Extremely lightweight Linux distro?

B

Bryn Escott-Allen

Guest
Hello,
I have recently acquired a Toshiba Satellite 300CDT, currently (just about) running Windows 2000 Professional edition. As this is an outdated OS and, more importantly, is Windows, I would like to find a distribution that the laptop is capable of running. I had looked at Bodhi Linux, but unfortunately it falls a long way short of the minimum system requirements. The Specifications for the laptop can be found here: http://www.toshiba-europe.com/bv/computers/products/notebooks/satellite300cdt/product.shtm , though in this case the laptop has 48MB of RAM, and a 4GB hard drive.
Thank you for any help, I appreciate that it would be rather limited by such minimal resources.
 


Arch Linux would be my choice. If I HAD to use the computer. Technically Arch Linux CAN run on that old of hardware, but it is not pretty. Hopefully the ram is maxed out.

2010-10-28-mn-340-001-connochaetos-musca.jpg
 
Last edited:
I thought Puppy linux was light enough for almost anything until I read your laptop's specs. I'm leaning towards arochester's doorstop recommendation lol. You can always check ebay or craigslist and get a laptop for 40-50 dollars that can handle most linux flavors.
 
Depending on how comfortable you are with Linux I would recommend taking a look at Slackware. Slackware allows you to get extremely picky with what gets installed and how. As a result you can with a little work install a very clean OS with just the bits you need and nothing else. This allows it to run on some rather minimal hardware, but it definitely is not for someone who just wants to slap on an OS and go. You will have to do fair bit of reading and spend a lot of time getting very friendly with the command line.
 
Minimal Debian or Slackware with a 486 kernel, X less. You could run an xserver with something like fluxbox or icewm, but there wouldn't be much point. For a web browser, something like dillo for X or CLI browser such as lynx or elinks is about as good as it gets on that hardware.
 
Installing older versions of distros is ok for sandboxed systems, but for anything which will be connected to the internet, security updates is a concern. Puppy 2 and 3 in particular date back to '06 and '07 respectively so unless these are still being supported it would be wiser to install something which is.
 
Installing older versions of distros is ok for sandboxed systems, but for anything which will be connected to the internet, security updates is a concern. Puppy 2 and 3 in particular date back to '06 and '07 respectively so unless these are still being supported it would be wiser to install something which is.

I noticed you changed your user image. Nice choice!
 
Installing older versions of distros is ok for sandboxed systems, but for anything which will be connected to the internet, security updates is a concern. Puppy 2 and 3 in particular date back to '06 and '07 respectively so unless these are still being supported it would be wiser to install something which is.
For people with a Pentium laptop there is no way they will a modern distro even Antix. It is better than the Damn Small Linux option and with Anitaos I have provided a way to use the latest seamonkey with the older Kernel based distro.
 
Minimal Debian or Slackware with a 486 kernel, X less. You could run an xserver with something like fluxbox or icewm, but there wouldn't be much point. For a web browser, something like dillo for X or CLI browser such as lynx or elinks is about as good as it gets on that hardware.

Even a minimum debian with minimal W/M is going hang round 100meg which is too much for machines which run less ram that, this is where Puppy and Anitaos come into the fray.

Modern kernels just don't cut on what some people call doorstops.
 
Yes I agree absolutely, on 48MB of RAM that's going to be no fun at all...

I found a minimal Debian Lenny install, only just about usable with a *box WM on an old Pentium II 200MHz laptop with 128MB of RAM...

Slackware on the other hand is another matter as the generic kernel image is very small and the distro is not a resource hog, it would be interesting to try it, but probably not on a doorstop.
 
Yes I agree absolutely, on 48MB of RAM that's going to be no fun at all...

I found a minimal Debian Lenny install, only just about usable with a *box WM on an old Pentium II 200MHz laptop with 128MB of RAM...

Slackware on the other hand is another matter as the generic kernel image is very small and the distro is not a resource hog, it would be interesting to try it, but probably not on a doorstop.
It would be interesting because from the point of view that with Slack you have more control over what starts up - It is more streamlined.
 
Instead of recommending which linux is best for that computer, its better if you buy another computer. Even an old second hand computer, as long as its specs is better than your current computer. Its specs is too low for most usage unless you really have to use it specifically for a specific reason.
 

Members online


Latest posts

Top