[geeks] UNIX-like OS for a laptop

[Mike Hebel]

On Jul 8, 2007, at 10:24 PM, Sheldon T. Hall wrote:

> Folks-
>
> I have an old laptop on which I'd like to install something in the UNIX
> constellation.  Solaris, one of the BSDs, some Linux distro, I don't 
> much
> care.  That is, I don't much care as long as it supports the Cardbus 
> network
> cards I have: a D-Link DWL-G630 WiFi card and a D-Link DFE-690TXD 
> Ethernet
> card.
>
> Other potential issues ... it's a Taiwanese no-name laptop, P-III 600 
> or
> something, and will only take 128 MB of RAM.
>
> I don't care about having a high-zoot GUI; command line is fine, 
> though it
> ought to have an X Windows client.
>
> Because I just happen to have the CDs lying around, I've tried FreeBSD 
> 6.1,
> which won't boot all the way, and Ubuntu Workstation, which is 
> glacially
> slow.  Ubuntu's installer hung on the first try, and crashed on the 
> seconds
> try, so I never got far enough along to know if it would support the 
> D-Link
> cards.
>
> Clues sought.

Either try Ubuntu or Damn Small Linux.  Both of those work quite well 
on older laptops and Damn Small Linux is going to run like gangbusters 
on that platform.

Failing that, I know a no-name box like that will usually run NetBSD or 
OpenBSD as long as you have an idea of what the video chipset is and if 
it's supported by X. (Whichever the X is in question - X11 or Xorg.)

Wifi may be a problem depending on the card but Ubuntu seems to have 
the best out-of-the-box support for that.

Mike Hebel
----
Self protection: the means of protecting one's self. People expose the 
weaknesses which pain them, and thus form a group. Before they know it 
they begin to exclude those who are not one of them, but what becomes 
of those who have been excluded? I smiled at the children who lived in 
a tight group in their rickety house. Sure, let's live today, let's 
live tomorrow, and let's live the day after that, even if it means 
living in eternal pain. - Vash