Other Distros

[sickpig]

AntiX is good no doubt but puppy has perfect integration with JWM. So easy to modify JWM here as opposed to Antix. There I had to make changes in xml even for a little change (not that inconvenient) but its always preferable to have a gui especially for a gui junkie like me

And yes for all practical purposes puppy seems more resource efficient and practical

[Colonel Panic]

Fair enough but I've never found a way in jwm to display links to all my open windows, as I can in fluxbox and icewm (openbox too if I remember rightly), and that's something I often need to do. Also, in the past there was a bug in either jwm or softmaker office which meant that you couldn't maximise a window in, say, textmaker when you were in jwm (there's a thread on it somewhere here).

[sickpig]

stumbled across q4os the other day
its most notable feature - plays tear free videos ootb on my system.
i have tried various distros but there is video tearing across all
But no such issue in q4os. it seems to be most suited for my hardware for playing netflix at the moment.
also with lxde it isn't resource hungry at all

[nic007]

Fair enough but I've never found a way in jwm to display links to all my open windows, as I can in fluxbox and icewm (openbox too if I remember rightly), and that's something I often need to do. Also, in the past there was a bug in either jwm or softmaker office which meant that you couldn't maximise a window in, say, textmaker when you were in jwm (there's a thread on it somewhere here).

Bookmarks menu button / recently visited?

[Colonel Panic]

Fair enough but I've never found a way in jwm to display links to all my open windows, as I can in fluxbox and icewm (openbox too if I remember rightly), and that's something I often need to do. Also, in the past there was a bug in either jwm or softmaker office which meant that you couldn't maximise a window in, say, textmaker when you were in jwm (there's a thread on it somewhere here).

Bookmarks menu button / recently visited?

Thanks for replying. I've looked but can't see any bookmarks menu (I'm in Slacko 6.9.9.9 right now). Joe might be able to correct me if he was here but I think it's something that just isn't a feature of jwm at the moment.

[nitehawk]

stumbled across q4os the other day
its most notable feature - plays tear free videos ootb on my system.
i have tried various distros but there is video tearing across all
But no such issue in q4os. it seems to be most suited for my hardware for playing netflix at the moment.
also with lxde it isn't resource hungry at all

Do you have any trouble getting wifi to work in Q40s? I put it on a little old laptop I put together (had a couple of HP Pavilion DV2000, and stuck a good screen on one with cracked screen but good motherboard, etc. etc.). Anyhow,...Trinity desktop did OK setting up wifi,...but can't get LXQT to work. The Trinity desktop is nice and quick on old laptops, though. I really prefer LXQT desktop,...but so far,...no wifi.

EDIT: oh nevermind,...seems that even in the Trinity desktop on Q4os,..wifi won't work for me on these old laptops. No problem at all connecting with a Puppy (Xenial 7.0.1).
I really like the idea of Q4os, though. Nice small Debian distro that works on older stuff (if I could only get the wifi going).
I'm going to go look for another small distro (besides Antix) to slap on and see what happens. The distro HAS to fit on a CD, though (this old laptop won't do DVDs or USB boots).

[Colonel Panic]

stumbled across q4os the other day
its most notable feature - plays tear free videos ootb on my system.
i have tried various distros but there is video tearing across all
But no such issue in q4os. it seems to be most suited for my hardware for playing netflix at the moment.
also with lxde it isn't resource hungry at all

Do you have any trouble getting wifi to work in Q40s? I put it on a little old laptop I put together (had a couple of HP Pavilion DV2000, and stuck a good screen on one with cracked screen but good motherboard, etc. etc.). Anyhow,...Trinity desktop did OK setting up wifi,...but can't get LXQT to work. The Trinity desktop is nice and quick on old laptops, though. I really prefer LXQT desktop,...but so far,...no wifi.

EDIT: oh nevermind,...seems that even in the Trinity desktop on Q4os,..wifi won't work for me on these old laptops. No problem at all connecting with a Puppy (Xenial 7.0.1).
I really like the idea of Q4os, though. Nice small Debian distro that works on older stuff (if I could only get the wifi going).
I'm going to go look for another small distro (besides Antix) to slap on and see what happens. The distro HAS to fit on a CD, though (this old laptop won't do DVDs or USB boots).

Nitehawk have you tried Austrumi? It's based on Slackware but it does fit on a CD (don't know about the wi-fi though).

[nitehawk]

Nitehawk have you tried Austrumi? It's based on Slackware but it does fit on a CD (don't know about the wi-fi though).

No,..I've actually never fooled with that. Was hoping for a Debian based distro, though. I got the old laptop to actually TRY and boot from a USB flashdrive, and burned BunsenLabs to one. So far it won't boot. May try CrunchBang ++

Also,...I have used Bodhi before, but It wouldn't let me add much software to it (was very limited it what you could download and add). Or so it seemed to me.

The laptop is about 1.9 Ghz,..with 2Gb ram...250G hard drive. Not too bad for an oldie. Think it is from 2006. It has trouble with most Puppy distros,. (as it does Antix) possibly because of the Nvidia chip playing bad with JWM and it's pinboard.
It will work fine for a long time,....then flash a warning about having no pinboard, and the graphics go all distorted and "wookie". So far Xenial Puppy is still working on a partition. (Fingers crossed).

