Experience with BrowserLinux?

[zuren]

Hello All,

I'm a new member to this forum but have been a Linux convert for a little while (Ubuntu, played a little with Puppy). I have a new project and I'm trying to figure out a best solution. I have an old laptop that I want to convert into a "netbook" for overnight guests that visit (see specs below). Inevitably, someone always wants to check email or get online so I thought a dedicated laptop that I can hand to them would be nice. The question has become what will run on this dinosaur.

I did a search of the forum for BrowserLinux and didn't find much. A Google search found a review that mentions the network needs to be set up each time the PC is shutdown (deal breaker if true). I was hoping anyone who has used it can comment in general and if it is a good option for an old machine. It is currently running Lubuntu but it hangs and lags. I've tried running Wary 5.1.4 on a LiveCD and it is FAST so I think a version/variant of Puppy may ultimately be the best match for this old hardware.

Thanks!

System:
Dell Inspiron 2500 (circa 2001)
Celeron 800Mhz
512MB RAM
Intel 82815 Graphics Controller
No webcam or microphone
LCD screen - 1024x768, 14

[john biles]

Hello zuren,
If your connecting by Ethernet cable try my Legacy OS 2.1 Gamer edition (Legacy OS 2.1 coming soon) as it will run at an acceptable speed on your Hardware. http://sourceforge.net/projects/legacyo ... rce=navbar
If you want to stay with Ubuntu get rid of 12.04 and install 10.04 as you'll see a big difference in speed between these versions. Ubuntu still supplies some support for 10.04 until April 2015 and you'd have Wifi support if needed.

[cimarron]

I got into puppy with Browserlinux on my old Thinkpad X24. It ran pretty good with just 256M RAM, should do great with your 512M. Your network settings will be saved if you create a savefile when you shutdown the first time (and all subsequent changes will be saved as well). There's directions for creating a savefile offered when you shutdown that first time.

You can always burn a CD and just try it with your hardware, without installing anything. The whole OS will load into RAM (it will take a while to load into RAM, but should then run fast; once you install it, it will boot much faster). But if you want to save changes (such as network settings) you'll have to create a savefile, or do a full install.

[jrb]

Inevitably, someone always wants to check email or get online

BrowserLinux was very good but it is sadly outdated, both in its browser and its features.

If all you want to do is go online why not download something like racy-5.3-BABYbarebones.iso and then install firefox-24.2.0esr.pet. You will also need to click the desktop install icon and select PPM. Search for "dbus" and install both packages that come up. Reboot and save and you will have a working long term support Firefox. I'm posting from that setup right now and with Firefox running its using 133 mb of memory.

If you want you can right click on the "Browse" icon on the desktop and choose "Show Location". When you see /usr/local/bin/defaultbrowser right click on it and "open as text". Change it to

Code: Select all

exec firefox "$@"

BTW: There are a lot of non-functional icons on the desktop. You can right click on them and choose "Remove Item".

Hope you find something you like.

Cheers, J