Author Topic: What is the minimal RAM required for Peppermint OS to work acceptably? >SOLVED< (Read 16116 times)

paulus · « **Reply #15 on:** July 18, 2015, 05:09:06 pm »

Quote from: PCNetSpec on July 18, 2015, 04:42:34 pm

You're not listening .. there are distros that will easily load n 256MB of RAM

But they're still going to be useless as soon as you open a modern web browser, which in itself with flash and a couple of other plugins, and a single modern website open in a single tab is going to weigh in around that size, leaving the OS no option but to use the swap partition/file.

It's simple .. 256MB is not enough any more for modern GUI OS and software (including XP SP2/3), and older software (particularly web browsers) won't cut it any more.

I do listen and I try to understand what you say, but I did not specify enough what I am after.

- I look for a simple system, for <= 256 MB RAM
- It is only needed for simple browsing, without the need of flash or any extension, plugin or whatever
- Simple text writing/mailing is enough
- I don't mind a bit swapping: I fully understand that it is quite impossible to do without!
- For browsing I would use a very, very lightweight browser; by no means a modern browser - maybe a Linux equivalent of Kmeleon (Windows browser)

By putting my expectations that low, I expect to find a solution, in which I am grateful for input from forum members.

I hope to have expressed myself better. For misunderstanding by being not specific enough, I apologize.

paulus

paulus · « **Reply #16 on:** July 18, 2015, 05:13:39 pm »

Quote from: Slim.Fatz on July 18, 2015, 04:56:37 pm

Hi paulus,

I agree with aagimob ("try Tiny Core") and PCNetSpec ("Slitaz") as about the smallest you can use with a GUI. That said, I think that you need to know Linux fairly well to install and configure either of them.

I have never tried Tiny Core but have read about it in several reviews.

Slitaz is a distro that I used for quite a while and it was really quite nice.

If you can get Peppermint Five or Six to install, then I would suggest turning immediately to the JWM window manager. I use it regularly and when it is configured properly, you can get logged in and have the GUI using only about 85 MB of RAM. It is fast and really easy to configure too. It looks somewhat like maybe Windoze 95 ?? I really don't remember Windoze 95 very well though.

An alternate to the JWM window manager is i3wm, which I also regularly use. Configuration is relatively easy, it is fast and about as light weight on RAM use as JWM. However, i3wm is a what is referred to as a dynamic tiling window manager. If you do not know what this is, it is not easy to describe. But there are YouTube videos out there demonstrating it. But NOTE: not everyone can get comfortable with a tiling window manager! Still, when set up (configured) properly, it can look pretty much like a primitive Windoze or Openbox WM.

So it looks like your main problem is going to be getting through the installation process -- and with only 256 MB RAM that is probably most likely possible only with Tiny Core or Slitaz. After that, there are definitely several ways to go.
And as for light weight web browsers: try dwb. I like it, but then I am rather weird too ...

Good luck!

Regards,

-- Slim

Hi Slim.Fatz,

Thanks for your input!

I will try and really study what you suggested: many thanks for that!

After having tried out I will let know what the outcome is.

Again: thank you for sharing these thoughts: they are much welcome!

paulus

Slim.Fatz · « **Reply #17 on:** July 18, 2015, 05:15:38 pm »

Hi paulus,

No need to apologize. We now know what you are looking for.

So, for your interest: I fired up the dwb web browser and it took only 14 MB of RAM to start. I called up www.distrowatch.com and that took another 70 MB of RAM. So there you have some idea of how light it is. And that is with images being shown!

Regards,

-- Slim

paulus · « **Reply #18 on:** July 18, 2015, 05:19:51 pm »

Quote from: Slim.Fatz on July 18, 2015, 05:15:38 pm

Hi paulus,

No need to apologize. We now know what you are looking for.

So, for your interest: I fired up the dwb web browser and it took only 14 MB of RAM to start. I called up www.distrowatch.com and that took another 70 MB of RAM. So there you have some idea of how light it is. And that is with images being shown!

Regards,

-- Slim

Hi Slim.Fatz,

I will take that with me in my "studies"!

Thanks again for this contribution!

paulus

PCNetSpec · « **Reply #19 on:** July 18, 2015, 06:08:48 pm »

distrowatch is a bad example and being an old style static site is not indicative of the modern web

Try a more representative site like webupd8 or omgubuntu, or any other site with dynamic content and popups/popovers/popdowns/popunders/popcorn/poppets/pop-goes-the-weasle/just popping down the pub .. and you'll see the webpage itself adds 300MB+

[EDIT]

Maybe try Peppermint 3 (which is still supported till 2017, and will be lighter than 4/5/6) .. then if it'll install (which it probably will if you run the installer from the "Try Peppermint / Install Pepermnt" screen rather than the live session desktop) follow Slim.Fatz recommendations for slimming it down even more.

AndyInMokum · « **Reply #20 on:** July 18, 2015, 07:13:40 pm »

As PCNetSpec has mentioned, Peppermint Three is still a viable option. It's based on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS. If Chromium Browser is still too heavy, you could always try the Epiphany-Browser. The Debian based OS, Raspbian that's written for the Raspberry Pi uses it as its default browser. So it's really light on resources. It certainly has no bells or whistles. It will work for casual and simple web browsing though

.

