Hey,

I need a distro for my laptop, a Dell Inspiron 3200. It's running a Pentium II 233 MMX machine running 212MB of SODIMM @ 100 Mhz. Basically what I'm looking for in a distro is a functional package manager (like apt-get for example), a light and nimble X server/window manager (like FluxBox), and great hardware support. So basically everything you'd find in a new distro, only very slim. Fast boot times and a low-lag interface is an absolute must! Think DSL, only full-featured distro size with no limitations.

Thanks all!

I am most familiar with Debian, so from there is where I speak.
I know that there is an option for a minimal instal, which of course loads only the base system. A feature that is great for this installaiton is kernal 2.4, which should have more support for older hardwar than 2.6.
You can then install X, install a lightweight window manager like flux box, and the packages you seek.
As for the tree for Debian...good ole' sarge may also be the best way to go. 'm thinking to a point, it could be good to go with older software for older hardware.

I hope this helps
Mohtech

Hmm ... interesting ... I like that idea a lot I used to use debian on another laptop I had and it worked out niiice.

I like the sarge idea too. I tried that release when it was in testing and it was very good ... well ... besides the hiccups that it would belch out now and then, haha. Ah yeah, if I'm at a command line with a working internet connection and apt-get, I would be limitless

Whoa ... I just realized something ... I'm at my friend's place without CDRs ... I could just toss the floppy drive into this thing, make some sarge booties, and install over the 'net ...



Now I just need to find some 1.44s ...

I would recommend openbox over fluxbox but that's just personal preference(i also find it to be faster)... also, you can check out Archlinux... it's i686 compiled.. so it's much faster than most other i386 compiled distros, and it's pacman package manager is excellent.

how much faster is much faster? I'm fairly settled with debian at the moment but if there's a noticable difference, I'm not afraid to backup and reinstall

you would definitely notice a speed difference between debian and arch... at least I did.

Ah right on I'm burning the ftp installer disc right now, thank you!

I just got X and XFCE4 running with Arch. First, I was very inpressed that pacman had the latest of everything in it's repositories, I have actually never used this XFCE! Then I felt a little experimental and did a "pacman -S opera" ... and hooo man!! Opera is in the repos of all things?! That was just plain f'ckin rad ...

Then I launch it and it literally boots about eight times faster than debian, and I relize that the display wasn't using the framebuffer driver!! Ah man, this distro is SO great! haha ... When I was reading the arrogant-like Wiki on how it was better than everything else, I thought they were just doing a "my dad ban beat up your dad" kind of thing, but now I actually have some respect for that!

What a great distro. Very configurable yet simple. And FAST! Thanks for the reccomendation, I'm set

Excellent, glad you like it. If you want some immediate help with it, join the IRC channel #archlinux on irc.freenode.net.

Arch is very good about providing the most recent package versions, and since it's a rolling distro, you'll never have to 'upgrade' to the latest version... just 'pacman -Syu' daily and you will always have the latest archlinux available... even easier than gentoo... no need to bother with release profiles and such

The fact that they provide a lot of the codecs and stuff that are in a grey area about the ability to redistribute, that the bigger boys don't include (java, libdvdcss2, etc..) are all in the arch repos.. and there is also AUR... you will do well to learn how to use AUR... it's very easyonce you understand it, and will open up your available software repositories by about 5 times..

You're also welcome to join my channel, in my signature. I could give you some help as well.