[nitehawk]

OK,..wish me luck. I've been using Salix on my main computer for some time now. I tried putting it on the laptop last night, but the install looked pretty intimidating! This 32 bit "mini" install looks very Slackware "Old School" stuff. All text, no graphic. I've done that before, but it's been awhile, and not on an old laptop. Still,...I am very fond of Slackware, and Salix has the added Gslapt to add software. I'm giving the install a try,...

EDIT" Well,...scratch that. Laptop refused to install from the USB. Back to the drawing board.

[Colonel Panic]

Nitie, how about Tinycore? I tried it a couple of years ago from one of these "5 distros on 1 DVD" disks that get given away with Linux magazines over here and I was pleasantly surprised by the results. It comes with a very minimal set of software as standard though so you have to install things like a web browser, office software etc. yourself.

Or, John Biles's Legacy might work on your laptop. It used to be one of my favourite distros when I had my old computer but it won't work on this one (sadly).

I have a similar problem to yours in that my computer is old and ailing and won't boot a lot of modern distros, but I've found there are some distros it will work with (most Puppies, Debian, Devuan, 32-bit Slackware and Ubuntu 14.04), and so as long as I confine myself to those I'm OK. (And Tinycore; I'm posting this message from it now just to show it's possible).

I wasn't able to play a video with accompanying sound when I was using it though it may just have been that I failed to figure out a way to do this.

[Moat]

Hi ETP (and Billtoo, who's also been posting about Manjaro lately);

Manjaro-18-stable-x86_64 (Cinnamon community version)

Never thought that I would say this but it's current boot speed & subsequent performance trounces most Pups and Dogs that I have used.

I, too, have had a play or three with the most recent Manjaro (Xfce) - just running as a live session from a USB 2.0 stick on an old Intel Core2 Duo P8600 w/4 Gb RAM laptop. The speed/response of the desktop is indeed quite phenomenal - pages in Firefox seem to open & display almost instantly, as do other applications/processes. A fantastic distro! Just wish I had some room to install it on one of my old laptops floating around here...

This has to make me wonder if there's something inherently different or unique about Manjaro/Arch, compared to other mainstream Linux distributions...( ) Manjaro sure appears as if it would make an absolute stellar run-from-RAM/USB, Puppy/Dog-like system! Just curious as to where this "magic" response and speed might originate from...

Bob

[nitehawk]

Nitie, how about Tinycore? I tried it a couple of years ago from one of these "5 distros on 1 DVD" disks that get given away with Linux magazines over here and I was pleasantly surprised by the results. It comes with a very minimal set of software as standard though so you have to install things like a web browser, office software etc. yourself.


Or, John Biles's Legacy might work on your laptop. It used to be one of my favourite distros when I had my old computer but it won't work on this one (sadly).

Never tried TinyCore,..looks very interesting though. And John Biles' Legacy was one of my all time favorites! But looks like I may just have a "winner" for my old laptop. BunsenLabs seems to be installing right now as we speak. Looks really nice,..and my wifi even ran in the live cd version. I like.

[ETP]

Hi ETP (and Billtoo, who's also been posting about Manjaro lately);

Manjaro-18-stable-x86_64 (Cinnamon community version)

Never thought that I would say this but it's current boot speed & subsequent performance trounces most Pups and Dogs that I have used.

I, too, have had a play or three with the most recent Manjaro (Xfce) - just running as a live session from a USB 2.0 stick on an old Intel Core2 Duo P8600 w/4 Gb RAM laptop. The speed/response of the desktop is indeed quite phenomenal - pages in Firefox seem to open & display almost instantly, as do other applications/processes. A fantastic distro! Just wish I had some room to install it on one of my old laptops floating around here...

This has to make me wonder if there's something inherently different or unique about Manjaro/Arch, compared to other mainstream Linux distributions...( ) Manjaro sure appears as if it would make an absolute stellar run-from-RAM/USB, Puppy/Dog-like system! Just curious as to where this "magic" response and speed might originate from...

Bob

Hi Bob,

Phenomenal is an apt description. I have been desperately been trying to account for it's all round speed.
It is as fast as some of the old very light weight Pups loaded entirely into RAM but is in my case, running as a full install.
Easy access to the AUR is a bonus. In the unlikely event that a package you require is not in the Manjaro repositories
or the AUR all is not lost if a deb is available. In the AUR is a package named debtap which converts deb packages to arch packages!
If you only have a pet package you can first use Fredx181's pet2deb converter.
Yes, I am smitten with it but as everything just works, it does not present the fun/challenge/satisfaction that Puppy provides.
Manjaro is a large fully stocked distro and is therefore best left as a full install. It makes the best use of systemd
that I have seen to date and everything appears to be in turbo mode.

[rcrsn51]

I have been desperately been trying to account for it's all round speed..

Systemd?

[Moat]

I have been desperately been trying to account for it's all round speed..

Systemd?

