Which version I shoud pick for good speed.

[Guest]

Hi All,
I have a old Toshiba Tecra laptop with 512MB DDR RAM.
Previously I was using Windows-XP, which was working good.
Now I installed kubuntu 11.04 (I replaced XP, no more XP), but it seems very slow for me. So can any one suggest which version I should pick or what I should do?, I need to build Google Chrome browser on it.

Thanks
Braja

[The Liquidator]

Re: Which version I shoud pick for good speed.

If you want to use a 'buntu then xubuntu or lubuntu will perform better than kubuntu.

Alternatively, whilst I've not tried it myself, puppy seem to be held in preety high esteem

[arochester]

Re: Which version I shoud pick for good speed.

If you decide to go for e.g. Xubuntu you can install them in your present install with the command:

sudo apt-get install xubuntu-desktop

Then you can remove Kubuntu by following the instructions here: http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/purexfce

[Guest]

Re: Which version I shoud pick for good speed.

Thanks.. will try xubuntu

[oshunluvr]

Re: Which version I shoud pick for good speed.

You might also try Bodhi Linux. A light weight, Ubuntu based, Enlightenment desktop.

Takes a little bit of getting used to, but Enlightenment has awesome desktop graphics without all the overhead of KDE. I use is on my HP Mini netbook and the speed and battery life went way up over Win-slow7.

You'll probably need to read through some of the documentation on their website to get yourself up to speed, but it's a great distro and there also have a very good forum with lots of helpful friendly people and the developer himself is on the forum every day.

[Guest]

Re: Which version I shoud pick for good speed.

You could also install Blackbox from KPackageKit. It has a pretty quick response time, although you may find that it is a little too simple. In that case, XFCE4 was a good recommendation. =)

Sent from my MB525 using Tapatalk

[GreyGeek]

Re: Which version I shoud pick for good speed.

A friend asked me to install Kubuntu on his Tecera (IIRC, it had little stick in the middle of the keyboard acting as a mouse). KDE was/is too resource intensive for a 500KB RAM system, IMO, and it ran too slow on the Tecera.

The Linux which ran fastest on it, at the time, was Puppy 5. Puppy has now switched to Debian. Puppy uses the XFCE window manager but has its own utilities, most of which I don't like, and a customized kernel which is very fast. Puppy can run entirely in 93MB of RAM, leaving the rest for apps. I played with DSL but didn't like it.

Xubuntu is a good choice. It is Ubuntu running the XFCE window manager.

You could install Ubuntu and switch the window manager from gdm to one of the following:
Fluxbox
IceWm
Enlightenment (about as fast as XFCE)
and get fairly good speed in 512KB of RAM.

Puppy can run without touching the HD, so you can test it. Xubuntu makes a LiveCD available for testing without installing as well. Try them both and make up your own mind. The main reason why I didn't like Puppy is that you run as root. No security there. DSL doesn't run as root.

All in all, I'd recommend Xubuntu running the window manager of your choice. Mainly because it still gives you access to the apps in the Ubuntu repository, and from reviews comparing Puppy and Xubuntu, it is fast enough.

[MoonRise]

Re: Which version I shoud pick for good speed.

I agree with Puppy. Have it on a Dell Inspiron 3800 w/ Celeron 500MHz w/ I think 512 MB RAM, maybe less. Either way it runs great with Puppy.

[SteveRiley]

Re: Which version I shoud pick for good speed.

You might also try Bodhi Linux. A light weight, Ubuntu based, Enlightenment desktop... I use is on my HP Mini netbook and the speed and battery life went way up over Win-slow7.

Which HP Mini do you use? I have a Mini 2140 that I tricked out with 2 GB RAM, a 60 GB SSD, and even replaced the 1024x576 LCD panel with the 1366x768. Nice little machine, but it runs very hot with just about any distro I've tested, and I never get more than 90 minutes battery life. Perhaps I'll try Bodhi.

[oshunluvr]

Re: Which version I shoud pick for good speed.

I have an HP Mini 110-1109NR with the only upgrades being a small, cheap SSD (17 secs. from power on to desktop!) and the upgraded battery.

The fat battery gives it a huge bump on the underside, but It puts the keyboard at a good angle and I get 8-9 hr's using Bodhi.

Your heat/battery life issue could be related to the kernel version you're using as some newer kernels had this issue - check into it. Bodhi is built on 10.04.

[SteveRiley]

Re: Which version I shoud pick for good speed.

small, cheap SSD (17 secs. from power on to desktop!)

SSDs are great. My main laptop (the one running Kubuntu) has the Intel 160 GB drive. I don't think I could ever go back to rotating media after living with SSDs.

and the upgraded battery. The fat battery gives it a huge bump on the underside, but It puts the keyboard at a good angle and I get 8-9 hr's

I got one of those lumpy batteries...I found it makes the laptop extremely uncomfortable to use on, well, my lap!

Your heat/battery life issue could be related to the kernel version you're using as some newer kernels had this issue - check into it. Bodhi is built on 10.04.

When I read the Phoronix articles about heat and power consumption, I reinstalled 10.04 on my Mini. Wow, I had forgotten just how neat the netbook interface was, too bad they ditched it for the disaster otherwise known as Unity. Can't say I noticed that much of a reduction in heat or increase in battery life, though. But I'm willing to give Bodhi a try.

[Detonate]

Re: Which version I shoud pick for good speed.

You don't need to install Google chrome, instead install the Chromium browser which is kind of the daddy of Google chrome and looks like Google chrome and Google chrome add ons work fine.

sudo apt-get install chromium-browser

[tumerictj]

Re: Which version I shoud pick for good speed.

Hi,

I was in nearly the same situation this summer--except I was hoping to salvage a PC with only 256MB of Ram. Since I hoped to give it to my younger sister, I knew that the operating system had to be usable. After downloading numerable distributions to CD (including Lubuntu and Bodhi Linux), I finally found success with a Ubuntu-like, simple distribution called Diet Swift Linux.

Its not all that an a bag of chips, but it was the only distribution that I was able to install and use practically and simply. Now the computer is quick enough to be usable and still customizable enough for my younger siblings and myself.

I don't know why you might want Google Chrome, but Swift has access to the plentiful Debian repository.