Recommend an OS

[matt40k]

I've got a very old 5yrs + laptop, that still running ok, I've got tons of spares (3x tfts, 4x batterys etc) so I don't think I'll get rid of it anytime soon.

Anyway, it's got a XP Pro license, which is great, but XP seems to blot up nowadays, once you've patched it. Also MS filesystem doesn't help either. Basically I've decided to try linux. Anyone got any ideas? Other then Centos (or any other Redhat based) or Ubuntu?

Laptop is Compaq Evo N1015v, AMD Athlon XP 2000+, 512MB DDR, 20GB HDD, internal wifi

(Yes, I've modded it to support internal wifi)

[kmount]

I had once of those beauts but it was the P4 model.

I'd want to up the memory in it just for sake of a slicker performance.

I'd consider trying maybe xubuntu (XFCE4 desktop is a lot lighter than your traditional KDE/Gnome). But if you're looking for something beyond ubuntu then maybe try PCLinuxOS which people seem to be liking at the moment with it's impressive hardware detection.

Have a nose here for a nice list of distro's and associated information.

I'm a gentoo user by trade but I wouldn't think it'd run well on that laptop (initially) but probably would be great once the compilation etc is all out of the way.

[FN-GM]

If you up the memory and a clean XP install it shouldn't be to bad.

Myself i like Ubuntu & Suse, worth having a play with the Live CD's to see what distro works best for you.

[kmount]

Yep, Suse is fun these days but yast2 just upsets me on it.

[matt40k]

Na LiveCD never give you a good enough idea, performance wise. Problem with XP is you need to defrag regularly, I never seem to have the time, the missus won't let me leave stuff on over night either

Anyway, slapped in a spare hdd, installed Ubuntu, problem, Wifi doesn't work. Seems Ubuntu community hasn't quite got the networking down as OpenBSD. Sigh.

Anyone fancy a Atheros 5212?

PS: Does anyone know how I can get it to auto copy and paste by clicking with the mouse like on putty? Tis driving me crackers!

[powdarrmonkey]

Na LiveCD never give you a good enough idea, performance wise. Problem with XP is you need to defrag regularly, I never seem to have the time, the missus won't let me leave stuff on over night either

Anyway, slapped in a spare hdd, installed Ubuntu, problem, Wifi doesn't work. Seems Ubuntu community hasn't quite got the networking down as OpenBSD. Sigh.

Anyone fancy a Atheros 5212?

If you have a hunt around I'm pretty sure there's an extra package for Atheros chipset support.

PS: Does anyone know how I can get it to auto copy and paste by clicking with the mouse like on putty? Tis driving me crackers!

Yes, use the middle button instead of the right (assuming it has set it up right, of course.)

[mac_shinobi]

you could use nlite to re make the xp disc to get rid of drivers, languages and other stuff and make a faster version of xp ?

DSL information

That or use it as a media center if you use the correct linux distro ?

[matt40k]

If you have a hunt around I'm pretty sure there's an extra package for Atheros chipset support.

Yes, you are indeed correct, however it either says install madwifi, which the current build doesn't complie correct, or turn off hotplug, which doesn't work as it's not a pcmcia card. Some fiddling me things, back to XP now.

[StewartKnight]

The new Knoppix distro is a work of beauty. Graphic effects that micro$haft would kill for!

[superfletch]

Anyway, slapped in a spare hdd, installed Ubuntu, problem, Wifi doesn't work.

You may already know this but it is possible in recent releases of Ubuntu to use the Windows WiFi drivers for your WiFi card.

With your wired ethernet fully functioning, head to the repository download manager thinggy under System | Administration | Synaptic Package Manager - you'll probably need your root password.

Search for the latest packages.

Download: ndisgtk

Once installed open and run it, System | Administration | Windows Wireless Drivers, choose your Wireless driver for windows (inf file) and you're pretty much done.

Configure the WiFi settings for your network.

Bob should turn out be your mothers brother.

[matt40k]

There seems to be good support for the Atheros driver on Solaris, just downloading OpenSolaris at the mom, however I might go over to: Home - Nexenta Project Wiki, it looks pretty tasty.

[kmount]

There's pretty good support for Atheros in most distro's now if not out of the box shortly after.

Open Solaris is pretty; I'm running it on a server at the moment and it's working really well. (Not tried wireless though!)

[matt40k]

Ok, so, I got Ubuntu working with Wifi. Didn't get xubuntu to even install. OpenSolaris was buggy, the livecd seems alright, it did freeze a few times, but was ok, managed to install, however unable to get it to boot, just restarted whilst still loading. Nexenta appears to be a total lie.

So I have Ubuntu now right? Wrong, the missus doesn't like change... back to XP... sigh... another format me things, might low-level format the spare drive too, seeming as it appears to be 30GB.

Perhaps installing SIMS .net was a bit silly. Still it worked better then some of the setups I've seen! Might try a copy of Mac OS (not on the laptop tho) and see if the missus likes it.

[somabc]

PC-BSD - Home

[Midget]

try a KDE based distro (KUbuntu, Mint KDE, Fedora) and see if she likes it. just tell her it's windows vista apparently people cant tell