What set-up would you recommend for an older system?

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deminisma · Post by **deminisma** » Wed May 25, 2005 6:35 am

By older, I mean a 150-350MHz class computer, with 64-128MB of RAM.

So what would you recommend for a...

web browser (e.g. dillo)
wm (e.g. ratpoison)
mail client (e.g. mutt)
file manager (e.g. mc)
word processor (e.g. abiword)
spreadsheet application (e.g. gnumeric)
text editor (e.g. nedit)
music player (e.g. xmms)

and anything else that comes to mind? A stripped down X server and kernel? Keep usability in mind.

Vulpes_Vulpes · Post by **Vulpes_Vulpes** » Wed May 25, 2005 7:32 am

You could use a WM like fluxbox (633 kB) or blackbox (423 kB). They are really light-weight... and very basic!

rhill · Post by **rhill** » Wed May 25, 2005 2:31 pm

get two of them and sheet of plywood and you can make yourself a table.

bigfunkymo · Post by **bigfunkymo** » Wed May 25, 2005 2:42 pm

I made a decent router/firewall out of such a box... none of that other stuff though

Lokheed · Post by **Lokheed** » Wed May 25, 2005 5:10 pm

dirtyepic wrote:get two of them and sheet of plywood and you can make yourself a table.

What he said.

edudlive · Post by **edudlive** » Wed May 25, 2005 6:59 pm

deminisma wrote:By older, I mean a 150-350MHz class computer, with 64-128MB of RAM.

So what would you recommend for a...

web browser (e.g. dillo)
wm (e.g. ratpoison)
mail client (e.g. mutt)
file manager (e.g. mc)
word processor (e.g. abiword)
spreadsheet application (e.g. gnumeric)
text editor (e.g. nedit)
music player (e.g. xmms)

and anything else that comes to mind? A stripped down X server and kernel? Keep usability in mind.

I have a P2 350Mhz with 64mb of RAM (running 2.4 kernel) and use it as a server...but even without X the kernel takes up a lot of that RAM

russianpirate · Post by **russianpirate** » Wed May 25, 2005 7:46 pm

i used to run 333mhz/128mb and i ran vector linux

web browser - dillo/opera
wm - icewm
mail client - sylpheed-claws
file manager - mc/gentoo/tux commander
word processor - abiword
spreadsheet application - gnumeric
text editor - gedit/gvim
music player - xmms/mpd

those r the ones i used

Q-collective · Post by **Q-collective** » Wed May 25, 2005 8:47 pm

If it is a pentium 2, I suggest you go for Arch Linux

Radea · Post by **Radea** » Wed May 25, 2005 8:56 pm

Modern programs with openbox would be alright if you could get some more ram. I wouldn't really bother with it elsewise.

jamiethehutt · Post by **jamiethehutt** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 11:57 pm

This sounds like a good candidate for use as a thin client...

Archangel1 · Post by **Archangel1** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 5:05 am

Q-collective wrote:If it is a pentium 2, I suggest you go for Arch Linux

Why would that be better than Gentoo?

vlado · Post by **vlado** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 9:27 am

Because Arch Linux distributes packages compiled for i686 while in Gentoo you need to compile it yourself. Which is bit painful on slow hardware...

darker · Post by **darker** » Tue Jun 07, 2005 5:50 pm

My computer is somewhat similar to the one you described, just more RAM (see sig). This is the software I use on it:

Code: Select all

Web browsing: firefox, links
pdf viewing: xpdf
image editing: GIMP
IRC: BitchX
text editing: bluefish, nano
email: sylpheed
RSS reader: snownews
window manager: E17

Everything works well and is very responsive.

Specialized · Post by **Specialized** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 4:36 pm

As windowmanager I would recommend Blackbox, Fluxbox onnly makes sens with KDE.

As Browser you can use Firefox, it nearly has an Extension for erverything, so you maybe dont need additional apps.

killfire · Post by **killfire** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 4:47 pm

deminisma wrote:By older, I mean a 150-350MHz class computer, with 64-128MB of RAM.

So what would you recommend for a...

web browser (e.g. dillo)
wm (e.g. ratpoison)
mail client (e.g. mutt)
file manager (e.g. mc)
word processor (e.g. abiword)
spreadsheet application (e.g. gnumeric)
text editor (e.g. nedit)
music player (e.g. xmms)

and anything else that comes to mind? A stripped down X server and kernel? Keep usability in mind.

youre going a little extreme...

on a 266mhx w/ 128 ram i have the following running (quite well)
firefox (web browser)
blackbox (wm)
abiword (word processor)
vim (editor)
xterm (for file management.. ls, cd, etc)
mpd/mpc (media)

the only place i wish there were a lighter version is firefox.... someone really needs to make a lightweight web browser (dillos rendering engine sucks... frankly)

gustafson · Post by **gustafson** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 5:07 pm

I carry damn small around with me in my pocket, and like it for basic functionality. You can install it to your hard drive.

http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/

They claim:

Run light enough to power a 486DX with 16MB of Ram

I haven't tried it yet on something quite as slow as your spec, but it worked fine for me on an AMD K6 450Mhz with 128MB Ram.

loki99 · Post by **loki99** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 7:18 pm

Another option would be to use the Jackass! Project.

racoontje · Post by **racoontje** » Thu Jun 09, 2005 5:40 am

People. irssi.

Athas · Post by **Athas** » Thu Jun 09, 2005 8:49 am

deminisma wrote:wm (e.g. ratpoison)

Yes! Of course, I would recommend that for a fast machine as well. On my machine it's only 91KB, so it shouldn't starve you for system resources either.

xlulux · Post by **xlulux** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 4:52 pm

racoontje wrote:People. irssi.

thats where its at.

i have a computer, actually 6 just like he mentioned but they arent mine exactly they are the hospitals computers so only winbloze goes on them

nelix · Post by **nelix** » Fri Sep 09, 2005 9:46 am

WM:Ratpoison
Music:MPD (add mpc hot keys to ratpoisonn, and use echo to display them with ratpoisons OSD)
Web: Links2 (With X11 suport for images) Firefox-Bin for fancy css pages.
Term:XRVT And Screen
Email:Mutt
Editer:Vim/Nano
Video: MPlayer (good luck getting somthign that old to play anything decent though, unless mplayer has native suport for your gfx hardware)
cdr: CDRecord And bashburn

If all these things are configured well it makes an extremly smooth and confusion free desktop.

Is it missing anything?

What set-up would you recommend for an older system?

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