I've tried all the ones mentioned above. My laptops are pretty finicky, though, and some OS's have trouble with the P III M and 512 mb memory, and some have trouble with the nVidia video, and almost all have some problems with WIFI.

The"survivors" list thus far for me are:

antiX 13.2
Manjaro 08.10 Openbox
Precise Pup 5.7.1
Quirky Tahr 6.0.5
Debian Jessie

WattOS R8 unfortunately had some problems where its partly Wheezey, partly Jessie based, causing dependency problems. I've been waiting for it to be fixed, and it should be pretty good.

Salix 14.1 is interesting. Its only problem so far has been that Slackware doesn't seem to have a packaging system that finds and installs and takes care of the dependency issues, so you have to do that all by hand. It has an Openbox version, and IceWM is available, but not built in.

I got Arch running ok, but it was too easy to screw up. I never got Gentoo completely installed, because I got tripped up trying to configure the kernel.

I have to say I would favor a non-systemd OS if I have decent choices. I don't really understand systemd and I prefer to run things that at least I have a chance of understanding, otherwise I'd just run MS's convoluted crap.

Tails is a pretty nifty one to run off a flash drive when using a public computer.
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Here's something that booted well,
Minimal Linux Live is now based on Linux kernel 3.15.6 and BusyBox 1.22.1.

Minimal Linux Live is a set of Linux shell scripts which automatically build minimal Live Linux OS based on Linux kernel and BusyBox. All necessary source codes are automatically downloaded and all build operations are fully encapsulated in the scripts.

If you want to build your own Minimal Linux Live ISO image file, all you need to do is the following:

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Minimal Linux Live wrote:All you get is a simple shell console which supports all BusyBox applets and... well, that's all. This is why it's called"minimal".

This is available on our antiX liveCD/USB. Use the boot parameter"bp=2" and you will very quickly get to a shell that has many BusyBox applets available in addition to a few other programs such as ntfs-3g. You can continue booting by exiting the shell or you can open up a new console with"openvt -s". Use Alt-Left_Arrow and Alt-Right_Arrow to switch between the consoles. You can open up as many as you want.

Minimal Linux Live looks like a cool project, especially since it seems to build the kernel and BusyBox from scratch. I'm not suggesting our LiveCD/USB is a replacement for it. I'm just letting you know that you can get to a minimal BusyBox environment on our LiveCD/USB.

We also offer an intermediate option with the"init=xxx" boot parameter. For example"init=bash" will mount the squashfs file system like in a regular live boot (with persistence if it is enabled) and then give you a bash shell instead of starting the usual init process.

Using a breakpoint (bp=2) or using the init=xxx boot parameter lets you get to a usable shell in just a few seconds.

I multi-boot at least three Linux distros. depending on which computer I'm using. But of my three favorites, the Debian entry is of course antiX {using the testing repos for a rolling release configuration"M11"} I prefer to not put all my eggs in one basket, though antiX is the first rolling release I've tried that never tried to self destruct on some major upgrade {like when doing something like switching from SystemV to systemd... for example} and is definately on my MUST have list.

My other two favorites are both rpm based distros. Neithor offers true rolling release convieniance. But both have a good method of upgrading {online} to the next release, without wiping out all my personal configureations like a"clean fresh install" would do...

In all three cases I've gotten comfortable using Openbox {with lxpanel} via startx, using 12 desktop areas to organise my windows in (each with it's own wallpaper)

In the order I discovered them:

Opensuse: I like zypper better than apt-get/apt-cache, and they even let me use NNTP to access their help forum. They have a lot of good stuff. Most of which just works. I go there frequently.

Mageia Linux. {with Mandrake roots} They try to stay very redhat compatable. Though their package management power tools {urpmf, urpmq, & urpmi} took some getting used to... But I like it there too. In fact, though I usualy select antiX from my grub menu, The default if I'm too buzy drinking my 1st coffee of the day to pick one or something is to boot Mageia.

