Linux help for experimental PC please

martyp

Hi all,
I picked up a cheap PC as below at a boot fair not long ago:
http://www.vxl.net/Products/products.aspx?CategoryID=Ng==-fWH0aFdOedA=&SubCategoryID=OA==-YZB1m2Edj2c=&ProductID=NDY%3d-sjAbwAKpd6Y%3d
It is silent with a 700MHz CPU, 512MB RAM (I upgraded it) and I swapped the 256MB flash memory for an IDE adaptor with a 2GB CF flash card. I installed Windows XP Pro on it successfully but it seems to drop off the network etc. and struggle a bit with that OS even though I stripped it down a bit.
I was thinking that a Linux OS would work nicely on it and wanted something that wasn't too different to a Windows environment as I have pretty much no experience with Linux to know what I'm doing.
I like the idea of tinkering with Linux but I'm not sure what would be the best to use and how easy it would be to install on the machine?
Can any Linux fanatics recommend anything?
I was thinking lately of getting a Raspberry PI but then thought I might as well use this Itona machine instead as it's similar in many respects, just bigger. I'm not sure how the PI manages to play full HD videos, I'd be curious if the Itona can but then the Itona only has a standard VGA output, not HDMI...

somersethillbilly

Take a look at Zorin.

gonzo127

linux mint LXDE version would be a good start, very newbie friendly and easy to use.
or the LXDE version of zorin as above

debitcardmayhem

Where's spud when you need him ,it is a weekend :cool:,
he has experimented a lot with thin clients
look here https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3803583 for Zorin
some other toughts and banter about using xboot from USB for may things , may be stuff useful in there
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3718403 and another thread too https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3926561

imho

I installed Joli Os and i am not so technical but i managed to do it.I installed it side by side with Windows so when i boot up i can pick which system to use. On my Asus notebook which runs really slow with windows it runs really fast with Joli Os.I tried Ubuntu but couldnt figure out how to connect to wifi.

The_Mighty_Gusset

I've used Ubuntu for a few years now, always upgrading to the latest version as soon as it comes out
If you've managed the migration between one or more versions of Windows then the switch to any of the main Linux distros shouldn't cause you any trouble.
Once you've switched you'll wonder why you didn't do it years ago.

martyp

Many thanks all, I had considered Ubuntu before, I hadn't heard of Zorin though. I'm having a read through of Zorin now and will check out those links too for the other posts. Looks like there's a whole world out there in Linux land waiting to be explored! I work in IT support but that's all Windows stuff so Linux has always intrigued me as I sometimes find Windows to be too pretty and fancy and I'm more someone for functionality and stripping down the graphical fancy stuff to get what you really want and which works.

s_b

http://www.puppylinux.com/flash-puppy.htm

havent tried this and you might not get it to work on your machine if not i have in the past succesfully used puppy linux from a cd and nothing stored on your computer at all
it all depends what you want to do

http://puppylinux.org/main/Download%20Latest%20Release.htm

GunJack

further to dcm's post above, I've xbooted a usb with puppy (amongst other things) and it works like that very well. However, looking at the machine the OP's got, doubt whether it'll boot from a usb stick, the bios is probably too old....no mention of bios and boot options on the data sheet

debitcardmayhem

GunJack wrote: »

further to dcm's post above, I've xbooted a usb with puppy (amongst other things) and it works like that very well. However, looking at the machine the OP's got, doubt whether it'll boot from a usb stick, the bios is probably too old....no mention of bios and boot options on the data sheet

It will PXE boot so there must/may be other options, but at least it could boot via the network

prowla

Have a look at Damn Small Linux.

It's designed to run off media (eg. a CD or a USB stick) and only save the config info to local disk.