512mb of ram!

[brianblaze]

Yes that is right my buddy is running a PC that has trouble running XP! I would like to install fedora but I tried 15 and before I could install it, it informed me that my buddy needed 640MB of RAM... SO CLOSE! Anywho My question is what is the latest version of fedora that my buddies sad little PC can handle with 512MB of RAM with a full GUI (for firefox, VLC, youtube and other flash movies and maybe libre writer) What do you people suggest?!

Thanks!

[Dan]

What do you people suggest?!

... Another 512mb stick of ram. Baring that, my second string suggestion would be to go pre-F15 at the very least. Gnome3 is a bit resource intensive. Try another DE/WM.

That being said, my first thought would be (for many reasons, not the least of which are the annoyingly short release schedule and vunderbork updates) to instead of fedora, try something essentially much lighter in weight.

Some choices are:

• Bodhi Linux
• Puppy Linux
• Vector Linux

There are many others available which are specifically designed to be light on resources as well. Hit Distrowatch and have a look around.

[brianblaze]

Cool I will check it out and the option to add another stick is impossible his laptop has only 2 sticks each with 256 MB and that is the max... lol thanks

[Dan]

Well ... if he's got some really good fire insurance ... I'd be willing to sell him my old HP dv9904ca ...

Nevermind the fact it's been dubbed the, "Fukushima Special" ... it's got almost 4 gigs of ram ...


<....>

[brianblaze]

bahaha that is funny Dan! I like the story I am just curious I have had laptops that get to almost 95 C and that was hot but the laptop was made for it... since the laptop would have shut off if it became hotter then it could handle... None the less I have moved on from such hot lap[tops but still I saw 180 F and thought to myself holy **** that must be hot but it's only 85 C haha

[DBelton]

I had a laptop way back that had both slots filled with 256MB ram, and I replaced both sticks to get more. The laptop manufacturer (Dell) stated that the max per slot was 256MB, but I slapped 2 512MB sticks in and it worked great (I believe they upped the maximum in a BIOS update and never updated their specs)

I wouldn't recommend going out and buying memory until you are sure it would work in the laptop, but if you happened to have extra laying around you could test it with, give it a try. It might work.

[bbfuller]

Hello brianblaze

You mightlike to add Crunchbang to your list of distributions to try.

This Compaq Armada has a 500MHz processor with 320MB of memory and it surprises me how well it runs each time I bring it out of retirement.

[John the train]

Just to second Dan's suggestions of Bodhi and Puppy, and to add Macpup, which is Puppy using E17 desktop. I'm running it on my old laptop with 192MB RAM, and while not blindingly fast it's useable, so should run sweetly on your friend's computer. One word of advice, the latest Macpup ( 529 ) is based on a Puppy which is still beta,and I gather some features are not yet 100%, so better to go for 528 to try.

[brianblaze]

Love all the advice keep it coming Thanks guys!

[Chilly Willy]

For what it's worth, I ran Fedora 14 on a machine that maxed out at 512 so I KNOW it can be done. (it wasn't a speed demon, though, but ran adequate - a bit faster than M$)

Now given that F14 is quite "OLD", I'm not so sure if it would be worth it NOW, maybe centOS, as it would be in the neighborhood of F14. (that is if you are wanting to stay close to fedora)

[BBQdave]

Originally Posted by DBelton

The laptop manufacturer (Dell) stated that the max per slot was 256MB, but I slapped 2 512MB sticks in and it worked great (I believe they upped the maximum in a BIOS update and never updated their specs)

+1

I have an old Dell 1100 Inspiron (backup notebook) - with bios update, I added 1 gig of ram.

In my experience (with my old Dell), I would offer Debian 6 (Gnome 2) or Fedora 16 Xfce as distro's to try. If your friend is going to play music (VLC) and watch video (Flash - YouTube), go for a gig of ram - it will help greatly

[brianblaze]

for the record the idea is to not put any money into it and upgrading a laptop whos screen is taller then it is wide is like going back in the time... I am surprised I am asking so much from a linux system that is supposed to be all about being lightweight but I guess they are only talkin CLI lol anyways when I get home I wil lcheck some of those lightweight ones you guys are talkin about. I don't believe in spending a dime on old pc's just make them work and if they don't time to go new... I know my friend will need a new laptop soon so this is just so he can enjoy a computer that runs faster then it does with XP

[BBQdave]

Originally Posted by brianblaze

for the record the idea is to not put any money into it and upgrading a laptop whos screen is taller then it is wide is like going back in the time...

Then I humbly suggest Debian 6...

And I like using my backup notebook (Dell with screen as tall as the machine is wide), from time to time - for that classic feel

I would again offer that two sticks of 512's is an inexpensive way to gain more options with that old hardware.

[brianblaze]

i just feel like if I upgrade the RAM then XP will run better haha I know he has a lenovo thinkpad from like 98 I am just trying to get him to tell me the exact model

[Chilly Willy]

To clarify, I ran the GUI - Gnome, mostly...
(plus all the OTHER stuff you are wanting - Firefox, etc)

BTW: it was a PIII - 667Mhz