A Surprise, and a Thank You!,
I am a member!
I've been using Trisquel on my main computer for a while now, and since the first few bumps were ironed out with an updated kernel, it has run smoothly and become my favorite OS.
At work, I ended up providing my own computer (long story). I had a 2003 Sony Vaio PC laying around (found in the basement of my wife's old office) and ended up bringing that to my office.
Looking for an OS to put on it, I was concerned by its age, old specs, and 512 mb RAM. I turned to Puppy Linux, thinking it would be the most bearable option for an 11 year old machine. It worked pretty well, but I missed the versatility and familiar packages I've come to love since switching to GNU/Linux. So, for kicks and giggles, I downloaded Trisquel Mini and gave it a go.
WOW! I can't believe how well it runs. It runs at least as good as Puppy, even if LibreOffice is a little slower. It also looks much nicer, and I have access to the repos I love. I don't know if the wireless works (the computer has an old style, slide-in PC card), but I don't need it to, since the computer is wired to the internet. And, of course, I've spread free software to another computer in my care.
I expected Trisquel Mini to be too heavy for my old computer. I was wrong! So, thank you to the Trisquel community for creating a free software OS that works on even old computers.
I'm very glad and after reading your story, I'm thinkinig about giving Trisquel mini a try on my old computer.
Ah, and in case you need wireless connection, you can rely on Thikpenguin; I'm using the TPE-N150USB on my current laptop and it works very well.
Glad to hear of your success.
While the mini (lxde) is much lighter than the regular (gnome) there are still much lighter options. (say openbox)
Starting install from a minimal netinstall would guarantee there are no lurking useless background processes sucking away cycles and ram.
And then configuring & compiling kernel (and programs most often used). This would be best if done on a faster machine and then moved onto the old timer. :)
Stay free!
lembas said:
> While the mini (lxde) is much lighter than the regular (gnome) there are still
> much lighter options. (say openbox)
Those are two different kinds of things: LXDE is a desktop environment, Openbox is a window manager. In fact, LXDE uses Openbox as its window manager.
Oh! Onpon4, it's you, I didn't recognize you since you change your Avatar, I think the new one suits you very well. :-)
going back to using a lightweigh alternatives, I recommend icewm; it also have a configurable task bar.
> In fact, LXDE uses Openbox as its window manager.
Heh, didn't realize that, thanks for pointing it out.