If you're looking for a good slackware based distro, and are also considering a live-cd one, i would suggest Slax. it is a live-cd slackware distro with both KDE 3 and Fluxbox for slower processors and less memory. i've used it since version 3 and it's a really great distro.

-Jonathan Beall

 

 

>From: Brian Waite <linwoes@gmail.com>

>Reply-To: Brian Waite <linwoes@gmail.com>,        Worcester Linux Users Group<wlug@mail.wlug.org>
>To: Worcester Linux Users Group <wlug@mail.wlug.org>
>Subject: Re: [Wlug] Linux distro for older hardware
>Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2004 08:16:31 -0400
>
>On Tue, 17 Aug 2004 07:40:37 -0400, Joel Desrochers
><joelgroup@hotmail.com> wrote:
> > I second the vote for Slackware.
> > Text based install and overall performance make it my favorite for older
> > hardware.
> > Unfortunately I prefer 128 MB RAM minimum for console only and around 256MB
> > for X.
> > Memory is cheap though.
> >
> > I am still quite happy with my P300/384MB RAM with Slack.
> > Before Slackware, I toyed with a few minimalist distros (Peanut and Grey Cat
> > Linux but found most of them lacking in either reliability or application
> > packages/support).
> >
> > Two other tips on trying Linux and picking a distributionto try:
> > 1)  Don't rule out Knoppix, the popular CD-ROM bootable distro.  You can use
> > it on another box (possibly your current Windows 9X or XP) without modifying
> > anything on the hard disk.   Also makes a great PC diagnostic tool.
> > http://www.knoppix.com/
> >
>I am a huge fan of knoppix. I have used it since version 3.0. I find
>it is the most effective to test a system for hw support. The amazing
>thing is I run it on 2 laptops and most , if not all, the suspend/freq
>scaling works well out of the box. I usually do a hard drive install
>after I am happy with the functionality and it works great.
> > 2) Consider reading up on the many distros on one of the many websites that
> > list information.
>I would also consider debian. (knoppix is based on deb). The number of
>"requred"  packages is very small with a huge set of optional
>packages. ou should be able to build a nice system even with lower
>horsepower. The nice thing about deb also is it gives you a very nice
>package install and dependency tracking system with apt. Nothing
>against Slack and its tar.gz but deb packages are really nice because
>they help with dependencices.
>
>Thanks
>Brian
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