These are the three Linux I count on... OK 4 if you count my bootable flashdrives with various puppy linux versions on them. They are my prefered preconfigured portable rescue/repair live linux tools. Some are Slacko. Some are Quirky{precise}. And a few are Fatdog {configured to be bootable on an"secure boot" machine.} All three thumb their noses at the traditional"Don't run as root" mindset most Linux recommend for {valid security reasons}. All three start up with most of my personal keybindings and prefered tools such as alpine, vim, mc etc... all preconfigured my way...

But more often than not, my working enviroment is antiX... And I heartily recomend it.

1. Debian Testing
(My current primany distro. My desktop environment of choice is xfce because I hate Gnome 3 & KDE for their memory hogging, not to mention that LXDE & Enlightenment seems incomplete. I also use repos from LMDE & deb-multimedia for extra stuff. I also have smxi & Ceni. Everything on my laptop is"stable" thus far!)

2. antiX-full
(It's still THE fastest distro I've ever used thus far. And it's the only distro that I know of where the IceWM window manager looks complete and usable.)

3. Lubuntu
(It's the only Ubuntu-based distro that I like. Also, LXDE seems the most complete with this distro as long as xfburn is install so I can still burn CDs)

4. Siduction
(it's the most organized of all of the debian Sid-based distro and it has a few newer softwares and some Linux kernels that you will not find in pure Debian Sid. Definitely NOT for beginners/rookies/notives!)

Salix, which is 'Slackware with dependency resolution'.

Very easy to deal with if you have some Linux experience. Less software available than in Debian but compiling works like in the old days..
Feels like Linux from years ago yet updated with regards to hardware etc.
One of the best options for a desktop systems without the newest hardware.
Not new laptops maybe but a brand new kernel might fix that too.

Good reason to consider Slackware, especially this derivative that is reasonably, in fact very easy to set up is that
Slackware is almost certain to stick with System V initscripts also in next release in 1-2 years or so.

For new laptops: Xubuntu 14.10. Only distro that ran all hardware on my new (cheap) lenovo B50-45 out of the box.
I set repos to LTS after install.

Lately, I've been spending most of my time either here, or on Slackware and its derivatives, mostly due to my dislike of the systemd mentality, and my almost endless quest for a system that runs light and quick on my old crappy hardware.

I spent a good week or two on the Openbox for AntiX 14, which is a shame because I think I did it well, but no one was interested, and to be honest, my machines are SOOOO crappy, that I need to be running as light a desktop as I can find that still has the features I require, basically pushing me in the direction of IceWM or farther to JWM to be able to tweak things down far enough.

Anyway, so far, with WiFi running, I've got Slackware 14.1 down to 32mb running IceWM and SlackoPup 5.7.0 down to 24mb running JWM. Either number is in the"usable" range because it leaves plenty of memory for those memory hungry browser tabs. Slackware in general is definitely lacking in the repos dept., as well as behind on package management, though. I don't have any of my games that I like to pass the time with and they are a nightmare to install from scratch because if you don't know how, there is no way to find out if you aren't already used to everything involved. I was able to get ALL my games running in both Debian based distros as well as Arch based ones, but on Slackware they are telling me to run Wine and run old Microsoft programs, which, yes, I do have, but it just seems to defeat the spirit and purpose of running linux....

My worst problems are trying to get a pinboard, conky and background all to work at the same time, as well as be able to turn off the pinboard and/or conky when the memory is needed elsewhere. Antix has that, except I have to change desktops to turn the pinboard on/off, and the code is too difficult for me to follow (I am just learning linux scripting stuff) how its being done. I am so far unsuccessful with that on Slackware, even with IceWM, but do have it working well with SlackoPup, if only I could get my games to compile and run.

Oh well...

Run dosbox for games thriftee and get the games from
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I did that on my IBM A22M for ages before I sold it.

thriftee wrote: I spent a good week or two on the Openbox for AntiX 14, which is a shame because I think I did it well, but no one was interested, and to be honest, my machines are SOOOO crappy, that I need to be running as light a desktop as I can find that still has the features I require, basically pushing me in the direction of IceWM or farther to JWM to be able to tweak things down far enough.

