• Good laptop distro?
    35 replies, posted
I have a laptop just sitting doing nothing, I figured I'd put linux on it and just use it as a simple netbook type thing. What distro should I use? I don't really need anything but a web browser. I'd love to have the chrome OS but everywhere I've heard about it says it's not bootable unless you use a vm. Is there something similar to that I can just load up? For now I'm probably just going to install the ubuntu netbook remix and probably make a shell script to just open firefox on startup and kill everything else that isn't needed.
Chrome OS is gonna be out sometime next week I believe. [editline]12:09AM[/editline] Or if you don't want to wait, Hexxeh made a version that'll run normally. I haven't tried it yet, but I hear it's good. [url]http://carbon.hexxeh.net/chromiumos/[/url]
Debian with Blackbox.
Backtrack... :ninja:
Don't use the Chrome OS, it's still in a very early beta, and it's basically a web browser, nothing more. I recommend Debian and what others have said :)
you could try arch. for something so simple, the barebones approach would definitely serve you well.
Well just recently I did a command line install of ubuntu with openbox and then the essentials like xorg, firefox, msttcorefonts, thunar (windowmanager) and a few programs that you dont neccessarily need but are very helpful like, tint (panel), obmenu (change the menu), obconf (themes), conky (screenshots), and hsetroot to set wallpapers. I love it. [QUOTE=ButtsexV2;18595570]Debian with Blackbox.[/QUOTE] I thought you were an openbox guy? I still need to try fluxbox and blackbox. last time i tried fluxbox was on fluxbuntu.
PC Linux 2009.
[QUOTE=Maccabee;18599814]Well just recently I did a command line install of ubuntu with openbox and then the essentials like xorg, firefox, msttcorefonts, thunar (windowmanager) and a few programs that you dont neccessarily need but are very helpful like, tint (panel), obmenu (change the menu), obconf (themes), conky (screenshots), and hsetroot to set wallpapers. I love it. I thought you were an openbox guy? I still need to try fluxbox and blackbox. last time i tried fluxbox was on fluxbuntu.[/QUOTE] it's nice that you try to sound intelligent and all but conky isn't a screenshot application and thunar isn't a window manager.
[QUOTE=Denzo;18600597]it's nice that you try to sound intelligent and all but conky isn't a screenshot application and thunar isn't a window manager.[/QUOTE] *file manager* *scrot* My bad.
I have an old 700Mhz compaq laptop coming in after the weekend, what dist would be best for it?
[QUOTE=Turbis2;18603615]I have an old 700Mhz compaq laptop coming in after the weekend, what dist would be best for it?[/QUOTE] I would use only openbox.
[QUOTE=Maccabee;18603923]I would use only openbox.[/QUOTE] :downs:
[QUOTE=Denzo;18607498]:downs:[/QUOTE] ? I mean not along with a desktop environment like gnome. Whats wrong with that phrasing? I'm not trying to sound smarter then I am. I'm just giving my advice.
[QUOTE=Maccabee;18607630]? I mean not along with a desktop environment like gnome. Whats wrong with that phrasing? I'm not trying to sound smarter then I am. I'm just giving my advice.[/QUOTE] He's asking for a [b]distro[/b], not a Window Manager.
[QUOTE=Maccabee;18603923]I would use only openbox.[/QUOTE] I allways use openbox, but what distro? I think I might use arch, unless anyone has a better suggestion.
[QUOTE=Denzo;18608167]He's asking for a [b]distro[/b], not a Window Manager.[/QUOTE] But all he really needs is a fully functional computer operating system. You are just basically creating your own distro when you build a operating system from a command line install of an operating system.
[QUOTE=Maccabee;18609257]But all he really needs is a fully functional computer operating system. You are just basically creating your own distro when you build a operating system from a command line install of an operating system.[/QUOTE] No you're not. You're only installing the packages you like on top of the distro. Nothing special about that. For example, A basic Arch Linux installation is completely different from a commandline install from Ubuntu. And even so, he does need an Operating System like you said. But you're not suggesting any, you're just saying he should use Openbox on top of that. And fyi, a commandline install of Ubuntu is probably still a tad heavy for a 700MhZ CPU because of all the shit that runs in the background over which you have no control at all unlike Arch/Gentoo.
