Looking For A Distro

Hey guys;

I'm looking for a distro, couple of years back I bought a netbook it came with win7 starter on it so I know I won't be able to get the 10 upgrade to it....
But right now I'm using win10 on it cause I was curious how it'll run.

Anyways it's only got 1GB of ram in it, with a atom processor.. if you want full specs here it is:
http://www.asus.com/Notebooks_Ultrabooks/Eee_PC_1025C/specifications/

As I said it came with win7 starter but anyone who has ever used win7 on one of these netbooks knows that it's god-awful slow to do updates.

So I'm searching for a distro.. I figure it could be my best solution.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated..

Thanks in advance;
Ken

 

My EEEPC from 2007 came with linux. I'm running Lubuntu 14.04 from a USB stick. I have a 4GB hd but not all is usable. The old hybrid distro on it works well, it just isn't safe on the internet. To update it would take more hd space than is available. I'm sure you have a larger hd in yours.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Lubuntu/GetLubuntu/LTS

 

I believe I have a 500gb hard drive in mine... but thanks for the recommendation I'll look into lubuntu for sure

 

I would also recommend Lubuntu, although any distro with an LXDE (Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment...LXDE) desktop would likely be a good choice. Lubuntu is probably the best known and most popular of LXDE distros.

http://lubuntu.net/

If Lubuntu isn't your cup of tea, some other LXDE distros that I have been impressed with include:

LXLE
http://lxle.net/

PCLOS (the LXDE version)
http://www.pclinuxos.com/get-pclinuxos/lxde/

Zorin (the Lite LXDE version)
http://zorin-os.com/free.html

Finally, I have created 2 remixes of the LXDE-based Lubuntu distro, for personal use and installation on friends & family machines with lesser specs. One is designed to resemble WinXP as much as possible, and it's meant for those who are acclimated to XP and don't really want anything different from XP; it's pretty much stock Lubuntu with an "XP-themed skin". I call it XPubuntu.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/xpubuntu/?source=navbar

The second is designed to resemble Ubuntu and the Unity desktop as much as possible. It's meant for folks who like stock Ubuntu and the Unity desktop, but don't have the hardware resources to run such a resource heavy modern desktop. The caveat is that it's 64-bit only, so it isn't an option for every lower-specced machine. If your machine is 64-bit and you're interested, I call this one Pangaea-Lubuntu. It is a heavily customized LXDE desktop, with custom themes, windows decorations, icons, wallpapers, added programs, etc...
http://sourceforge.net/projects/pangaealubuntu/?source=navbar

With the exception of PCLOS, all are based on Lubuntu, so there is a nice user base for trouble shooting if the need arises. PCLOS is also a top 10 distro in terms of user base. My little user base of remixes number in the hundreds or thousands; NOT the hundreds of thousands/millions...but they're Lubuntu under the hood. Bottom line...with the exception of PCLOS, all are technically different flavors of Lubuntu; no matter whether you prefer the "mother" distro or one of the derivative flavors, choose the one you like best!

Good luck!

 

Heldon James - thanks for your suggestions I had Lubuntu on the laptop and I'm not a fan of it... I'm going to try out Zorin & PC Linux OS ... I'll take your word to do LXDE base for sure...

 

While I like a LOT of things about Lubuntu, I'm not a fan of Lubuntu's aesthetics. Just seems very "blah" to me in its default configuration. But it's easily customizable with a few right clicks.

Just out of curiousity, what don't you like about Lubuntu?

 

Two things I disliked about Lubuntu:

1 - my browser of choice is Maxthon as I use it on windows as well and prefer it over other things, I tried to install it and I got an error while installing that I couldn't solve and I spent time googling an answer but nothing I found fixed it.

2 - I plugged in a external windows drive to it, to shuffle a few files to it... and it said it couldn't mount... But that one I later found out is an on going bug that has been reported.

 

Fair enough. I'm not trying to talk you into anything you don't like/want, as there's just too many choices in Linux to force a square peg into a round hole. Just asking questions to help you get wherever you're going.