Slim.Fatz · « **Reply #21 on:** July 19, 2015, 05:37:03 am »

Hi everyone,

Just an additional remark: using dwb and opening the PeppermintOS Forum, and after getting logged in, the forum seems to use an average of 70-75 MB of RAM (depending on the ads that appear). I can reply to posts, search the forum, etc. very quickly with dwb. Quite handy

Regards,

-- Slim

rjm65 · « **Reply #22 on:** July 19, 2015, 08:46:19 am »

I am running antix on my old laptop, it has 64 megs ram soldered to the motherboard and one slot which has the maximum 128 megs ram chip for a total of 192 megs ram minus what it shares to run the video card.... Antix was the only one i tried out of about 100 different distros which worked... what it nice about antix which I wish others would do is during the install you can uncheck everything you do need to install, which saves the machine from running things in the background you are never going to ever use, like samba for sharing, and bluetooth, and printers, and scanners, etc. etc... then after installing antix I went further and took out the famous wifi manger loved by vindsl, that they use and went with an old wifi manager that runs in terminal... that alone saved me 32 megs on bootup... all said and done i can boot antix to the desktop using about 32 megs of ram...
sorry to say this my friends but I run peppermint 3 too and I can not tweak pep 3 under about 75 megs of ram... I know 43 megs don't sound like a big deal when you have 512 megs or a gig, but when you have less then 256 megs ram it makes all the difference in running or not running....

PCNetSpec · « **Reply #23 on:** July 19, 2015, 09:16:54 am »

As I said Peppermint is not meant to be a "light as possible" distro .. it's meant to strike a balance between user friendliness, ease of adoption, looks, customisability, software availability, and lightness.

Resource footprint will always be an important consideration, but it's NOT a primary overriding goal

VinDSL · « **Reply #24 on:** July 19, 2015, 05:54:31 pm »

Quote from: rjm65 on July 19, 2015, 08:46:19 am

...then after installing antix I went further and took out the famous wifi manger loved by vindsl, that they use...

HERESY !!!

plumtreed · « **Reply #25 on:** July 19, 2015, 07:41:26 pm »

You really have to get friendly with Slitaz......it is just the thing for your PC and it has a helpful

forum with similar problems to yours.

Not only that, it has it's own minilmalist Browser that keeps things moving!

It is 'active' and very worthwhile.....I am always amazed at the speeds and versitility from Slitaz

paulus · « **Reply #26 on:** July 20, 2015, 07:27:34 am »

Hi to all,

I have tried them all! And all had something that didn't work the way it should be, or the way I wanted.

Among the problems: instable; not logic enough, not able to upgrade, still not fast enough, too large to fit on a cd.

I ended with Slitaz, a very nice looking distribution, but even Slitaz stopped working and got stuck, the bottom panel disappeared, and It froze twice, so I had to put off the computer by hand. That was my last hope.

So I just think it over, and let the case rest for the moment.

But I say a great THANK YOU for all the really great contributions here!

I read them all, and tried them out, all of them. Last weekend it looked like a "disk burn factory": I downloaded a distro, burnt it onto cd, tried it and read documentation here on this forum or on the internet, removed it and went on another distro that I downloaded, burnt onto cd... (and so on).

So again: all your posts I read carefully and tried them, and I am grateful for all the advices! So if somebody is to blame that it didn't work out the way I thought it would, than that is only me!

If somebody comes up with another suggestion (if you still dare $:-\$ ), I am really open to that, so please, let me know.

Kind regards,

paulus

PCNetSpec · « **Reply #27 on:** July 20, 2015, 08:37:47 am »

How about this.....

Instead of spending money on CDR's .. spend it on RAM

Sorry if that came across a bit like I'm taking the mick, but it's really the only solution .. in fact if you're in the UK I have tons of old SDRAM (probably what you need) SODIMMs and DIMM's lying around you can have if you pay the postage.
(any other country and it'd likely be cheaper to just buy some off ebay)

plumtreed · « **Reply #28 on:** July 20, 2015, 09:11:17 am »

You can restore a lost panel in Slitaz quite easily. You may find the more recent Slitaz versions less problematic.....but when you are trying to put 'life' into a dead dawg you might have to go through a few hoops.

Anyhow, Slitaz should work on your dawg but you may need to persist and ask a few questions before you understand the compromises you need to make. $:-\$

AndyInMokum · « **Reply #29 on:** July 20, 2015, 09:20:25 am »

Quote from: PCNetSpec on July 20, 2015, 08:37:47 am

How about this.....

Instead of spending money on CDR's .. spend it on RAM

Sorry if that came across a bit like I'm taking the mick, but it's really the only solution .. in fact if you're in the UK I have tons of old SDRAM (probably what you need) SODIMMs and DIMM's lying around you can have if you pay the postage.
(any other country and it'd likely be cheaper to just buy some off ebay)

Just to add to what PCNetSpec has suggested. You're located in The Netherlands. You should try looking on Marktplaats for SDRAM memory. I just had a look and there's loads of it at varying sizes and prices: www.marktplaats.nl.