Puppy on a low spec computer.

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Eddiep92
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Joined: Sun 08 Jun 2008, 15:43

Puppy on a low spec computer.

#1 Post by Eddiep92 »

Hi I've recently decided to install puppy on a dell inspiron 3500 laptop. It only has a 64mb RAM however. I downloaded the live CD and have ran it off that but it was painfully slow and crashed several times. I understand that if I install it properly it should be faster, however I was wondering if it would still be very slow or if I would be better off with a more lightweight linux distro?
Thanks if you can help me.

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alienjeff
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#2 Post by alienjeff »

I have a laptop of similar vintage and base specs -- a Gateway Solo 5150. The first thing I did upon acquiring this lappy was to max out the RAM from the base 32M hardwired up to 288M. This was an expenditure that I never regret making.

You very well may be able to get Puppy installed and running on 64M of RAM, but it will be steep uphill sledding the entire way, and you will be less than pleased with the end product. It will run faster installed to HD, however with 64M of RAM, you're going to be heavy into swap, which is inefficient.

A lighter distro is one way to go, however doing so would be turning your back on all the things that make Puppy Linux so much fun.

Adding RAM to that lappy will enchance your computing experience, regardless of the distro chosen. Give it some serious consideration.
Last edited by alienjeff on Sun 08 Jun 2008, 16:17, edited 2 times in total.

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rcrsn51
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Location: Stratford, Ontario

#3 Post by rcrsn51 »

What is your objective - to simply get Puppy installed or to do something useful with it? Keep in mind that the minimum recommended specs for the Firefox browser under Linux are 500 MHz and 128 MB. If you still want to try, you should look at doing a full install with a swap partition.

Eddiep92
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Joined: Sun 08 Jun 2008, 15:43

#4 Post by Eddiep92 »

Thanks guys it looks like i could do with more RAM then.
My objective is to be able to word processor and surf the net, so really i'd like to run openoffice and mozilla but obviously i'd need more ram. I'll look into getting more RAM, i'm a little tentative about installing it though.

Bruce B

Re: Puppy on a low spec computer.

#5 Post by Bruce B »

Good lesson in not pouring 12 ounces of water in an 8 ounce glass.

The optimist would say, "The glass is more than full, drink and enjoy!"

A pessimist might say, "You put too much water in the glass and made a mess."

A computer scientist might say, "The glass is too small."

Bruce B

#6 Post by Bruce B »

A technician might say, "A swap file is in order."

"And while we are at it, let's look into a less RAM intensive Linux distro and/or installation type."

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puppyluvr
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#7 Post by puppyluvr »

@Eddiep92
Im certain there is a puppy for you and your setup out there. Perhaps Teenpup, as It has memory management features including a pfix=noram boot code..
If not, try this one:
http://luitlinux.sarovar.org/requirements.html
It is called Luitlinux, and is DSL based, with xfce and firefox
Its no Puppy, but....it is fast..
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Eddiep92
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#8 Post by Eddiep92 »

I think i'll download teen puppy and luitlinux and run them as live CDs. I'll see how they run and then I'll decide and install something to my hd.
Thanks for the advice.

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NoNameAmI
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#9 Post by NoNameAmI »

Well I don't know much about Puppy but it would seem maybe the older versions of Puppy might work better on the really old hardware.

If you want to go to the extremes, I would have to say Picopup and MicroMuppy (at 8MB and about 12MB respectively). They wont be easy to use compared to the current Puppys but they would run better.

Another option could be the Pup 2.14R.

MicroMuppy:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=14918

PicoPup:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=25514

Puppy 2.14R:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=24574

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puppyluvr
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#10 Post by puppyluvr »

:D Hello,
I just aquired a P1 200mhz desktop with 64mb ram and a 2 mb video card!
Bumped the ram to 96mb and made a 200mb swap partition.
My 9 yr old daughter is running a Puppy 3.01 puplet and loves it.
Much faster than the Doze that was on it..

If you cant up the ram then 2.14 is a good choice.
Or TinyMe, a DSL release.
Have you tried Meanpup??

Trip[ABK]

#11 Post by Trip[ABK] »

i have puppy dingo

i ran puppy .........off of 32 mb of ram and amd-k7..off the live cd...ran fine...for browsing...was a little bit laggy on heavy flash programs..but again thats running an OS off of 32 mb of ram....

but i installed it to my HD...and...well ive got about 25 old ram sticks...so i stuffed the biggest ones i had in...now i got 272mb.... I didnt try running it off the hd with the 32mb though--had more so i threw it in :)
Well it runs good..and if ur just gonna browse and word process... im sure any version of puppy or any distro or w/e that says linux on it--(as longs as they are in the same genre as puppy) then you should be safe to do it....and if ur scuuurred to wipe the HD and have puppy only....

Then you could just partition the hd...and run windows and puppy (so you dont lose your wanted files from windows)--

but ye..short answer to your "puppy on a low spec computer"

is..uhhh...how bout...yes sir :twisted:

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