[plug] Recommended Distro for lo spec computer? [UNDERCLASSIFIED]

[Bret Busby]

On Tue, 8 Feb 2005, Clark Julian wrote:

> 
> Hi Everyone,
>
> I've a colleague with a relatively lo-spec computer. A Pentium I believe
> (not sure of the speed & ram etc, probably a P-166)
> She's having issues with her current Windows installation.
>
> Is the Computer Angels distro a viable option for this type of machine?
>
> She's a windows user who wants to surf the net, send emails, burn cd's,
> and perform extensive word processing and spreadsheet operations.
> I was of thinking a minimal desktop environmnet, with a simple window
> manager; simple menu interface; openoffice; k3b, firefox and
> thunderbird.
>
> I'm thinking of demonstrating knoppix with my laptop to give her an idea
> of what it may look like; though I'm wary of confusing her with too much
> clutter.
>
> I wont be around too long after installation to provide support, so I'm
> hoping for something that won't need too much support. :)
>
> Any suggestions?
>
> Cheers,
>
> Julian Clark
>
>

Depending on the overall specs, Debian Sarge, running Opera and Open 
Office (personally, I prefer Star Office 5.2 as an office suite), should 
do the job.

I would suggest Konqueror or Galeon as a lean web browser, but Konqueror 
blew up in my face today, and did quite alot of harm to my system. Don't 
know whether it was the fault of Konqueror, but that was what I was 
using, and in the middle of something, it hari-kari'd the operating 
system. I am still unsure of how safe the (kind-of) revived system is, 
now.

We have (not what I have been using Sarge on) a K6-2-300, which has ran 
Debian Woody okay, without any significant problems (only a system crash 
when shutting down, but that wasn't major), and Opera apparently is not 
subject to any malicious code (as yet), providing a person does not 
enable java (bleagh!). The K6-2-300 has 320MB RAM.

If your friend has at least 256MB of RAM, then she should have enough to 
run Gnome and the above applications.

--
Bret Busby
Armadale
West Australia
..............

"So once you do know what the question actually is,
  you'll know what the answer means."
- Deep Thought,
   Chapter 28 of
   "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:
   A Trilogy In Four Parts",
   written by Douglas Adams,
   published by Pan Books, 1992 
....................................................