windows user looking for new OS!can you help?

[amrosama]

hi guys,
my name is amr osama and i only use windows
(get it!, its like the addiction fiighting groups)
anyways, i have been using windows execlusively all my life and i wanna switch from it (gradually)
why?:

• my current version of windows is falling apart
• viruses have literarly ****** my pc
• some projects from source forge doesnt work on windows
• better programming environment for php

what i need from the OS that you will suggest is:

• fast
• fast
• no need for extra applications after installation
• dual boot with my old xp(ofcourse on another harddrive)
• i dont care aout UI
• can match my pc hardware below
• only needs 15gb free storage or less

pentium4 2.29ghz
768 ram ddr
ati 9250 (128mb)
2 diskdrives: 80gb(xp)+20gb(new OS)

[Xav]

I suggest.. Linux.

[Jordan]

Ubuntu or Kubuntu run well and are light weight Linux distributions. Sabayon uses more resources but if you turn off Compiz you should be around the same level as Ubuntu.

[Egz0N]

i suggest you Ubuntu ..

[Jordan]

Even though I recommended Ubuntu to you, I'd like to officially state that I dislike that distribution.

I forgot to mention OpenSuSe. It is a great distribution that I used for years! It comes with YaST and makes it easy for a beginner to change/modify/add/install/etc new things. You might want to consider installing some of these into a vmware and see which one you like best. You can download free vmware images from here: Virtual Appliance Marketplace, Virtual Appliances, VMware Appliance - VMware for nearly every Linux distribution and then play them in vmplayer (vmware player?) which is also free.

Ubuntu Image: Ubuntu 8.04 Desktop with VMware Tools | Virtual Appliance Marketplace
OpenSuSe 11: openSUSE 11.0 | Virtual Appliance Marketplace
Red Hat Enterprise: Red Hat Enterprise Linux | Virtual Appliance Marketplace

I couldn't find Sabayon 4 but here is 3.5: Sabayon 3.5 Virtual Appliance | Virtual Appliance Marketplace
which is very similar to 4.

[Xav]

Any ideas for my ancient, 64Mb, 7Gb Advent computer with Windows 98 at home?

[Jordan]

D-AMN Small Linux might run on that. Remove the -

[Xav]

I never understood why we block the word d.amn.

I considered DSL, but I couldn't connect to the website. It seems to be working now.
http://****smalllinux.org/

[amrosama]

thank you very much jordan
thats very useful +rep

[Jordan]

I'm against censoring any words but then some people like the censor and it is helpful when we get a user who wants to cuss every other word.

You may also want to check out the EEE PC Linux versions. They have similar stats to your machine and they run smooth. I know Sabayon has an EEE PC version but I don't know others off the top of my head.