Well, I kind of wouldn't think so. I've a number of distros using systemd, of which I've tweaked a bit in order to eliminate unneeded background processes - and still, none are nearly as fast or responsive "feeling" as Manjaro once up and running. (in fact, if anything, I've found boot speeds, at least, to be noticeably slower using systemd vs. older inits)

What little I've been able to find on the 'net mentions Manjaro's use of a custom kernel - supposedly tweaked/optimized specifically for desktop use - vs. generic, usually Debian-sourced "jack-of-all-trades" kernels. I'd guess there might be some particular tweaks in regards to the use of RAM, as the speed I noticed felt well beyond what one would expect in reading and writing to/from even the USB2 stick I was testing from.

I meant (and forgot) to check if the "preload" package/deamon was installed and running OOTB, which could account for some of the difference (although I've used it before, and didn't really notice such significant differences in application load/execution times).

That settles it... I just need to install Manjaro on one of my boxes and get familiar with it for a good while! Hmm... which box, which spare HD, which Manjaro edition...

Bob

[sickpig]

what i did in my quest for a light weight, rock solid stable and lightning fast os is as follows:

got debian cd lxde around 600 mb
intel wifi driver

installed it
did not use lxde though

used openbox with xfce panel
not the entire xfce DE with its bloated WM
just installed xfce-panel and xfce-goodies, thats all u need to get a functional panel with good plugins for battery, volume, notes etc.

login to just openbox and add xfce-panel to autostart

base os ram under 200 mb = check
stable os = check
choice of packages = u cant beat sheer number of packages in debian apt-get = check
lightning fast = check
quick boot = check

and most important of all no video tearing in netflix - such a relief

[sickpig]

stumbled across q4os the other day
its most notable feature - plays tear free videos ootb on my system.
i have tried various distros but there is video tearing across all
But no such issue in q4os. it seems to be most suited for my hardware for playing netflix at the moment.
also with lxde it isn't resource hungry at all

Do you have any trouble getting wifi to work in Q40s? I put it on a little old laptop I put together (had a couple of HP Pavilion DV2000, and stuck a good screen on one with cracked screen but good motherboard, etc. etc.). Anyhow,...Trinity desktop did OK setting up wifi,...but can't get LXQT to work. The Trinity desktop is nice and quick on old laptops, though. I really prefer LXQT desktop,...but so far,...no wifi.

EDIT: oh nevermind,...seems that even in the Trinity desktop on Q4os,..wifi won't work for me on these old laptops. No problem at all connecting with a Puppy (Xenial 7.0.1).
I really like the idea of Q4os, though. Nice small Debian distro that works on older stuff (if I could only get the wifi going).
I'm going to go look for another small distro (besides Antix) to slap on and see what happens. The distro HAS to fit on a CD, though (this old laptop won't do DVDs or USB boots).

no mate, q4 detected my wifi adapter ootb

[nitehawk]

no mate, q4 detected my wifi adapter ootb

Well,..Busenlabs seems to be the right fit for that particular laptop. Works like a charm. You're right about small Debian distros...light and fast with all that software! Openbox will take a learning curve for me (haven't used it in a long time, since CrunchBang).
I'm beginning to figure out how to edit the menu, though. Editing the Openbox menu seems to be the only thing I really need to do with Busenlabs,...everything else works just fine the way it is.

[Colonel Panic]

no mate, q4 detected my wifi adapter ootb

Well,..Busenlabs seems to be the right fit for that particular laptop. Works like a charm. You're right about small Debian distros...light and fast with all that software! Openbox will take a learning curve for me (haven't used it in a long time, since CrunchBang).
I'm beginning to figure out how to edit the menu, though. Editing the Openbox menu seems to be the only thing I really need to do with Bunsenlabs,...everything else works just fine the way it is.

This might help, nitie;

http://obmenu.sourceforge.net/

When I'm in CrunchBang (which is a close relative of Bunsen), I tend to use DMenu for launching everything; I think it's accessed by Alt-F3. It's much easier than editing the menu file directly.

Same with using Openbox in straight *Debian; I keep just a handful of programs such as gkrellm, spacefm and tint2 on the Openbox menu file and access the rest through dmenu.

I also like Fluxbox, although it's not as advanced as Openbox, because the configuration files are text files and much easier to edit by hand than Openbox ones are.

*And Devuan too (which I'm using now).

[nitehawk]

This might help, nitie;

http://obmenu.sourceforge.net/

When I'm in CrunchBang (which is a close relative of Bunsen), I tend to use DMenu for launching everything; I think it's accessed by Alt-F3. It's much easier than editing the menu file directly.

Same with using Openbox in straight *Debian; I keep just a handful of programs such as gkrellm, spacefm and tint2 on the Openbox menu file and access the rest through dmenu.

I also like Fluxbox, although it's not as advanced as Openbox, because the configuration files are text files and much easier to edit by hand than Openbox ones are.

*And Devuan too (which I'm using now).

Yes, that is pretty helpful! I have been kind of floundering around trying to figure things out on my own. Having some info could sure help. Also,...I'll look into that DMenu.
Thanks