For a first-time Linux user with only 495 MB of RAM, I recommend Puppy Linux, antiX Linux, or (maybe) Linux Mint Debian Edition. All three of these distros are well-established, user-friendly, and MUCH lighter than Ubuntu, which is now as heavy as Windows Vista/7. Puppy Linux has great codec/driver support and runs on computers as old as the Windows 98 era, but its software repository is small. Of course, this wouldn't be a concern for the average person on the street. (The average person on the street isn't using Ruby on Rails, Octave, etc.) antiX Linux runs on computers as old as the Windows 98 era and has a big software repository (fully Debian compatible), but it doesn't have the codec/driver support of Puppy Linux and Linux Mint. So this isn't the distro for playing DVDs. Linux Mint Debian Edition has a big software repository (fully Debian compatible) and has great codec/driver support but isn't as lightweight as Puppy Linux and antiX Linux. On Sun, 23 Dec 2012 23:48:48 -0600 (CST) Mike Miller <mbmiller+l at gmail.com> wrote: > I'm visiting family in Ecuador. A student's laptop is unusable with Win > 7, and I see that Win 7 requires 2x as much memory as he has. Memory is > probably really pricey here. > > Ubuntu 12.10 says it requires 768 MB RAM. What can run well with only 495 > MB RAM? Does it have a good repository? > > I remember Jason Hsu's Swift Linux -- I suppose that fits the bill. What > else? > > Mike > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list -- Jason Hsu <jhsu802701 at jasonhsu.com>