Netbook Distro List

[greenian2]

i've got vectorlinux running on a acer aspireone  (the 8gb ssd 512meg one ) runs fine

[mako6]

[user@localhost ~]$ free -m
             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:          1508       1273        234          0         20        543
-/+ buffers/cache:        709        798
Swap:         1027          0       1027

Wow, so even with 15 tabs open on FF, writer, terminal, pdf reader, I'm only using half the memory? No, really the buffers and caches are on the RAM, right,
or on the SSD? If on SSD why add them to RAM mem?

[Mark Greaves (PCNetSpec)]

OK, you're using 1273  of 1508 leaving 234 free.

But if you DON'T include buffers/cache (stuff that's been cached into RAM to make your system quicker) your OS and software are only using 709

But if that's from a cold boot to the desktop, and without starting any applications .. that's quite high, specially for Peppermint or I'd expect Linpus.

[A Future Pilot]

I've added which distros are rolling-release. Are there any others that are also rolling-release?

[Mark Greaves (PCNetSpec)]

All of them can have a rolling release if on a CDROM

[A Future Pilot]

Lol!! I see what you did there

[SeZo]

I might be wrong but I do not think Crunchbang is a rolling release.
That was my main reason to move from Crunchbang to Archbang

[A Future Pilot]

Ah quite right. I was confused...I'll edit that

[A Future Pilot]

So...have there been any developments in the world of netbook/old hardware Linux recently? I know Peppermint 4 should be out sometime in the next 2 weeks (right? right?? ) but other than that is there anything new happening?

Doing some looking around it seems that a lot of the netbook-specific distros have kind of died off, with the exception of the !bangs and Peppermint.

[SeZo]

So...have there been any developments in the world of netbook/old hardware Linux recently?

Not much changed. Fuduntu gone way of the Dodo.

I have replaced ArchBang on my AA1 with Debian Wheezy LXDE. No problems to report.
Everything works OTB.
I would say just stick with any distro with Openbox or LXDE desktop enviroment an you are good to go.
You get a decent performance on a small(ish) footprint. No need for netbook specific distros any more.

[Mark Greaves (PCNetSpec)]

I'm with SeZo .. I'm not really sure there ever was a need for "netbook" distro's .. just pick a distro with a light desktop and you'll be fine.

If Unity/Gnome3 did us any favours, it's that there are more distros around offering alternative (and usually lighter) desktop environments by default, and/or the ones that already existed are getting more coverage.

So in a way there may be MORE distros around that are suited to netbooks, they're just less likely to be labelled as "netbook specific".

[TonyB]

Just a quick update if anybody here is interested...

• SolusOS has recently been discontinued.

[Mark Greaves (PCNetSpec)]

Yeah, Ikey pulled the plug on it, but he's continuing in FOSS and is in the middle of creating a media player called Budgie.
http://ikeydoherty.github.io/budgie/

[chemicalfan]

Distrowatch did a review of Point Linux last week - it's based on Debian Stable, running Mate. Light RAM usage, and really quick apparently. Should suit netbooks (although I haven't tried it myself). Worth stating that the next Debian will probably run Xfce, so although it's a couple of years away, will be worth keeping an eye on.