Baslinux mailing list

[James Miller <jamtat AT mailsnare.net>]

On Fri, Mar 09, 2007 at 08:16:35AM +1030, Greg Mayman wrote:
> 
> > I have a distro that started out as BL2.  To that I have added a lot
> > of stuff, particularly libraries, and finally Open Office.
> 
> I saw Open Office included as part of a distro of Linux... now if I
> could only remember where.
> 
> > THAT can read PowerPoint stuff.  But it took a lot to get it to this
> > point, so it is no longer the lean, mean Linux that BasicLinux is.
> 
> I have been thinking of devoting half of the 8Gb HDD on the Windoze
> computer to a large installation of Linux, so that wouldn't be a great
> problem.

Ubuntu will send you a free installation CD (or several) if you contact them 
asking for one. See 
https://shipit.ubuntu.com/ for details (requires a browser that can handle 
secure http). I know they ship them to 
America for free, and assume they do so everywhere else in the world as well. 
Definitely has Open Office. But your 
system had better have some pretty decent specs to run that distro: at least 
128 MB RAM and 500 Mhz or higher CPU. At 
those minimal specs it will run a bit slowly, though. Typical virgin Ubuntu 
installation will take up at least a 
gigabyte of disk space, maybe a tad more.

I recommend this because I know they send out free CD's and that you have 
limited bandwidth. Other distros are lighter 
weight and may function alot better on your hardware (Vector, DamnSmallLinux, 
Puppy, etc), but you will have to pay for 
someone to ship you a disk or else download largish files (50 MB and >) and 
burn your own CD. In the US, many vendors 
sell Linux CD's very cheaply--for $2-$5, shipping included. You might pay a 
bit more.

James