# Debian vs. Fedora vs. openSUSE



## Babbzzz (Jul 14, 2011)

Hello guys :wave:

Specs & Info:
Dell Latitude D630 (6-7 years old)
RAM: 1GB
Hard Drive: 160GB
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T7500 @ 2.20GHz (says Intel Centrino on the sticker outside - what?)
OS: Linux Mint 15

I'm looking for a more stable, secure & lighter OS to use with my laptop. It will be used mostly for browsing, web development, maybe a little Scribus, Inkscape and GIMP, nothing more.

I do not want Ubuntu as it was rather slow when I installed it. It's not that I didn't like Linux Mint, it was the perfect distro for me for my switch from Windows. But, I think it's not as stable as I would've liked, and since I've started getting my way around with Linux CLI, I think it's time to move on. I'm willing to get deeper into Linux.

I do prefer Debian, but do the others have any specific advantage over Debian? Where can I get better community support? 

And, again, I want it to be light on resources, plan to use openbox DE.

*Debian 7* or *Fedora 20* or *openSUSE 13*?


----------



## SteveThePirate (Jan 12, 2012)

Hi Babbzzz,

If your looking to delve deeper in to the terminal commands than I would suggest Fedora as the commands you use on here are the same as you would on Centos and RHEL server OS's which is one of the most populare distros for servers. Plus it takes you away from the debian command line with a lot of new commands to learn.

Good Luck

Steve


----------



## sobeit (Nov 11, 2007)

try opensuse since it is a little different than what you are used to. that is the thing I like about linux. You can install different distros in less than a hour. It was my first.


----------



## Babbzzz (Jul 14, 2011)

I'm sorry guys, I just installed Debian, I didn't see your suggestions.

I used the standard iso to install so that I can make it as light as possible, so I only have the CLI. I can't configure the 3G USB modem I use, so in kind of a fix right now.

Do you guys have any idea how to set up a USB modem via Terminal without having to download anything?


----------



## hal8000 (Dec 23, 2006)

Try this Debian wiki page:

https://wiki.debian.org/Modem/3G/Vodafone

What you will find is that there is more configuration work at the terminal with Debian than in Linux Mint.


----------



## Babbzzz (Jul 14, 2011)

I downloaded the lxde iso yesterday & installed it. Then configured it through Network Connections. 

I wanted to do it via Terminal though. 

Giant leap. Never thought Debian would be so different. A challenge. A lot more stable I think.


----------



## djaburg (May 15, 2008)

Take a look at PuppyLinux as well. I have an old laptop (1.5Ghz Mobile Celeron, 1GB, 40GB) and it runs fast even from the CD. I've installed several distros and Windows 7/8 and while all will run on it, Puppy is far and away the smoothest running. Just a thought.


----------



## Babbzzz (Jul 14, 2011)

I had looked into that djaburg. Thanks! It doesn't look as professional as I'd like with the puppy and all, that's the only reason I left that out.

Debian is cool. A lot to learn.

Is a 322MB root partition too small? It was selected automatically by the Debian installer?


----------



## Garthh (Apr 30, 2009)

on the RPM side of the street, a good user friendly choice is
Home of the Mageia project
the dual arch install is very minimal with LXDE being the default desktop

in a single core cpu, installing as much ram as possible will be money well spent no matter the distro


----------



## Babbzzz (Jul 14, 2011)

I'm using Arch Linux now. :smile:


----------



## Babbzzz (Jul 14, 2011)

Babbzzz said:


> Is a 322MB root partition too small? It was selected automatically by the Debian installer?


Ignore that. I've got things now.

I have a 20G root partition.


----------

