[geeks] Distro recommendations

[Phil Stracchino]

So, I was recently given a Thinkpad i1300.  It's a fairly decently fast
machine, with a PIII/750, but with 192MB maximum RAM it's a bit starved
for memory during compiles.  I initially set it up as a Gentoo testbed,
and while it's done a good job at that and given me a pretty good idea
of what configuration I want to use when (or, now, if) I migrate my
primary Linux desktop to Gentoo, I don't think it's really a good
distribution for this laptop -- large emerges on it are very slow.

So:  If you were going to install Linux on a laptop that's reasonably
fast but limited to 192MB RAM, what distribution would you use, and why?


Notes:
I specifically DO NOT want to have a desktop that visually emulates or
attempts to emulate Windows (the window manager will almost certainly be
fvwm2, unless someone can convince me why I should try something else),
and I don't want to be pushed into using any more of either KDE or Gnome
than I absolutely have to.  I don't care about GUI file managers, I
don't want trashcans, drive icons and other such Windows/Mac-centric
crap strewn all over my desktop, and I don't give a rat's ass for
CPU-hogging feature bling like translucent windows.  And I absolutely
will not tolerate a distro that goes behind my back and changes settings
I have configured manually back to what it thinks they should be.


-- 
        Phil Stracchino                CDK#2
 Renaissance Man, Unix ronin, Perl hacker, Free Stater
 phil.stracchino at speakeasy.net   alaric at caerllewys.net
 Landline: 603-429-0220           Mobile: 603-320-5438
        It's not the years, it's the mileage.