beta may have caught up. Repeat download install sequence. Being a beta, or more likely my Debian almost install and abort, Zenwalk loaded and ran, but Windows was still missing.

fouramOne o’clock in the morning was now in the past. I got on the net and looked for an easy was to fix the MBR so Windows could load. That was a wasted forty minutes except I read a method to use Ubuntu to rewrite the Windows loader. Three o’clock in the morning was now history. I had downloaded Ubuntu and repeated the install.

Ubuntu not only loaded painlessly, it found Windows and added it to Grub! The world or at least my netbook was safe once again. It was now almost 3:45 am. The Ubuntu file update notification showed up and I decided I may as well spend a few minutes updating Ubuntu. Wrong thought, thinking it would be a few minutes. The update was quick and painless, but not fast.

Mepis works on my Asus netbook. Debian’s install, and also tells so you before you start. Ubuntu saved the day for me. It may be Ubuntu loads and runs faster than previous releases. Ubuntu is well polished and stable.

In wrapping up, do not seriously think about toying with your computer’s operating system when it is late, or you are tired. Linux Beta’s are not really ready for prime time, or at least dual booting. They make it clear in their release announcement, and they mean it. Staying up later to fix earlier mistakes is not really a good solution.

Linux is a great OS, and the problems were all my doing. Towards the end, I thought perhaps I should download a server version which is pretty stripped down, and add programs I want. After seeing four in the morning, I decided enough was enough for one night.

Share

Linux and more Linux Distro testing

Posted on by

I had some free time this week, and the Sidux Linux I am using has drifted from leading edge to leading as the Sidux Team introduced a new revision. I was very happy with Sidux and recommend Sidux if you want a stable fast Linux on your computer.

With that being said it was off to Distrowatch for another round of trying out new flavors of Linux. The current roundup is very impressive, and my final decision still is not made. I started downloading PCLinuxOS from their server using my Mac. The download rate was pretty slow, so I killed it waiting for a different time of day to try again.

As I looked over the current offerings, Crunchbang Linux caught my attention. It is purported to be a smaller faster Ubuntu Linux. I downloaded the most current version and installed it on my little Asus 1000. It is a snappy little distribution. It is complete as it comes for most users. I would have been happy with it, with the exception of the color scheme. It is shades of black upon shades of black. I do not know if there was a statement in the color scheme, but with so many choices I decided to let Crunchbang go for something a little more colorful. If black is your favorite color, and you desire a fast lighter distribution, check out Crunchbang Linux.

My next choice was Vector Linux. Vector has a new version out, and I know from past experience that Vector Linux is one very fast distribution. It has been some years, and many revisions since I ran Vector, but knowing how quick it was, I was curious to try Vector Linux again. I was not disappointed! Vector is everything it always has been, and more.

One of the options during the install was to load the works, that was not the option name, but the idea is the same, so I chose it. The whole meal deal was exactly that. Vector Linux was stuffed with more software than I imagined one cd could hold. So much in fact, I felt it was more than I wanted. It was replaced, but I plan to go back and install the regular flavor next week.

Puppy Linux is making a bigger name for itself every week. At around one-hundred megs one is challenged to find a competing distribution that packs so much software and is so fast. As luck would have it, Puppy Linux released two new versions yesterday for revision 4.2.

Puppy Linux from Puppy's site

Puppy Linux from Puppy's site

Being greedy, I downloaded them both, and ran the version that is not the retro edition. What a pretty desktop I had! Loaded with all the software I could want and then some, with the exception of a few games, Puppy is a very pleasant Linux. I had a problem making my memory stick bootable, but once I figure that out, I will have a portable Puppy on a flash drive, and Puppy Linux may make it to my hard drive.

I always wanted to give Zenwalk Linux a spin, but I was never too sure about my wireless support. Since I have decided that wireless on my Asus is not all that, I downloaded Zen Linux and completed an install.. Zen Linux is everything it claims to be. Zen Linux is a nice mix of software. Each program is a leader in its separate category. Zen is very fast, and responsive, with a nice collection of software in the repositories. Zen Linux claims a place on my hard drive this go around.

I am ever curious about Mepis Linux, so I downloaded Mepis. For whatever reason the server timed out in the last thirty seconds of downloading, and I never managed a complete ISO. Mepis is a good distribution, though probably a little heavy for my little netbook.

Along the same lines, I managed a complete download of PCLinuxOS, and burned a cd. It is a little too much for my netbook without undergoing some major changes. It is very pretty as always and performed well for me on my desktops. I am sure that remains the same

I am torn between Zen and Puppy Linux. They are the best for my needs right now, and it is a tough decision. Maybe I will use them both as my mood changes?

Share