I haven't heard the name Maxthon in about 5 years! I didn't think there was a linux version of Maxthon, but it looks like Maxthon has created a BETA version for linux!!! Usually, I'd suggest you download software from the Software Center, but I'm not sure I've ever seen it there; and I doubt a BETA version would be approved for mass download. Until then, at your own risk, Maxthon can be downloaded here:

http://www.maxthon.com/blog/tag/maxthon-for-linux/

You'll want the DEB version, end in *.deb for every distro on my list, except PCLOS. PCLOS uses RPM packages, which is the version ending in *.rpm. Download, double-click, and install using suggested defaults, very similar to windows *.exe files.

With respect to the external USB, I've never had that problem. Is it an "off-brand" drive? Or perhaps formatted with a unique file system? Or maybe even a failing drive? That one is a head-scratcher.

Maybe your next distro won't have that problem? If it keeps happening, it's likely the drive not the distro. We'll figure it out before you make any commitments. :major

 

It's not a failing drive, the drive works with other things... as I mentioned I read that it's a bug that many are coming across and someone posted a direct link to the bug report..

Well last night I downloaded PCLOS to give it a test, I also plan on testing things on my spare hard drive because I don't want to be completely unfamiliar with said operating system when I goto use my mini laptop... I'll let ya know how things go .

 

So it turns out for some reason PCLOS isn't running so well on my small laptop.. the colors are all distorted and the screen only uses half the monitor... But I'm going to keep things in mind and keep LXDE in mind when looking for another system.. I have a bunch on dvd I'm going to play with and see what I like on my main computer with a extra hard drive before I go downloading something else for the laptop...

Oh and I even did all the updates for PCLOS as I was thinking that maybe that would fix things, but it didn't..

 

The only distro I have tried and ended up retaining and using regularly is Puppy Linux. It just works on every system I install it on, from a modern i5 system to a ten year old Core2Duo laptop. Ubuntu and its derivatives tend to be a bit of a challenge for the older systems in my experience. Puppy really doesn't benefit much from being installed as you can run it off a live CD or bootable flash drive with persistence. I know Hedon James isn't too keen on it but for Linux noobies like me it's simplicity itself. Give it a try.

I'm posting from it right now on a wifi connection.

 

I meant to add that I run Puppy straight from its ISO on my hard disk using EasyBCD. Nothing could be easier.

 

Alright Earthling I shall give it a try, thanks for the suggestion

 

Puppy seems to be running good but i can't install it to the hard drive

 

I've got no beef with Puppy, I just have never had reason to check it out, as I've always found something I liked better. So I have no experience to recommend it in good conscience. Use what works for ya!

If Puppy works for you, does what you want it to, and you like it...who am I to say you're wrong?

 

Have you read THIS? As I said, I don't have it installed and just run it straight off of its ISO file. All my customisation and personal stuff is stored in a .2fs file which Puppy loads automatically at startup. I think installing it will wipe Win 7, rather than creating a dual boot, but not sure.

 

Windows 7 runs awfully slow on it... its just sad really how slow it runs.

While I'm looking for something to run on it, I'm going to test out win10 as well.

Thanks for all your help.

 

I've been hearing good things about Win10. I have it in a VM and it seems to run very well in a virtualized manner, so it would probably be even better on bare metal. Certainly an improvement over Win8!

Are you a fan of the Android/ChromeOS/Google ecosystem? I've been hearing and reading wonderful things about Chromixium:

http://chromixium.org/

Chromixium is a dead-ringer for ChromeOS, without the shackles of google-provided services. I'm not a fan of ChromeOS because of the cloud-based aspect; I prefer my data local, where I'm in charge of things and can access whatever I want, whenever I want. My wife has a Chromebook and LOVES it. I like everything about Chrome EXCEPT the cloud-based portion. It's lightweight, responsive, the system updates itself with no user intervention, etc... If it wasn't for the tethered-nature of Chromebooks, I would definitely be tempted by them.

Chromixium is based on OpenBox (even lighter-weight than LXDE), but with Ubuntu Linux base. Should be extremely lightweight and responsive, even on limited hardware specs! But you'll still have the full fledged data access & local programs (office, e-mail, video, music, etc...) that are no google. I haven't tried it out yet, but I am DEFINITELY checking it out as soon as I get a few spare moments. If this solves the ONLY thing I don't like about Chromebooks, then Chromixium becomes a very viable option (for me, at least); the option of google-provided services/programs, and the option for local favorites, like LibreOffice, Thunderbird, etc...

