#1 Today 16:15:37

luchomon

New Member

Registered: Today

Posts: 3

Very grateful :D

Hi, my name is lucho, i'm from Resistencia, Chaco, Argentina.

I have this old pc that i really love (it belongs to my girlfriend but i'm its only user and master for the time being) and i was using it with windows 7 because it worked just fine and i'm too lazy to commit myself to fully update and repair it.

Thing is i want to keep using this PC for working (i've been studying linux management, vim, networks, python, javascript, web development, and so on, it's been a year now and i'm planning to keep it up for the years to come) and i need updated software to actually keep learning and doing stuff, which windows 7 (even maybe win10) cannot provide, and the PC is too weak to run any newer versions.....

I am also aware of the telemetry and security and privacy issues that comes along with anything originating from large corporations, and of course it sucks and if i can do anything to avoid it i'll do it. But i'll be honest, i have respect for Linux, i didn't feel ready to fully switch to it.

HW specs:
Mother: ASRock N68-VS3 UCC
CPU: AMD Sempron 145
Graphics: integrated NVidia Geforce 7025 / nforce 630a
HDD: 500gb
RAM: 2gb

We have other devices, newer and better,  but this PC's hardware is perfectly fine and functional for the use i give to it, so i think it deserves the chance to keep working just as is. I could easily upgrade it too, with a better CPU and more RAM, but i wanna keep trying its capabilities for testing and development purposes.

Then i decided to make the switch for good, and after trying linux for a couple months in this PC and in another old piece of hardware (netbook), i don't think i'll ever look back unless to try networking stuff, software compatibilities, and so on.

Now, finding a linux distro that makes justice to the old lady, that was actually a challenge i wasn't ready to face. I've tried several distros, i'll do a briefing:

First linux i tried was Arch, because it looked so hyped i thought, wtf i'm not scared. I installed it smoothly on the netbook without any issues, and used it to try stuff out for a couple months while i still used win7 in this PC. I still don't understand where the hype comes from, it's pure marketing no doubt.

I liked it though sometimes it breaks when you update it (which is very often), and if you don't have another device to check out for help you're screwed, then when i decided to switch to linux in the PC i chose to take another path

First live isos i've downloaded for the PC:
Mint.
Void.
antiX.
Alpine.

Linux Mint actually worked, using the nomodeset feature for the graphics (otherwise the desktop never started) but wasn't functional at all. Yes it had wifi and sound, everything seemed just fine, could open the browser and check out stuff, but it was extremely slow and i don't remember now but i think it crashed a couple times. Basically unusable. Too heavy and buggy for this HW.

Void / antiX. The live version of the latter worked perfectly, but.... it was a shame to find out the wifi didn't work, no chance to install from the live CD. Same with Void. Here i started to work hard trying to troubleshoot and solve the problem but i didn't achieve it (for now). I'm pretty sure it is because some DHCP misconfiguration or something because the wifi card could scan and everything but for some reason couldn't connect with the router.

Here the problem seemed to have something to do with the fact the WIFI in this house is configured with a hidden SSID, but Mint, Alpine, and other distros could find it from the get go, never warned or anything about the hidden SSID, they just find it, inserted the passkey and it worked, so it seemed strange.

The wifi card worked, i know because Linux Mint connected no problem (also Alpine, and Arch). In antiX seemed to work fine because it could scan every wireless network in the area, just couldn't see the SSID nor connect with the router. I've used CENI to configure the wifi board connection, copied the functional configurations of the wpa_supplicant from the other system, and nothing. Connman didn't work either. Thought "maybe is some live cd issue" but no, it was the same with the system installed in the pc.

Then started checking out how networks work, and i've learned a lot, but the topic is so vast and hard that it wasn't enough, i need to understand networks AND linux, and a month later, i need a functional pc to keep working and i'm just stuck.....

So i tried Alpine and it worked fine for extremely basic usage. I think it probably isn't a system with desktop in mind, because i ran in every possible issue you can think of trying to make good basic use of every desktop available for it. Even LXQT barely worked and crashed all the time. Also the musl thing is something i'd like to try later, after already knowing how the GNU/Linux system works.

Then i started looking for extremely lightweight linux distros and in some random article found the solution, unexpectedly: BunsenLabs Carbon. (i'd like to link the article but it seems i cannot post links)

Tried the live iso and worked perfect from the get go. Installed it and after using it for a day it feels like a breeze of fresh air, it gave new life to this old PC!!!!! I'm so happy and grateful that i wanted to pass by to say "hi! "

I am aware that the one who probably deserves all the thanks here is Debian itself, and i've should probably tried Debian minimal in the first place, but i was also looking for learning, and trying stuff, and having a curated system to use out of the box, so i took it the hard way on purpose, and it was worth it, i've learned tons of stuff in the last month, and i have a clearer path to follow from now on.

Next step is repairing the network connectivity issue of the other distros and switch systemd (after learning how to use it) for sysvinit, runit, openrc, to have a more lightweight, opinionated, custom working system.

Cheers!

P.S.: If by any chance someone has a clue about how to solve the wifi connection problem of the other distros i'd like to hear about it I still have the isos in the ventoy usb ready to try stuff out, and keep checking out about networking stuff,  DHCP clients and so on.

Last edited by luchomon (Today 19:40:25)

PackRat

jgmenu user Numero Uno

Registered: 2015-10-02

Posts: 3,014

Re: Very grateful :D

So i tried Alpine and it worked fine for extremely basic usage. I think it probably isn't a system with desktop in mind,

Alpine is a minimal install then build the system you need. It's fine as a standard desktop. Spend a day reading through their documentation. They have an entire section on installation/configuration so that the system does what you normally expect - like the file manager automounting removable media.

Welcome to the forum.

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You must unlearn what you have learned.
    -- yoda

luchomon

New Member

Registered: Today

Posts: 3

Re: Very grateful :D

Alpine is a minimal install then build the system you need. It's fine as a standard desktop. Spend a day reading through their documentation. They have an entire section on installation/configuration so that the system does what you normally expect - like the file manager automounting removable media.

the problems were more "windows like" than anything else, not quite specific manual/wiki troubleshooting stuff, i'd say. for instance: too slow, some rendering problems, lots of memory problems (3 tabs in firefox + terminal simulator = crash), also if i'd leave the PC unattended for 30 minutes upon come back it wouldn't respond, also wouldn't respond after screen locking or suspending the PC

upon shutingdown/rebooting it was preferable to switch to a tty to call poweroff instead of waiting the system to respond to the click on the menu xD.

anyways the system itself worked fine, the boot was fast, the services all working, the command line apps working great, also the package manager, and so on. It's just with the desktops that i found issues.

Welcome to the forum.

thanks!

Last edited by luchomon (Today 19:53:14)

Sector11

Mod Squid Tpyo Knig

From: Upstairs

Registered: 2015-08-20

Posts: 8,332

Re: Very grateful :D

Welcome to the forums.

I'm a Canadian living in Buenos Aires.
You are among friends here.

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Debian 12 Beardog, SoxDog and still a Conky 1.9er