[QUOTE=Denzo;18609268]No you're not. You're only installing the packages you like on top of the distro. Nothing special about that. For example, A basic Arch Linux installation is completely different from a commandline install from Ubuntu. And even so, he does need an Operating System like you said. But you're not suggesting any, you're just saying he should use Openbox on top of that. And fyi, a commandline install of Ubuntu is probably still a tad heavy for a 700MhZ CPU because of all the shit that runs in the background over which you have no control at all unlike Arch/Gentoo.[/QUOTE] Ok I see your point. Well what about installing from a command line install of debian? I avoid, gentoo, because I'd dont want to have to compile stuff from scratch, it is making it a lot harder than it needs to be and I don't like Arch just cause, honestly I dont like pacman. I still think that he should use openbox over a commandline install of ubuntu though. Is speed really the really issue here? O and if you dont want to have to do a bunch of work, and was a distro that works out of the box like debian I would suggest xubuntu. It is probably the lightest of all the full desktop enviroments that work from the first boot.
[QUOTE=Turbis2;18603615]I have an old 700Mhz compaq laptop coming in after the weekend, what dist would be best for it?[/QUOTE] I don't know, what is it? A Pentium III? A Pentium IV based Celeron? A Core based Celeron? [editline]03:51AM[/editline] [QUOTE=Maccabee;18599814]I thought you were an openbox guy? I still need to try fluxbox and blackbox. last time i tried fluxbox was on fluxbuntu.[/QUOTE] I am, but in my experience blackbox is a good bit more responsive on laptops.
[QUOTE=ButtsexV2;18610612]I don't know, what is it? A Pentium III? A Pentium IV based Celeron? A Core based Celeron? [editline]03:51AM[/editline] I am, but in my experience blackbox is a good bit more responsive on laptops.[/QUOTE] More so than desktops? Or are you just saying that. Because hardware is hardware whether it is in your lap on a desk.
In my experience, Blackbox performs better on Intel GMA (aka the most common graphics chipset for laptops) than Openbox does. Kinda like some of the more taxing games perform better on Nvidia cards than comparable ATI cards. It's just how shit goes sometimes.
[QUOTE=Maccabee;18610088]Ok I see your point. Well what about installing from a command line install of debian? I avoid, gentoo, because I'd dont want to have to compile stuff from scratch, it is making it a lot harder than it needs to be and I don't like Arch just cause, honestly I dont like pacman. I still think that he should use openbox over a commandline install of ubuntu though. Is speed really the really issue here? O and if you dont want to have to do a bunch of work, and was a distro that works out of the box like debian I would suggest xubuntu. It is probably the lightest of all the full desktop enviroments that work from the first boot.[/QUOTE] Personally I think you're just scared of using something not debian-based. It gives you way more control to set it up which you will want due to the various crap you always get with laptops when installing network card drivers and stuff like synaptics.
[QUOTE=Denzo;18616903]Personally I think you're just scared of using something not debian-based. It gives you way more control to set it up which you will want due to the various crap you always get with laptops when installing network card drivers and stuff like synaptics.[/QUOTE] Basically yes. I have just never used something that isn't so I couldnt suggest that he do the same.
[QUOTE=Maccabee;18621282]Basically yes. I have just never used something that isn't so I couldnt suggest that he do the same.[/QUOTE] It's not really that hard, both Arch and Gentoo both have really good install documentation
[QUOTE=Biotoxsin;18594625]Chrome OS is gonna be out sometime next week I believe. [editline]12:09AM[/editline] Or if you don't want to wait, Hexxeh made a version that'll run normally. I haven't tried it yet, but I hear it's good. [url]http://carbon.hexxeh.net/chromiumos/[/url][/QUOTE] Seriously, does anyone know how the OS reacts when you're -NOT- connected to the internet?
[QUOTE=Mr Mustaine;18624556]Seriously, does anyone know how the OS reacts when you're -NOT- connected to the internet?[/QUOTE] ...nope...
[QUOTE=ButtsexV2;18610612]I don't know, what is it? A Pentium III? A Pentium IV based Celeron? A Core based Celeron? [editline]03:51AM[/editline] I am, but in my experience blackbox is a good bit more responsive on laptops.[/QUOTE] It's a P3, but for some strange reason the guy I'm getting it from haven't replied so it seems I might not get it :(
Try Arch with something like awesome or twm [editline]10:31AM[/editline] Maybe openstep.
[QUOTE=ButtsexV2;18637624]Try Arch with something like awesome or twm [editline]10:31AM[/editline] Maybe openstep.[/QUOTE] Okidoki, thanks.
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