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DISTRO RECOMMENDATION NEEDED


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#1 james09

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Posted 09 March 2013 - 01:43 AM

I have an old Dell Dimension 2400 with Windows XP SP2, an Intel Celeron processor, USB 2.0 and a CRT monitor.  I want to use a Linux distribution with a GUI and works well with a bootable USB flash drive.  I installed the latest version of Unetbootin and tried CentOS but it is extremely slow and it keeps locking up. There is quite a few distributions on the Unetbootin list and I do not want to try every one because my downloads to my USB flash drive are very slow. I am using a DSL modem. Another option is I can download an ISO to my flash drive from a distribution that is not on the Unetbootin list and use the Unetbootin ISO function to make a bootable USB flash drive. Does anyone have any suggestions?



#2 Wonko the Sane

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Posted 09 March 2013 - 10:00 AM

It is possible that there is no issue with that particular distro, but that thre are in the speed of your USB device (and/or of the USB bus of your PC).

Are we talking of this?

http://reviews.cnet....7-30824846.html

Which make/model/size is the USB stick (I presume it is a pendrive)?

Have you tried the USB ports on the back of the Pc? (often on oldish models the front ports are much slower than the ones physically soldered to the motherboard on the back).

 

:cheers:

Wonko



#3 steve6375

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Posted 09 March 2013 - 10:09 AM

Using Easy2Boot, you just drag and drop any linux ISO to a folder on the USB drive - that way you can easily test them out as an ISO.

However, most ISOs will not give you persistence which you probably want?

On my site there are a few 'with persistence' ISO boot examples (Tut 104=pclinux, 73=Porteus, 98=Mint 14, StartOS=17, BackTrack4/5=9, Ubuntu 12=46, xiaopan=99, Tails=93, Fedora=67 (not from ISO).

As to reliability, I cannot comment as I have not run any of these for any length of time. I would however suggest you would have better results using a USB 3.0 drive caddy + HDD drive. Even just a USB 2.0 HDD would be better than a flash drive. Flash drives are small and portable and great for whipping out in emergency situations, but for everyday use I would suggest an HDD (either spinny thing or SSD).

 

P.S. StartOS is much like XP and worth a shot?

BackTrack is v large but a great development platform.

 



#4 ady

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Posted 09 March 2013 - 10:58 AM

Although this topic is posted under "Unetbootin", I think that the main issue in this particular case is less about the method used to put a distro in the USB drive, and more about a distro that can be responsive enough when using the specific hardware.

 

Since you probably have either 256 or 512 MB of RAM, then whichever distro you choose should be "usable" with such amount of RAM. Whether you can use Unetbootin for such kind of "low-requirements" distro seems to be less important, so when you choose the distro, search for the respective suggested method to put it on a USB drive.

 

Potential alternatives (in no particular order):

_ Puppy Linux (Racy; or Wary if you need dial up modem drivers) or some derivative (Slacko,...)

_ Slitaz

_ Damn Small Linux

_ Porteus

_ Slax

_ Antix

_ Multi-core (Tiny-core)

 

There are more. As I said, in your case the method to use the distro from USB drive seems less relevant (some may be compatible with Unetbootin, and some may need some other method; search and read for each distro), but the amount of RAM will be essential for your choice.



#5 james09

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Posted 11 March 2013 - 05:04 AM

It is possible that there is no issue with that particular distro, but that thre are in the speed of your USB device (and/or of the USB bus of your PC).

Are we talking of this?

http://reviews.cnet....7-30824846.html

Which make/model/size is the USB stick (I presume it is a pendrive)?

Have you tried the USB ports on the back of the Pc? (often on oldish models the front ports are much slower than the ones physically soldered to the motherboard on the back).

 

:cheers:

Wonko

My USB flash drive is a 4GB SanDisk Cruzer. I was using the USB port in the front of my computer case but I will try using the ports in the back. My Ethernet is only rated at 10Mbps. I normally keep this computer in my closet and only use it in a emergency. My netbook is not working right now. I can see now I am going to have to get ride of this thing and buy a new inexpensive emergency PC. The only thing my monitor and computer case seems to be good for these days are boat anchors.


Edited by james09, 11 March 2013 - 05:35 AM.


#6 james09

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Posted 11 March 2013 - 05:11 AM

Although this topic is posted under "Unetbootin", I think that the main issue in this particular case is less about the method used to put a distro in the USB drive, and more about a distro that can be responsive enough when using the specific hardware.

 

Since you probably have either 256 or 512 MB of RAM, then whichever distro you choose should be "usable" with such amount of RAM. Whether you can use Unetbootin for such kind of "low-requirements" distro seems to be less important, so when you choose the distro, search for the respective suggested method to put it on a USB drive.

 

Potential alternatives (in no particular order):

_ Puppy Linux (Racy; or Wary if you need dial up modem drivers) or some derivative (Slacko,...)

_ Slitaz

_ Damn Small Linux

_ Porteus

_ Slax

_ Antix

_ Multi-core (Tiny-core)

 

There are more. As I said, in your case the method to use the distro from USB drive seems less relevant (some may be compatible with Unetbootin, and some may need some other method; search and read for each distro), but the amount of RAM will be essential for your choice.

My Dell Dimension 2400 has 256 MB of RAM.



#7 Scooby

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Posted 11 March 2013 - 12:01 PM

Do as Steve suggested and installl Easy2boot on flash drive then test around with different puppies to see what you like.

 

My favourite is Archpup(with access to Arch package manager) but there should be a puppy or every user

 

Puppy Linux is what converted me from Window$



#8 Wonko the Sane

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Posted 11 March 2013 - 05:55 PM

The only thing my monitor and computer case seems to be good for these days are boat anchors.

Door stoppers is an alternative use needing not a nearby lake, river or sea. ;).

 

:cheers:

Wonko






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