The past several days have been spent trying out just about every distro I have ever downloaded (sans OpenSuse) capable of liveCD mode and running them on the 3ePC to see how they stacked up against the default Linux install of Xandros. Ones that could get Ethernet received bonus points, and those that got the wireless card were almost golden, provided they could install in a smaller space than Xandros, about 2.6GB.
Among the candidates reviewed were (and this is off the top of my head): Stux, Slax, DreamLinux, Granular, Fedora 8 (test 2), Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Fluxbuntu, LinuxMint (3.1 and 4.0), Kanotix 2007, Damn Small Linux, GrafPup (PuppyLinux based), NimbleX v2, Sidux 2007, PCLOS 2007, PCLOS TinyME, Mandriva 2008 ‘One’, Sabayon 3.4 Mini, Pud-Linux and Zenwalk.
Zenwalk was out of the running immediately as it had no liveCD mode, and several of the others as well as they could not even get an X server; a further few could not even recognize the Ethernet card, leaving just a tiny handful that could get any kind of internet.
Those precious few, oddly enough, were either Debian or Ubuntu based, and the only one that got a desktop, ethernet, and wireless in liveCD mode was LinuxMint 4.0. Still, with all the disappointments, there were several bright spots, and an introduction to a distro that I had never tried before in my wide-ranging distro-hopping days of yore.
You may have noticed that there is another in the list that does not have a liveCD mode–Fluxbuntu (RC) 7.10. Following the frustration of trying out so many distros only to be met with failure again and again, I decided to go for it and actually install one (or two).
The installer for Fluxbuntu is very nice, though likely suited to a faster CPU than the one I was trying it on–the install process went well, though a bit slow in my estimation. Sadly, once I had completely installed it and was booting into the login screen for the first time, the login would not let me do so, constantly giving me the message ‘login failed’, and then refusing to take any more login attempts. Pretty discouraging for a first install to the 3ePC, but no matter.
Next up was Kanotix 2007 ‘ThorHammer’ (RC), and the installation options on this distribution are very nice, with the choice between a manual partition, and then 4 different automatic partitions, including one without a swap drive, exactly what I was looking for. After the twenty or so minute installation, I successfully logged in and had an honest to goodness KDE desktop with the correct (though strange) resolution of 800×480, proper Ethernet connection, wireless card recognized correctly but no driver loaded, and a fast, responsive (though tiny) desktop environment.
Loading madwifi-tools did not do the trick for this odd atheros card, which left the option of either using ndiswrapper (a truly desperate last resort) or compiling the ath_hal from source (if such a thing is possible). No doubt that if given enough effort, Kanotix 2007 could get wireless and run very nicely on this little laptop, but at this point just not an option, as I use this computer just about every day, and having it out of commission as I struggle to get wireless was not a choice on offer.
And why not LinuxMint 4.0 (beta) ‘Daryna’? Well, a couple of reasons–first, it is the GNOME version, and second, it would be a very large install, likely to rival that of Xandros. When the KDE version of ‘Daryna’ comes out, I will be sure to revisit it, and then mull over putting it on the SSD for day to day use. This is not a good distro-hoppers test machine, largely due to the speed of the SSD and the CPU; it’s pretty much a one distro machine, and choosing that one distro has to be done with a certain amount of deliberation.
One final aside on installing the two distros to this machine–it was crazily fun to see the Beryl effects of Kanotix, mini spinning 3D cube and expose features. The graphics card can handle those (and others, perhaps even compiz fusion) with no problem.
As I had to do all this in a single session, and then decide to either keep one or go back to Xandros, I finally opted for reinstalling the Xandros and then restoring it to its English menus state (thanks CheeseMP!) for the next day’s use. This process took less than five minutes, and offered not only the lovely Xandros EULA, but a chance to finally personalize it with a user name and a password without hunting through the various menus on the machine after the fact. Hang on to that restore DVD, for if you screw up, reinstallation is just a couple of minutes away.
More (surely) to come as the Debian experts on the eeeuser forums come up with a pared down version that can handle all the various hardware devices in less space than the odious (but effective) Xandros install. Stay tuned.
Posted by fareast 
Cthulhu Linux 