I'll be loading it up in a VM and exploring. I can't offer any advice on it yet, as I'm not familiar enough with it myself. But it does look VERY INTERESTING to me. I mention it to you now based on your previous comments/concerns, as it seems like it may be a good match for your very unique situation. Check it out and see what you think...

 

I am a fan of Android as that's the only google OS I've played with.. As it always seems simple and easy to use. But I've only played with it on a cheap tablet or the wifes phone.

I'll give it a look for sure.. I was only thinking win10 because it came with win7 starter on it and I was hoping for a free upgrade but I don't think the starter editions get anything besides a "thanks for playing" .. I have the system added to my torrent downloader and will give a check for sure.

Like you I have heard many people loving the chromebooks also like you I prefer to have my stuff that I'm working on, on my actual computer because I don't always have wifi access.

 

Netbooks with Win 7 Starter installed had low hardware specs and were limited with RAM.

A modern version, in fact a better version of Windows 7 will not run well. Don't waste your time hoping that it will work.

 

Well I posted the link to direct specs so I'm hoping everyone has been reading that it's got 1gb of ram and a 1.6ghz intel atom processor

 

My response was in your comment about "thinking about trying Win 10" to let you know that was not a good idea with 512MB of RAM. I'm not sure it would even be a good idea with 2GB of RAM. We have four computers in the house running Win 7 and all four have 4GB of RAM. (One had 2GB but I added more because it was really laggy).

 

Wholeheartedly agree plodr! Win7 really does need 4GB+ to run satisfactorily. By all accounts, Win10 is supposed to be lighter and more responsive, and it sure seems that way in a VM. But even so, I can't imagine that anything less than 2GB will be a good experience...maybe even 4GB.

For Kennie, I really do believe that a Linux OS is the best way to save/rescuscitate his hardware. But your point is very well taken regarding LiveMedia. He really should "test the heck out of it" for an extended period before he takes the plunge and makes a permanent installation of it.

Ever heard the saying "Measure twice, cut once"?!

 

Plodr - I know that I more than likely won't get anything that great in regards to performance wise from win10 or anything on the little laptop since it's very limited and because of how it was designed it would be a pain in my *** to upgrade the ram but even if I could the max I could upgrade the ram to on it is 2GB..

Heldon James - It seems like Linux just doesn't like me.. I always hear of it being rather user friendly but for some reason or another I keep having issues with it... If it wasn't for the screen and colors being really distorted I would have stuck with PCLOS ... I tried the other one you also recommended in regards to the ChromeOS knock off... It's interesting and rather limited but maybe it's just me as maybe that's how the real ChromeOS is.

It may take me 5-6 hours but I'm going to download win10 and give it a test and see how things work on that... The connection at my Mom's is so slow it would make you cry.. When we got the connection we were told that the speed would be "up to 5mbps" we never had anything close to that, at most it's 2.5mbps .. but it seems from what I'm told that the software the ISP I'm with uses it'll automatically slow down your connection if they fine that the line is unstable... well it'll constantly slow it down, but it won't speed it up and in order to get it sped up I have to call the ISP and give them shit over it all...
but I know this post wasn't about the ISP so I won't make it about it...

I do wish I could get something decent to run on the little laptop, it's not the only laptop I have as I also have another one with 6GB of ram and 500gb hard drive and a 64bit processor... I just was hoping to get the little one working decently as I tend to just grab it and take it every where because of how small and light it is.

 

Hey kennie, I have a busted up Dell, 3 gigs of Ram, 250 hd, it was running vista but now it's running LXLE without any problems at all. Hedon James sent you this link and it's where I got my copy from.

http://lxle.net

 

Win 10 requirements:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/preview-faq-system-requirements-pc
RAM: 1 gigabyte (GB) (32-bit) You need to add RAM before you attempt to install 10
Go for 2GB because your video chip is stealing some of the RAM; if you only upgrade to 1GB, Windows will not have all the RAM for its use.