Author Topic: Linux for old laptop  (Read 930 times)

bob_v5

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Linux for old laptop
« on: 18 March 2009, 05:37 »
Hi.
I will soon be receving an old laptop with a p2 266 and probably 64mb ram, although I might be unlucky and get the 32mb version. I'm having a hard time picking an os to go on it. I will likely use puppy linux, damn small linux , or win 98. I need to be able to install the os from something other than a cd, as the cd drive is broken. I have an adapter to put the 2.5" drive in a desktop,or I could install from network or usb drive.
I belive that DSL uses the 2.4 kernel, and puppy uses the 2.6. I read somewhere that 2.4 runs better on low memory machines. Anyone know if this is true? How big is the difference likely to be?
I want to use the machine for internet browsing mainly, playing music, and anything else this battered old thing can do.
If it is possible I am also interested in using the laptop as a terminal for my main machine (win xp) using something like vnc, and maybe even playing a few slow paced games over this connection in the comfort of my sofa  :) Am I right in thinking that most of the processing demand for this would be on the "server" machine, and the laptop (client machine?) would have it fairly easy, as it is just displaying the pictures sent to it?
Any advice people have would be a great help, I have always found the choice available to be a bit of a nightmare!

There are no stupid questions. Only stupid people.

davidnix71

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Re: Linux for old laptop
« Reply #1 on: 18 March 2009, 23:04 »
DSL is the size of Win95, which is what probably came with that laptop. But even DSL needs 128MB to run fully in ram.