

Ask HN: Looking for a really lightweight Linux distro for my netbook - mcrittenden

I'm currently running Jolicloud which I like, but it's running pretty slow and my HD has almost no space left (with almost nothing but the OS and a few apps on it).<p>Any recommendations for something that is small and fast? Running Chrome is more or less the only thing I need it to do.
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gdl
If you're not afraid of the command line (or are willing to learn), Arch is as
lightweight as you want it to be. The initial install is very minimalist and
the package management system makes it almost trivial to build up from there.
Install Openbox and Chrome and you're all set with a pretty lean system.

<http://wiki.archlinux.org/>

~~~
mcrittenden
I'm not scared of the command line, but I'd rather not spend a long time
setting up stuff like wifi, sound, etc. Is all that pretty easy to get going?

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iuguy
It's more involved than doing it on Ubuntu. To be honest the hardest thing
you're likely to do is getting X running, closely followed by picking a window
manager. Sound and Wifi are generally straightforward on Arch.

To put it in perspective, I use Arch on a P3-850-based Sony Vaio with 128mb of
Ram and it flies.

The main things you'll get from Arch on a netbook are:

* Rolling release means that you don't have to do distribution upgrades.

* Have it your way - you pick what you want, what window manager you want, what editor you want etc. Use something like AwesomeWM, Xmonad or OpenBox to get the most out of your screen real-estate.

* Efficiency - Because you're only running what you want to run, your memory usage will be better and you wont have things you don't need lying around your hard disk, leaving the space to be filled with things you do.

The downsides:

* It's not a mainstream distro. While it has a great community, it's not as ubiquitous as something like Ubuntu. Still, Arch hasn't yet had it's eternal september so the people you do encounter know what they're talking about.

* You will tinker more and it will take up your time - if you don't play around then everything should work fine, but with the amount of flexibility Arch offers you will inevitably go through Window Managers and various tools, at the risk of breaking something.

Hope this is useful.

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xtho
> Rolling release means that you don't have to do distribution upgrades.

This goes beyond the OP's question. How does arch handle changes in essential
components like the switch to upstart in ubuntu? Does this work well with
rolling releases?

~~~
w1ntermute
I've been an Arch user for ~1 year (Gentoo before that), and "essential
component" upgrades seem to take place just fine. For example, there was a
recent shift from Python 2 to Python 3 as the primary Python interpreter, and
there were no noticeable problems.

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ilikejam
Running the standard Fedora 13 Gnome spin on a Dell mini 10v at the moment -
260MB RAM in-use with Firefox and Thunderbird open, which seems pretty light
to me. Remove the bottom Gnome toolbar and set the top toolbar to auto-hide
(put the task switcher in the top toolbar), to get your vertical screen real
estate back. Set 'resample-method' to 'speex-float-0' in
/etc/pulse/daemon.conf to stop PulseAudio sucking up gobs of CPU and you're
good to go.

i386 Fedora has been compiled with '-mtune=atom' since F12, which is nice for
netbooks. (Not so nice for my Core Duo Mac Mini server, but it's not exactly
CPU-bound so No Big Deal).

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known
<http://wiki.dennyhalim.com/ubuntu-minimal-desktop> and I installed fluxbox

~~~
sigzero
I love Fluxbox and its extended family (BB and OpenBox).

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amjith
Try Meego for Netbooks
([http://meego.com/downloads/releases/1.1/meego-v1.1-netbooks-...](http://meego.com/downloads/releases/1.1/meego-v1.1-netbooks-
google-chrome-browser)).

It comes configured with easy Wifi tools, works with my Netbook's Volume
up/down button. Chrome is pre-installed. A different look than the other
distros.

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srean
Like many who have commented here I am a big time Arch linux fan. However if
setting up X seems something that you do not want to deal with, you can give
Chakra linux a try. Its based on Arch so you get a lean set up. But the
installer does some of the heavier lifting for you. Off late they have been
moving away from Arch though.

You could also run prelink after the install to make the startup time of your
applications snappier.

Often time I do wish there was a more Debian stable'ish equivalent of Arch to
put on servers. A distribution that is optimized but does not tip toe the
bleeding edge as much and does not have a rolling release cycle.

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pge
Tiny core linux is the smallest one I know of that is fully packaged (at
11MB). I use it for a similar purpose. Another option is to install a server
version like debian and add back only those pieces you need.

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SkyMarshal
Interesting related Metafilter discussion:

[http://ask.metafilter.com/161150/Jolicloud-10-Vs-Ubuntu-
UNR-...](http://ask.metafilter.com/161150/Jolicloud-10-Vs-Ubuntu-
UNR-1004-FIGHT)

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jhancock
ubuntu 10.04 netbook edition runs very well on my 5 year old laptop (thinkpad
x41, the 'netbook' of its day).

