[Tfug] Small Linux Distributions (was Re: Religious crap)

[Tim Ottinger]

What is interesting is how much ram I actually use on XUbuntu box.  I like
to use gmemusage to see what apps are chewing up memory.
I would def. stick with a small window manager (xfce, flux, etc).   I
noticed that Java apps tend to chew up a lot of resources. Lately azureus
(java app), vlc,  and thunderbird also seem to hang a lot after you think
you've exited.  that's neither here nor there except that I see them when I
run gmemusage.

I'm also installing linux on a junk laptop (Inspiron 7000 boat anchor, must
be 3.5" thick) and I guess I'll be looking at some low-footprint distros.
As long as they're debian inside, I guess any of them will do.



On 10/6/06, Ammon Lauritzen <ammon at simud.org> wrote:
>
> Tim Ottinger wrote:
> > I used puppy for a while, didn't have to install dos first.  Seemed
> great.
> > DSL is smaller, I understand.  I'm running Debian with XFCE4 on a
> 450MHz,
> > 192MB machine just fine.
>
> On lower-end machines, the ram makes an enormous difference when it
> comes to being able to live with an X setup because if you get too low
> on the memory tree, you start swapping out... which hoses older boxen.
>
> It is generally my experience that 128mb/300mhz is about the lowest end
> i386 you want to try an X setup on, and then I wouldn't recommend
> anything fancy by way of window managers.
>
> A 330mhz ppc with 96mb of ram is unusable under X. Well, I lie. It is
> usable. But only if you're not doing anything fancier than xterms and
> the odd firefox window.
>
> As far as Keith's 500mhz/256mb amd? I worked for three years (in the not
> terribly distant past) on a 450mhz/256mb celeron and was very happy with
> life as long as I wasn't constantly recompiling things or working in
> Java :) I ran both Debian and Slackware on it and didn't have any issues
> with installation.
>
> But of course, I was using fluxbox for my WM - something like a 3mb
> footprint as compared to a typical Gnome/KDE session taking closer to
> 30-50mb.
>
> I'm not too big a fan of the "off brand" distributions, but then again I
> don't have enough experience with them to make any specific judgements.
>
> For a lightweight install, my recommendations are generally Gentoo and
> Slackware for reasons of their control/pain ratios, but both can be
> fairly long installs (actually, nothing beats a stage 1 Gentoo install
> on a p2 class machine... *twitch*). Slack might install a few more
> things than you want, but we're not talking server apps like some
> distros...
>
> Ammon
>
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