Not sure why no else seems to have interest... I am still working on getting the package working. You did do a good amount of effort and I am apreciattive. Maybe once I finish the package there will be more interest.

thriftee wrote: My worst problems are trying to get a pinboard, conky and background all to work at the same time, as well as be able to turn off the pinboard and/or conky when the memory is needed elsewhere. Antix has that, except I have to change desktops to turn the pinboard on/off, and the code is too difficult for me to follow (I am just learning linux scripting stuff) how its being done. I am so far unsuccessful with that on Slackware, even with IceWM, but do have it working well with SlackoPup, if only I could get my games to compile and run.

Oh well...

HEHE, yeah getting those apps to perform ballet is a very difficult task. If you would like me to explain what is happening so you can simplify it feel free to send me a pm asking about which parts you are stuck on. We thought that for v14 the desktop switching menu was good enough to rid the need for the toggle pinboard/conky apps. Do you feel that they are still more useful even when you do not need to log out?

Having spent a few weeks digging into TinyCore Linux, using their CorePlus version, I am beginning to favour it over SliTaz.
It works as a frugally installed system loop mounting extra applications, which saves on ram & disk space.
Much easier to rebuild into the live installable version of what you yourself personally want included, & still remains very lightweight.
There is also a free pdf book called 'Into the Core' which explains how the system works & how it is constructed.
A new idea is to use Debian .deb packages as the source of software for repackaging to use with a new partner version of TinyCore called dCore.
Anyone struggling with an outdated machine might like to take a look as it uses very few resources.

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Dave wrote:We thought that for v14 the desktop switching menu was good enough to rid the need for the toggle pinboard/conky apps. Do you feel that they are still more useful even when you do not need to log out?

The ability to toggle Conky is too valuable to discard and is best retained in future releases.

The antiX shipped set up of Conky has a couple of aspects that limit its usefulness. It is embedded into the desktop and it is constantly running.

With other app windows displayed on the desktop the Conky report window is covered and cannot be seen. Some form of action is required, such as switching to another desktop within the same WM, or closing the windows and then reopening them once the report has been read.

While the windows are obscuring the Conky report it of course continues to run yet provides no benefit, which is effectively wasting system resources. The affects are less likely to be seen on modern (more capable) hardware but become increasingly apparent on older (less capable) hardware.

For long time I have used the following to make Conky more useful:

• Display my customised report on top of any open windows
• Switch it off once the report is no longer needed

Using the current toggle facility makes this easy to do via two clicks.

I've been using 3 distros:

AntiX M13.1 Base (pointing to Sid repos) I use this on my old Thinkpad T42 as it's quite light on resources even though this machine has 2GB RAM and an 80GB hard disk.
Semplice 6 - My daily driver distro (based on Debian Sid) - Openbox based and is a bit"heavier" than AntiX
Siduction Riders On the Storm - my 2nd choice Debian Sid based distro

Dave,

I do like the idea of having a"lean and mean", low resources required mode (especially for the older machines when we get desperate) vs a full"bells and whistles" mode with conky and pinboard and the tray stuff like volume and clipboard icons, basically where all the"selected" toys could be turned on with a couple clicks. I guess you are getting pretty close to that with having it over on the alternate desktops off the desktop menu off the main menu.

If I had understood it better, I'd have said put a"Minimum Mode" toggle on the main menu. It would look at which desktop you are currently running and switch to minimum mode for that one. I wonder if that would satisfy Samk as well or if he really needs the conky toggle separate on the main menu. I see it is still on the desktop menu.

I also miss the"Run Program" option on the main menu (maybe just missing from JWM), because I like to use rxvt to run mem and htop for best case memory comparisons.

I suppose this is really not the right thread to put this in, but I know you are reading it here, and to be honest, what this thread really is about is comparing features of other distro's to antiX, and I think you are quite wise to be attentive to that, because having or not having features people want or need eventually add up to deciding factors for people as to what they want to be running.

Got my Slacko Pup pretty tuned down. Needs 30 mb with screensaver, pinboard, conky and wifi running. I'm not really sure why it needs so little memory. Maybe its the kernel config or busybox?