Linux

I have an EeePC 701 which I replaced the Xandros distro on with an Nlited version of XP.

This was purely so that I could get my 3G card to work I have to admit.

I may give xubuntu a whirl, but could someone tell me why it is so fast?

Horatio: try Arch - it's the shit. Bare-bones and no dependency hell like LFS. Bit like Gentoo w/out the rice factor.

Isn't Arch just Gentoo but (very slightly) slower? ;)

Arch has lots of precompiled packages in a repo and a really good package manager - pacman. But it is also really easy to compile your own packages and install them. Arch has the AUR - Arch User Repository - where you can submit your own build files. Others can download and build their packages according to that.

I have an EeePC 701 which I replaced the Xandros distro on with an Nlited version of XP.

This was purely so that I could get my 3G card to work I have to admit.

I may give xubuntu a whirl, but could someone tell me why it is so fast?

I don't know why, but it is. I also used it as a Xandros replacement on my 701 with all the compiz bells and whistles. This was just after they got new vista PC's at work and my pos netbook was making Aero look like a laggy and crap.

I'm not sure about out of the box compatibility for xubuntu. If it is a problem, there used to be an eeeXubuntu floating around, though I think it has not been actively developed for a while. if you don't already know about it, eeeuser.com has a great forum.

Right now, I use debian with fluxbox on both my desktop and eeepc. it goes like a train even though my desktop is pushing 6 years old.

Arch has lots of precompiled packages in a repo and a really good package manager - pacman. But it is also really easy to compile your own packages and install them. Arch has the AUR - Arch User Repository - where you can submit your own build files. Others can download and build their packages according to that.

I liked arch but the Arch Build System I was always too thick to figure out. I prefer ports on the BSDs, just make install clean.

I'm posting this during the process of converting a friend's desktop to Xubuntu. Not a very high-end machine and about four years old, though with two gigs of RAM. Currently copying many gigs from the old hard drive and downloading/installing openoffice, vlc, mplayer, java, flash and the usual civilisations. Still perfectly pleasant to browse on. I fucking <3 *NIX.

Good to read all your comments on different distro's. My fave for the last couple of years has been VectorLinux. Having tried RedHat 7.?, 8.3, then some version of Debian, followed by Kubuntu, Xubuntu and Ubuntu Feisty, I was looking for a distro for an old laptop and desktop and stumbled across VectorLinux 5.1 - Wow, it was fast on my old hardware!

Since then I've dabbled with Puppy, DSL and Ubuntu again but kept going back to Vector.
Vector 5.8 has been my platform of choice at home and for a special application at work (vitualised on Windows Server to be used as a bombproof SFTP server), it's been so simple and consistent to install and configure.

Just bought a netbook (Samsung NC10) with XP on and repartitioned for triple boot. Thought I'd give Ubuntu Jaunty netbook-remix a go, although it looks good it has screen refresh problems and can't get wireless to work. Enter VectorLinux 6.0... once again, it just works and is fast and looks good too!

Going to try Arch when I get the time. Triple boot for maximum tinkering time.

BTW, going back to the question of whether to wipe the HD and do a full disk install of Linux...

My personal choice for a 160Gb HD on a laptop is to have:

partition 1 - XP (NTFS) 25Gb
p2 - Fat32 80Gb for shared storage.
p3 - Linux Swap 2Gb
p4 - ext2 100Kb (boot partition backup)
p5, p6... - split the rest between various Linuxes.

Trouble with reusing a /home partition is that some of your settings from previous installs get carried over into new distros, messing them up slightly. I'd advise just backing up your /home and reinstalling the bits you need (such as firefox bookmarks etc)

I have done something like this in the past:
100% XP partition resized to 50% (GParted), add 50% ext3/ReiserFS, copy over files to new partition, resize new partition to 100%. It worked, but I wouldn't have liked doing it without a backup of evrything beforehand.

USB external drives are so cheap now, you could pick one up for about 30GN and have peace of mind.

... and reinstalling the bits you need (such as firefox bookmarks etc)

I seriously recommend pushing your bookmarks onto an online service like delicious; you'll never have to worry about losing them.

maximum tinkering time

Pretty much the only downside to Arch that I've found is that once you've got it up and running there's no tinkering required - rolling releases FTW!

I seriously recommend pushing your bookmarks onto an online service like delicious; you'll never have to worry about losing them.
Yeah, and I bet you let Google or Microsoft handle your emails as well.

Seriously though, I'm extremely impressed with Jaunty. Even in the short time I've been using it the Ubuntu distribution has come along.

my full screen flash video is smooth :D

:(

actually, that isn't true, it was smooth, but i think a new plugin has been brought out so i currently don't have any until i install it :(

Flash has always sucked for me in Linux. I haven't upgraded anything in close to a year though... My Gentoo box is so out of date, "emerge world" doesn't work anymore - too many conflicts.

Gentoo has been going a bit dodgy. I'm swapping to slackware or debian as soon as I've got some free time to do some reading.

I've been thinking of going back to Slackware for a few years... I donno though. Maybe it's time to give LFS a try.

My Gentoo box is so out of date, "emerge world" doesn't work anymore - too many conflicts.

try funtoo maybe
http://www.funtoo.org/

I'm going through my old storage and found some old Red Hat install cd's. Is there any point keeping this crap? Is there such thing as cd recycling? What about 3rd world pc donation type thingemywhatsits? They take old machines but software too? I bet there's none here anyway.. googles..

Well, you can download new versions of Centos, which is RedHat, for free so I'd say bin 'em.

Outside our house is a set of bins, occasionally when we have some stuff that we can't even shift via Freecycle (like the old boxed linux distros that MOC had) we leave them next to the bins (also known as pikey freecycle) we found even those were gone in a day.

Use them as beer mats at any drinks.

It was hard enough trying to stop MOC re-creating the Mythbusters test to see at what rpm they would shatter and embed themselves in his head..

Thing is I don't want to carry this crap back to the UK from Oz and recycling 'in the bush' is pretty limited. I've done some looking around and it appears that the only IT recycling is in or around Melbourne. It just goes against my nature to bin working stuff, even if it is old working stuff. I'll see if there's a Mildura freecycle though. Good idea.

Radical Thought ....

If you could get enough CDs make a massive reflector dish and amplify the sun onto a central point ... then stick a turbine with a generator just above this central point ... done right you can heat the air which rises and drives the turbine.