Linux for slow ass computer

[the Wozz]

hey fellows.
I have a Pentium II, 333mhz computer, old Dell desktop.

UBUNTU is tooooo slow for this machine.
(plus when I loaded it, it already set a password for root
that I couldn't figure out, so i gotta whipe it off my system).

so far, Slackware 11 using xcfe or xfce or whatever its called has been
the best of the two.

Any suggestions ?


Ugh I guess I could make a partition from my laptop (which is awesome except the suck ass video card).

[raublekick]

the root password problem is probably because ubuntu uses sudo, which uses your password, not the root account.

i would try damn small linux, slackware, etc... but even XFCE might be a bit much if you don't have enough ram.

good seeing you here wozzy wozzbourne.

[the Wozz]

haha thanks.
I've tried to get DSL on the computer, but it wouldn't take.
right now, i'm giving Vector Linux a shot on it. It's based in
Slackware.

[johnny]

gentoo or arch would probably perform fairly well. arch would be a much quicker setup, though. gentoo builds everything from source, and the installation can be pretty involved to begin with anyways.

you could also try a lighter ubuntu install; use the server install disc to get the base system going, then install xorg and a window manager. i'd pick xfce4 or maybe something even smaller.. fluxbox/openbox/blackbox, icewm, etc..
also, depending on yer needs in ubuntu, you can remove/turn off some of the services that you don't need, that are started up by default. do 'ps -A' in a terminal to see all the processes running.. i'm sure there could be a couple daemons or services that you don't need around.

[the Wozz]

well Vector Linux was a bust. It was really really reallllyyyy slow on my ol p2.
I tried to get Slackware back onto it, I got the install to work. I reboot it after installation...after the BIOS loads up i get this:

"L 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99
99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99
99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 "


and then nothing else happens. So I'm going to try to reinstall and if that doesn't work, i will try something else. Maybe I'll give those others you mentioned a try. I did like using XCFE more than KDE. KDE was nice, but its too slow.

[the Wozz]

it pulled the same shit on me! Whaaaat tha fack.

I'm going to try UBUNTU with a different Windows...managing....thinge.... I dont know if i Like GNOME or not. And as much as I like orange, I don't dig the default color scheme.

[the Wozz]

haHA got ubuntu running smoothly, and with a little search on ubuntuforums.org helped me get my old soundcard running.

[raublekick]

ubuntuforums is a valuable resource.

as for desktop environments / window managers: i don't really love any of them. they all have things i like and they all have things i hate, so i just kinda switch it up when i feel like it.

[the Wozz]

this Ubuntu with its Synaptic Package Manager is rockin' my world right now

[thecreeper]

wozzy!

me and raub are trying to install some hot linux action on my old computer too. its an ancient laptop. we kinda ran into problems and haven't fixed them though.

[raublekick]

yeah i think i wanna just reinstall everything but try to get the regular installer working instead of the expert install.

i am thinking that the regular will work, and that expert only worked because it happened to read the disk correctly on taht try