Is there a Linux dist for me?

[Nightfall]

So, Ive been wondering, IS there a Linux distribution I could make use of for my meager needs? All I need to do is internet, e-mail, play some low-end multimedia (mostly music), burn CDs, and (important one) use it with some sort of graphical IDE for coding and compiling in C++. As you can see, I dont do anything here that pushes the hardware. Id also really prefer to do as little OS stuff as possible from the cmd line. GUI required.

Heres the catch though (and its a biggy). This would be for use on a Pentium 233mhz, 40 MB RAM machine. Ive got a 3.4 ghz, 1 gig DDR2, blah blah blah too, but its gonna remain a WinXP box so it can also be used for gaming. So do you Linux users have any thoughts on something to fit the bill? Or should I just stick with my trusty (HA!) ol copy of Win98SE and forget about Linux for now?

[Sindawe]

Paging Combat-Wombat, how is Ubantu working?

I put Mandrake 8.0 (old old old) on my old old old P1 166 a few years back.  Worked fine.  Newer versions may be more GUI centric, but there was still the need for command line use in that version.  At work we put Suse Linux on just about the same box as you have with no issues, but no GUI since the developers are all command line freaks.  Runs just fine.

[Pebcac]

Ubuntu would work, but there's a derivative called Xubuntu that uses Xfce as its GUI front end.  Very easy on an old box.  www.xubuntu.org" target="_blank">www.xubuntu.org

[roo_ster]

http://damnsmalllinux.org/

Very easy on resources.  I got it to run on a P-I 200MHz, 32MB RAM box.

I am not sure just what kind of graphical IDE there is, though you could always install one or install emacs.

You can always download the .iso & burn a CD with it to see how you like it, with the proviso that it will run faster when installed on your HD.

knoppix used WITHOUT KDE (I think IceWM is the low-resource alternative).

[Iain]

My only experience is with Ubuntu (posting from it now), not Kubuntu (KDE) or Xubuntu (XFCE). I would reckon Xubuntu is worth a try, and the reason I say that is that I'm really impressed with hardware detection and even more impressively, the Ubuntu community...

www.ubuntuforums.org

That said, Xubuntu might still be a little bit heavy on the RAM front. I believe you can use lighter WM's like fluxbox or IceWM, but I have precisely zero experience.

I started off like you wanting to revive an old PC, but you might find, like me, that you end up wanting to see what it looks like on more modern hardware. I eventually installed it on my 2400XP (1 gig RAM) as a dual boot system (very reliable partitioning on the Ubuntu install cd, no need to worry about your XP) and now I boot into Ubuntu 90% of the time, only using XP for games.

With the old laptop I tried, and had less luck, DSL, Puppy, Beatrix and some others. Ubuntu impressed me mightily though.

[Nightfall]

Thanks for the replies. The worst part of it is I have 768 MB SDRAM in 3 sticks, a couple HDs, a sound card, a couple modems, a couple optical drives, etc. If I could find a new motherboard w/processor for that PC100 memory, combined with the stuff I already have, I'd end up with a useable second computer. Problem is, nobody has new Socket 370 motherboards w/ processor for a price that doesn't make it pointless not to just get a whole new, more modern machine. Ah well. :/

[crt360]

I ran an older version of Red Hat on a 133 back before Linux was common and it worked O.K., but at the time it didn't seem like a suitable replacement for Windows.  I tried to install Ubuntu on an old Dell 200 or 233 with 64MB ram and it always froze around the end of installation.  Never could figure out how to make it work.  My brother runs it on a Duron 700 with 256MB ram and it's fine.

[RadioFreeSeaLab]

FOr that machine, go with Damn Small Linux.