Ok - looking to resurrect a couple old laptops.
I’ve got an old Dell Inspiron 5000 (PIII/600, 128MB/6G) and hoping to get it to run something other than Win98. I also have an IBM T22 (PIII/900, 128MB/20G) in the same boat.
Any ideas on another OS flavor that will run on them, and not be dog slow? The lack of memory already chokes Ubuntu/Xubuntu 9.04 and SUSE 11.1.
What are you trying to use the computer for?
Those other distros would probably run fine you just need to tweak things.
Edit: I was running some old ass version of redhat on a PC with a similar setup it ran fine.
Edit Edit: You can probably pick up ram stupid cheap(couple bucks) for that PC and get it up to 756.
Find a window manager that is less on the memory side. IceWM and a few others.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/LowMemorySystems
yeah, it is not the distro holding you back, it’s your window manager.
My first suggestion would be for you to drop into runlevel 3, however, I don’t think you would find that useful.
XFCE is a lightweight window manager and is the default window manager in Xubuntu. So that is my recommendation, Xubuntu
killall -9 -1 also works 
runlevel 3 doesn’t mean shit - it is distro dependent. if you want the bare minimum and are comfortable on the command line then use the ratpoison WM. Otherwise go with Xubuntu.
runlevel 3 = window manager not running = no more memory hog linux
well, let me correct myself from my original post. He should set his default runlevel to 3, and bounce the machine(or shut down the x server).
Run levels are universal across all Linux platforms.
0 - System Halted
1 - Single User Mode
2 - Single User Mode with Networking
3 - Multi-User Mode - boot up in text mode
4 - Not yet Defined
5 - Multi-User Mode - boot up in X Windows
6 - Shutdown & Reboot
yes, they are, I missed that in his response. I thought he meant this issue is distro dependent, I see what he is saying now.
Negative. See: Runlevel - Wikipedia
From your link
Typical Linux runlevels
Most Linux distributions, in addition to the standard runlevels, define the following additional runlevels:
Typical Linux runlevels ID Name Description
1 Single-User Mode Does not: configure network interfaces, start daemons, or allow non-root logins.[2]
2 Multi-User Mode Does not: configure network interfaces or start daemons.[3]
3 Multi-User Mode with Networking Starts the system normally.[4]
4 Unused/User defined for special purposes
5 X11 As runlevel 3 + display manager.
Sorry there may be some SLIGHT deviations from this standard but what I posted is how 99% of linux operating systems are setup.
from that list, it is mostly 2,4, and 5 that have slight variations. Basically, some distros are implementing undefined runlevels to give more flexibility.
Technically speaking, it is not a Kernel functionality, so the Distro builders are free to do aynthing they want with it(doesn’t mean they should).
It strays from the topic though.
OP, have you tried any of the lighter Window Managers?
I wouldn’t say that Debian only accounts for 1% of linux setups… Stop spreading false information
typical
One entry found.
Main Entry:typ·i·cal Pronunciation: \ˈti-pi-kəl\ Function:adjective Etymology:Late Latin typicalis, from typicus, from Greek typikos, from typos model — more at typeDate:1609 1: constituting or having the nature of a type : symbolic2 a: combining or exhibiting the essential characteristics of a group <typical suburban houses> b: conforming to a type <a specimen typical of the species>
Sorry using the word universal I should have used typical like wikipedia.
If its not in Wikipedia, you are full of shit.
I’ve gotten Xfce / Xubuntu 8.10 running, but it’s still slow.
more ram do it!
ANY better?
What type of video card are you running? Do you have some like 4MB integrated video?