I wanted an operating system, that would run on older, retired laptops, with limited resources.
I wanted to use these laptops to run Hamm Radio Related Soft ware. Speed is not a requirement, for these uses.
My current questions ,> 'failures?'
Is AntiX a version of Mepis, and does one go to the Mepis littérateur for help in running it.
I also 'heard/read that I should have set the HDD to ext3 file system, instead of NFTS . I got this from unsuccessfully trying to Load /Run Wine .
I have not been able to down load any thing yet and get it to run.
So I am still reading and trying to learn my way thru this trial and error.
I think I should find a linux ver. that I can load with out a GUI, and run the apps I need and try to learn it Dos like, from the command line.
I did order a disk of Ubuntu 10.10 that I will load on a dell D610 laptop that I have , I ultimately want to give this Dell w/ Ubuntu to my 8 yr old grand daughter and her dad. I want her to know more than windoze.

Is AntiX a version of Mepis, and does one go to the Mepis littérateur for help in running it.

Howdy and Welcome. We get this question a lot here. AntiX in my plain simple terms is a Debian Testing Distro with a Mepis Installer and a Mepis kernel with a Mepis User Assistant also. Sitaz tools and other custom goodies like antiX control center and antiX2usb with a persistent option (which Mepis does not yet have.

We Have our own wiki and Help tools in the menu. Mepis help also there because the more info provided the better.

Whatever Ubuntu can do. AntiX can do. IMO. You can't judge a operating system by it's GUI. Anti tries to keep things slim enough so as to fit a CD drive so older gear can run this OS. I have test ran Mepis 11 and AntiX 11. Believe it or not. AntiX comes with more tools running as a live session vs Mepis. From my experience.

Closing: If Ubuntu can run Ham radio tools. Then AntiX can also.
Debian is under the hood.

Hello darylynn:

If you are interested in cli install, antix has a version that will be completely installed from the command line terminal, without ever using any GUI. It's a great learning experience and runs quite well. I have an old laptop running such an Antix system.

Here's a thread where we talked about applications from cli

viewtopic.php?f=12&t=2778

Welcome to Antix and enjoy!

Pedro

I agree with Rockytnji. If there are Linux versions of the Ham Radio tools you need antiX can run them. The Debian repositories are enormous. If those tools exist for Linux I have to think they are in those repositories. I just posted an answer to Javelin Dan that might be of some interest to you so you might check that thread?

It is here: post19427.html?hilit=#p19427

Stay put and do ask questions if something you try does not work. There are some very bright and very helpful people here!

Thank you for the encouragement, What little I know of dos came from running it form the > prompt, and thumbing thru the book, before the internet , and talking to ppl on BBS's at the college. When I got dosshell I did not think I needed any thing else. I would just type in an exe. file hit enter and go. I thot I would try to learn linux the same way, then use GUI's later after I understood what was being done.
I purchased a copy of Ubuntu 10 for my grand daughters laptop. What file system should I set up the hard drive for? I have and can run Gparted. I read some where that ext3 was the better choice. I do not want to dual boot
thanks again.

Ext3 is tried and true for a beginner. On my SSD (Solid State Hard Drives) I go with Ext2 File system. I do the Ext2 File system on thumb drives and SD Flash drives also.

Depending on how much ram you have. I do not run a /swap if I have 1 or 2 gig of ram for AntiX. On my IBM A22m Laptop which has 256MB of ram. I run 700MB of /swap.

Hope that helps you.

I clicked on an Icon that said free linux books, went to that web site, selected Linux for newbies , I had to pull my modem to get control of Iceweasle , it kept loading new pages faster than I could close them.
I could not close Iceweasle. or shut down the OS.
Don't know why this happened