Ubuntu

Xubuntu?

Asked by george_rutkay

I'm setting up a "trash computer" I resurrected from someone after they wanted to put it out on the curb, I literally got it from their hands for my step son.

Configuration: Pentium 3 w/MMX, 550 MHz. 512 Meg RAM, 12 Gig HD. Generic basic video card. It needed a power supply, the old one was dead.

I added a sound card, an Ethernet card and I have a little USB wireless networking widget I bought from Staples office supplies for $40.

Ubuntu 7.xx seems too "heavy" for this computer. I cannot even get the installer for 7.10 to run, and 7.04 runs but it's slow.

I'd like to hear feedback and experiences from other users regarding XUbuntu (in this case, 8.04 but I also downloaded and burned 6.06 just in case).

The only thing Matthew uses the computer for is looking for pictures of bikes, trucks, then chatting with his friends, playing his MP3s, looking for music on Limewire, and using Youtube.

Which would be the better system to install on a system like this? Xubuntu 6.06 or 8.04?

I'd appreciate your thoughts on this. Oh, I'm not looking to spend $$ on this computer, the budget is tight. So if software will run on it and if I can avoid putting $$ into it, I'd like that.

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nglnx (nglnx) said : 		#1

According to xubuntu web page (http://www.xubuntu.org/get):

To install Xubuntu, you need 1.5 GB of free space on your hard disk. Once installed, Xubuntu can run with 192 MB RAM, but it is strongly recommended to have at least 256 MB RAM.

Also, according to the following page:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Xubuntu

BOTH have LTS status. 6.06 will be supported until 2009, 8.04 will be supported until 2011. So if support is important, you should go with 8.04. It will also has better hardware support and newer versions of popular programs.

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Nick Ellery (nick.ellery) said : 		#2

You might also be interested in Fluxbuntu, an even more lightweight Ubuntu system than Xubuntu.
http://fluxbuntu.org

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george_rutkay (yaktur) said : 		#3

I'll try Fluxbuntu tonight and see whether it will work.

I did try Xubuntu last night (8.04) and it looks very nice indeed! If it works well on a Pentium 3, I'd be strongly tempted to try it on the other computer I have (2.5 GHz Pentium 4).

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george_rutkay (yaktur) said : 		#4

The CD I downloaded for Fluxbuntu will not boot any computer at work or at home. I won't even try to figure it out, I've got too much on my hands. I'll try to stick with Xubuntu on the "trash computer".

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Blair Nicodemus (bnicodemus-gmail) said : 		#5

Xubuntu 8.04 with a clean install and clean startup shows 417M of memory used, whereas Ubuntu 8.04 shows 497MB used. This is on a machine w/ 1 GB of RAM and 3 GB of swap. Clearly on a machine w/ 512MB of RAM, Xubuntu will perform better because there is more room for apps to run. Also, apps packaged with Xubuntu are much more lightweight than those packaged with Ubuntu (e.g. AbiWord vs. OpenOffice Write). That said, there are even lighter versions of Ubuntu available as mentioned, namely fluxbuntu, or running Ubuntu with openbox rather than Gnome (see http://www.linux.com/feature/126177).