Recommend a distribution suitable for an older laptop please?

Hi,

If your pc has 60 (64?) MB of RAM, I suggest trying one of the following distributions:

A. DeLi Linux
B. SliTaz
C. Tiny Core Linux
D. AntiX

However, I am not sure they can handle your wireless connection (the way PuppyLinux can....)

There are also the following lightweight distributions:

1. Absolute Linux
Absolute Linux is a light-weight modification of Slackware Linux. It includes several utilities that make configuration and maintenance easier and it has many common desktop and Internet applications installed and configured with tight integration of menus, applications and MIME types. Absolute Linux uses IceWM and ROX for its window and file managers.

2. AUSTRUMI
AUSTRUMI is a business card size (50MB) bootable live CD Linux distribution. It is based on Slackware Linux with initialisation scripts borrowed from the Blin project.

3. Damn Small Linux
Damn Small Linux is a business card size (50MB) live CD Linux distribution. Despite its minuscule size it strives to have a functional and easy to use desktop. Damn Small Linux has a nearly complete desktop, including XMMS (MP3, and MPEG), FTP client, links-hacked web browser, spreadsheet, email, spellcheck (US English), a word-processor, three editors (Nedit, nVi, Zile [emacs clone]), Xpdf, Worker (file manager), Naim (AIM, ICQ, IRC), VNCviwer, SSH/SCP server and client, DHCP client, PPP, PPPoE, a web server, calculator, Fluxbox window manager, system monitoring apps, USB support, and soon it will have PCMCIA support as well. If you like Damn Small Linux you can install it on your hard drive. Because all the applications are small and light it makes a very good choice for older hardware.

4. DeLi Linux
DeLi Linux is a Linux distribution for old computers, from 486 to Pentium MMX 166 or so. It's focused on desktop usage. It includes email clients, a graphical Web browser, an office package with word processor and spreadsheet, etc. A full install, including XFree86 and development tools, needs no more than 300 MB of harddisk space.

5. Fluxbuntu Linux
Fluxbuntu is a light-weight, standards-compliant, Ubuntu-based Linux distribution featuring the Fluxbox window manager. The project's primary goal is to develop an operating system that would run on a wide range of mobile devices and computers, both low-end and high-end.

6. LinuxConsole
LinuxConsole is an independently developed Linux live CD with different editions designed for desktops, servers, gaming consoles, and old computers. Its primary characteristics are easy installation, extensive choice of software in the form of modules, and excellent hardware detection.

7. AntiX
antiX is a fast, lightweight and easy to install linux live CD distribution based on MEPIS for Intel-AMD x86 compatible systems. antiX offers users the "Magic of Mepis" in an environment suitable for old computers. So don't throw away that old computer yet! The goal of antiX is to provide a light, but fully functional and flexible free operating system for both newcomers and experienced users of Linux. It should run on most computers, ranging from 64MB old PII 266 systems with pre-configured 128MB RAM to the latest powerful boxes. 128MB RAM is recommended for antiX. The installer needs minimum 1.2GB hard disk size. antiX can also be used as a fast-booting rescue cd.

8. PapugLinux
PapugLinux is a minimal GNU/Linux live CD based on the Gentoo Linux distribution for x86 computers. The goal of PapugLinux is to provide a minimal but functional free operating system which can be run on most computers, from old systems with as little as 64 MB of memory to the latest powerful configurations.

9. Puppy Linux
Yes, Puppy Linux is yet another Linux distribution. What's different here is that Puppy is extraordinarily small, yet quite full featured. Puppy boots into a 64MB ramdisk, and that's it, the whole caboodle runs in RAM. Unlike live CD distributions that have to keep pulling stuff off the CD, Puppy in its entirety loads into RAM. This means that all applications start in the blink of an eye and respond to user input instantly. Puppy Linux has the ability to boot off a flash card or any USB memory device, CDROM, Zip disk or LS/120/240 Superdisk, floppy disks, internal hard drive. It can even use a multisession formatted CD-R/DVD-R to save everything back to the CD/DVD with no hard drive required at all!

10. SaxenOS
SaxenOS is a lightweight Slackware and Zenwalk-based distribution with the Xfce desktop. It is designed for older, low-specification computers.

11. SliTaz GNU/Linux
SliTaz GNU/Linux is a mini distribution and live CD designed to run speedily on hardware with 128 MB of RAM. SliTaz uses BusyBox, a recent Linux kernel and GNU software. It boots with Syslinux and provides more than 200 Linux commands, the lighttpd web server, SQLite database, rescue tools, IRC client, SSH client and server powered by Dropbear, X window system, JWM (Joe's Window Manager), gFTP, Geany IDE, Mozilla Firefox, AlsaPlayer, GParted, a sound file editor and more. The SliTaz ISO image fits on a less than 30 MB media and takes just 80 MB of hard disk space.

12. Tiny Core Linux
Tiny Core Linux is a very small (10 MB) minimal Linux desktop. It is based on Linux 2.6 kernel, BusyBox, Tiny X, FLTK graphical user interface and JWM window manager, running entirely in memory. It is not a complete desktop, nor is all hardware completely supported; it represents only the core needed to boot into a very minimal X Window desktop, typically with wired Internet access. This minimal desktop can be extended by installing additional applications from online repositories.

13. TinyMe
TinyMe is a PCLinuxOS-based mini-distribution. It exists to ease installation of PCLinuxOS on older computers, to provide a minimal installation for developers, and to deliver a fast Linux installation for where only the bare essentials are needed.

14. U-lite
U-lite (formerly Ubuntulite) is a light-weight distribution, based on Ubuntu, designed to run comfortably on old and low-resource computers. It comes with a careful selection of applications, such LXDE (featuring the Openbox window manager), Kazehakase web browser, Sylpheed mail client, AbiWord word processor and Gnumeric spreadsheet. Unlike most light-weight distributions, U-lite strives to provide a complete user experience out of the box.

15. VectorLinux
Vector Linux is a small, fast, Intel based Linux operating system for PC style computers. The creators of Vector Linux had a single credo: keep it simple, keep it small and let the end user decide what their operating system is going to be. What has evolved from this concept is perhaps the best little Linux operating system available anywhere. For the casual computer user you have a lightening fast desktop with graphical programs to handle your daily activities from web surfing, sending and receiving email, chatting on ICQ or IRC to running an ftp server. The power user will be pleased because all the tools are there to compile their own programs, use the system as a server or perhaps the gateway for their home or office computer network. Administrators will be equally as pleased because the small size and memory requirements of the operating system can be deployed on older machines maybe long forgotten.

16. wattOS
wattOS is a fast desktop Linux distribution based on Ubuntu. Using the lightweight Openbox window manager as its default user interface, the distribution strives to be as energy-efficient as possible so that it can be used on low-specification and recycled computers.

Regards,

Mark