"New" laptop and new distro

wa4chq · January 09, 2022, 01:01:52 PM

Happy New Year all. The other day, someone gave me their old Dell Inspiron mini 10. Whatever OS was on there, they had wiped it. I needed to put something on it so I decided to give Linux Peppermint a try. It installed flawlessly. What I found odd was it didn't have midnight commander (mc) as part of the install. Maybe I'm the only person that uses it...lol I haven't tricked it out like I normally do to a new install and to be honest, I really don't know when I'm going to use the mini. Since I'm in the house now instead of the boat, I have a regular PC setup and I rarely use my laptop anymore. Maybe I'll keep the mini in the car and that way I'll have a laptop available if I need one. Enjoy your Sunday!

raymac46 · January 09, 2022, 01:26:23 PM

I had an Inspiron mini 12 which originally came with Dell's respin of Ubuntu 8. It was a 32 bit machine with some pretty Linux unfriendly hardware - Broadcom wifi and Intel Poulsbo graphics. The original O/S was unupgradabie. I eventually ended up with antiX and IceWM.
It has been recycled as it was slow and I couldn't upgrade the HDD. Glad to hear you got a friendly distro as I struggled for years.

wa4chq · January 09, 2022, 01:41:12 PM

Hey Raymac....yes, I noticed the issues. That's why I went with Peppermint. I had Porteus on a thumb drive in my laptop bag. So I used it to boot up the mini since it was available but could not configure the wifi. So did a little research and went with Peppermint.

raymac46 · January 09, 2022, 02:22:22 PM

What is really scary is that if you didn't get Linux on these netbooks they came with Vista.

Hedon James · January 09, 2022, 02:32:34 PM

Quote from: wa4chq on January 09, 2022, 01:41:12 PM
Hey Raymac....yes, I noticed the issues. That's why I went with Peppermint. I had Porteus on a thumb drive in my laptop bag. So I used it to boot up the mini since it was available but could not configure the wifi. So did a little research and went with Peppermint.

Any particular reason you chose Peppermint?

Asking because Peppermint is an unusual choice for that machine, IMO. Peppermint is a combination of XFCE and LXDE components, so while it's lightweight, other choices are lighter. Peppermint is also designed with a "cloud" emphasis, like ChromeOS. So maybe that's what you were going for? I'm not busting your chops wa4chq, as it's your machine and you can install anything you want on it...just genuinely curious how you ended up with Peppermint? It's not a "popular" distro, so I figure there's a good story there. Or maybe you just wanted to try something completely different? I had installed Peppermint in a VM at one point in time, exactly for THAT reason. 'Twas a long time ago, though!

wa4chq · January 09, 2022, 03:29:17 PM

QuoteAny particular reason you chose Peppermint?

Hey Hedon James. I think the real reason is I needed a distro that worked with the Broadcom wifi. The other reason is the thumb drive I had available was only 2gb's. So I did a search for best distro on a mini 10. One of the distros the person writing mentions is Peppermint. So I thought I'd give it a try. I know absolutely zilch with regards to Peppermint. As mentioned above, I'm not sure what I'm gonna do with this mini lappy. Normally I prefer using i3wm and zsh shell but I don't think I'm gonna spend the time changing things for something I'll hardly use. The only thing I have done is installed ranger and mc. Like I said, I may just throw it in the car then I'll have a lappy if I need one on the go. Enjoy your Sunday!

V.T. Eric Layton · January 09, 2022, 04:00:19 PM

Just curious...

You guys do know that Scot's is alive and well, right? Wondering why it's so lonely over there. Are you guys ever planning on coming back?

Will has done a lot of good stuff... new server, updated board software, etc.

Anyway... hope you'll come home. You're missed.

wa4chq · January 09, 2022, 04:07:45 PM

Quote from: V.T. Eric Layton on January 09, 2022, 04:00:19 PM
Just curious...

You guys do know that Scot's is alive and well, right? Wondering why it's so lonely over there. Are you guys ever planning on coming back?

Will has done a lot of good stuff... new server, updated board software, etc.

Anyway... hope you'll come home. You're missed.

Hey Eric.... I guess I was confused. For some reason I thought Scot's was done. From the sounds of it, it ain't! Thanks for the heads up! Have a great Sunday.

V.T. Eric Layton · January 09, 2022, 06:05:22 PM

Scot's is ALIVE AND KICKIN', thanks to Will Watts who has taken over Scot's lock, stock, and barrel. C'mon home, folks. Oh, and don't abandon this place. Landzdown needs lovin', too! :)

Corrine · January 09, 2022, 07:11:02 PM

I guess my post at Server Move Complete! was missed.

As to visiting here, yes, you're all definitely welcome but, after all, Scot's is your "home". It was only decided to keep the Linux forums here after Scot and Will reached an agreement in order to introduce more people to Linux.

V.T. Eric Layton · January 09, 2022, 07:32:17 PM

👍

striker · January 10, 2022, 12:59:17 PM

Don't worry Corrine, the 'base camp of members' are mostly active on both places as far as I can see, however I'm glad SFN goes on for the next coming time. It has been the place where for most of us 'it' started all and I guess It's still the very best place to be active in.

raymac46 · January 10, 2022, 03:29:00 PM

I intend to visit and post on both fora as long as it's possible.

raymac46 · January 10, 2022, 03:31:36 PM

QuoteAny particular reason you chose Peppermint?

Well you'll need a 32 bit distro for sure. That rules out a few.