Taltos

Okay, I'm asking for the impossible here, but what the hell...

I have an old Celeron 700 Mhz (256MB RAM) computer which was given to me to replace the one I donated (which was just an upgraded version of the same thing, really). This computer has 1MB of video memory.

My main emphasis, unfortunately, is multimedia - mpeg, avi, divx, mp3, and the like. I know there is no miracle distribution of linux that is going to let me play these well, but I assume some distrobutions will be better suited to it than others, especially on older hardware.

I'm currently running Xubuntu and having a decent experience on that are as far as playing multimedia. (I think I've installed all the various codecs I need... I'm not sure about divx, though. I haven't tried it yet.)

But some parts of Xubuntu are still giving me trouble, or the video's choppy, or amule isn't working right, or I get weird almost-crashes when I try to run a terminal. So I'm looking into other distributions now. I've heard of this "Puppy Linux" thing. Will that do alright running my multimedia? Is there another distribution anyone here would recommend?

I took one of those WHICH LINUX DISTRIBUTION TEST IS RIGHT FOR YOU quiz online and, surprisingly, it recommended Fedorra. Would you agree with this? I understand a new version is coming out at the end of the month... should I be looking to get the newest Fedorra distribution for such an old PC?

Advice appreciated. Thanks.

__________________
Though we are not now
That strength that in old days
Moved Earth and Heaven;
That which we are, we are:
One equal temper of heroic hearts
Made weak by time and flesh
But strong in will
To seek, to strive, to find
And not to yield.
-Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Daemon1313

Fedorra is my preffered distro.

I've got a web-server/ftp server running with fedora 2 on a celeron 550. Runs fine, but I don't do anything with multimedia on it.

__________________
A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.

robot_parade

I think the processor is going to be 'ok' - the ram and video card might be a problem. I would try to upgrade the ram to at least 1gb, if you cn manage it. I would expect ram for a system that old to be dirt cheap by this point (if you can find it). Probably standard SDRAM dimms. 256 MB is just barely enough to run anaconda (the installer), last I checked. Once you get it installed, the RAM will be a serious problem with either GNOME or KDE. You might be able to run something like twm (a very old window manager) and save some memory there, depending on what you need.

Also, don't go with an older version of Fedora (or whatever) to try to save memory - I don't think you'll save that much, and older versions aren't provided with bugfixes and such, which can be a major security hazard.

MikeSty

I think the first step for you is to grab a new video card. It should take a load off the memory and processor, and a newer card that's cheap and low-end will support a lot of hardware features that old integrated video will not. The benefits of this are probably good, especially if you want this to last a little while.

RAM is a good thing too. At least start by bumping it up to 512MB.

XUBUNTU is pretty handsome, I tried it and liked it. Maybe LinuxMCE?

Taltos

Okay, here's my list: Fedorra, LinuxMCE, Xubuntu. As soon as the new Fedorro is released, I'll try it.

Awesome. I'll look into getting a 16 MB video card and doubling the RAM as soon as its convinient.

Mikesty, you say you've tried Xubuntu. Does Xubuntu normally let you run a windowed terminal? When I click on Applications --> Accessories --> Terminal, it drops back to the signon screen. I'm wondering if this is normal or if my install CD may be bad. I have an odd sort of love/hate relationship with my terminal. I detest using it, but now that it's so inconvinient to access, I miss it.

__________________
Though we are not now
That strength that in old days
Moved Earth and Heaven;
That which we are, we are:
One equal temper of heroic hearts
Made weak by time and flesh
But strong in will
To seek, to strive, to find
And not to yield.
-Alfred, Lord Tennyson

MikeSty

It always ran in a window for me... that would drive me up the wall. Not sure what to tell you, i have quite limited experience with it, and I have almost no experience with any other linux distro or Ubuntu package. All I can say is I liked Xubuntu better than Ubuntu (with GNOME), but that's not saying it is better.

You might wanna consider something a little more than 16 megs. I'm talking a cheap but very new card.

RickB

Does it need an AGP or a PCI video card?

Taltos

It is a Dell GX150. It comes with an integrated 1 MB video card, and has an AGP slot for upgrades.

__________________
Though we are not now
That strength that in old days
Moved Earth and Heaven;
That which we are, we are:
One equal temper of heroic hearts
Made weak by time and flesh
But strong in will
To seek, to strive, to find
And not to yield.
-Alfred, Lord Tennyson