~~~
SkyMarshal
It runs very well on my Asus Eee PC 1000HE as well.

<http://www.ubuntu.com/netbook>

And I also prefer the 10.04 version to the 10.10 version. No idea what Ubuntu
was thinking with that new space-wasting sidebar in 10.10. Can download the
older version here:

<http://mirror.pnl.gov/releases/10.04/>

~~~
rcthompson
They switched to a sidebar because all screens are widescreens now. Having
toolbars on the top or bottom just worsens the situation. If your netbook
screen is only 1024 x 600, you don't need to lose even more vertical
resolution to a task bar.

~~~
bendmorris
A vertical auto-hide toolbar, to me, is much more convenient than the clunky
sidebar with no customization options that you're stuck with in 10.10.

~~~
SkyMarshal
Agreed. It definitely needs an optional auto-hide for those of us who use
Gnome-Do and the like.

Imho that's the ultimate solution to limited screen real-estate on netbooks
and tablets - no more menu at all, replaced by an easy hotkey that pops up a
panel with all the functionality and information you need.

Menu bars are relics, but maybe the UX designers making these decisions think
that's too much of a departure from what most of their users already know?

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1tw
Slitaz is tiny, runs in RAM and tends to just work in my experience: well
worth a try if you want to get up and running quickly -
<http://www.slitaz.org>

That said, Arch is much easier to set up than it might appear and would be a
perfect base if all you're going to run is Chrome. No need for a desktop
environment/window manager, either:

    
    
        xinit /usr/bin/chromium $* -- :1

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kalessin
"A really lightweight Linux distro", this doesn't makes sense at all. The
Linux kernel is the same for everybody, it depends on what your are running on
it.

Pick your favorite distro, just install a tiny window manager, avoid running
background applications and that's it.

If you don't have a favorite distro, then all depends on your Linux skill
and/or the time you have. Good distros have already been given in this thread.

~~~
barrkel
There's a huge variation in default installs depending on which distro. He was
asking which distro, not which kernel.

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Indyan
If you want something that is easy to use and doesn't need to be configured,
used Fluxbox edition of Linux Mint.

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dekomote
Linux Mint LXDE is very lightweight without sacrificing functionality and
looks. I use it on my netbook for several months now, and it works great.
Battery life improved 40% since I switched to it, everything works out of the
box.

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othello
Puppy Linux is a good choice for a very lightweight distro.

The latest release only weighs 130 MB and there is a large choice of
distributions (puplets) including one specifically tailored to netbooks
(Puppeee).

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SriniK
I use knopix once in a while. You can boot it off of cd/DVD and can also be
installed on hard disc. <http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knoppix>

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dflock
This sounds like exactly what you want:

<http://www.browserlinux.com/>

It mission is to answer your exact question, pretty much.

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Ocho-Bits
Install Ubuntu Minimal and just download what you need. You'll get the
popularity of Debian (with all those packages) and a fast system (you can
install any WM and such).

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r0s
Ubuntu Netbook Remix works for my mini9 and its scant resources.

<http://www.ubuntu.com/netbook>

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TorKlingberg
You may want to tell us which netbook it is. There is a big difference between
the original Eee PC and netbooks with the latest Atom CPU.

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jamii
Has anyone tried out chromium OS? Its difficult to tell how complete the
project is yet but it seems like the ideal solution.

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lulin
You could just install Ubuntu server and then add the GUI stuff you want.

~~~
mgunes
More accurately, you could do a command-line only Ubuntu installation with the
Ubuntu alternate CD, which isn't the same thing as a server installation, and
then add what you want.
[https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/LowMemorySyst...](https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/LowMemorySystems)
has more information.

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macco
I would go with puppy linux - really small and fast.

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danbee
You could try Crunchbang Linux. It's rather neat.

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zbruhnke
backtrack .... lol i kid i kid, puppy linux is Astonishingly small you could
try that if your looking for something in that range

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sunkencity
why not just buy a larger drive? Time wasted will be less.

~~~
barrkel
If you've got one of the first netbooks, the HD is unreplaceable flash.

