old computer which linux

[AnLGP]

this is the computer I had given to me:

http://www.ciao.co.uk/Compaq_Presario_5240__5362379

I know it's a presario 5240, but don't know if those specs match exactly. I do know it's got a 200 gig HD on it w/windows 98 preinstalled.

I want to know which linux version will run on it best. I tried burning fluxbuntu (checked the md5 and everything and they matched) but when I booted there was an error and -- i'm kicking myself now -- can't remember what that error was.

[Happy_Man]

I would suggest puppy linux or DamnSmall, as they are both really lightweight. Fluxbuntu or Xubuntu should also do just fine, though.

[Ajay Chahar]

I would suggest trying CrunchBang! http://crunchbang.org

Or install a command line system with pekwm! Works like charm!

[LieToPurify3]

From the site you gave, it has 64 mb of ram which can be upgraded to 2x 128 mb sticks to get 256 mb, which i'd really suggest doing. 64 mb of ram isnt much. Ubuntu wont work for this, and not even xubuntu since i think xubuntu has a 128 mb reqirement. Try the newest version of Damn Small Linux, which boots from cd, but you can easily install it to your hard drive. Also, DeLi linux is supposed to be good, but i've never gotten it to work. How can these specs be right? I have an old thinkpad 770z which ran windows 95 and it has better specs than this and it says it was supposed to run w98.

[qix]

I assume you're not linux expert? With such linux experience, you're probably best of with Xubuntu or Fluxbuntu.

[LieToPurify3]

But the Xubuntu site says that to install using the Alt cd, it requres 64 mb, and then once running, it needs at least 192 minimum, but 256 is strongly recommended. I have an old thinkpad running xubuntu with 128 mb ram and its slow, but workable if you can try to keep it light. You can even switch window managers to try to get it to run faster. But 64 is nowhere near the 192 minimum.

PS. Click the link he gave and under the photo of the computer, click the "product information" button. maybe i'm missing something.

[scientist1971]

definately puppy linux in my opinion
very easy install
runs off ram and live cd until you decide to save onto HDD
works on old machine mine is 13gb HDD and 128 ram still quick

[AnLGP]

I think the system has been updated as the person who had it is in the IT field and has had it for years.

I'm going to go on it now and I'll get the specs and write them down for you all.

as for linux experience I've been using *buntu for about a year.

I DLed DSL so we'll see how that goes. If that doesn't work i'll try some other ones.

[linuxlizard]

you can't beat pcfluxboxos for an old machine like that. Fluxbox takes a little getting used to, but the speed is worth it. It's as fast as puppy and pcfluxboxos has much larger repos- nearly as many apps as ubuntu, and unlike puppy which is non-standard linux, pcfluxboxos is "real" linux with the standard file structure, etc.

It works great on my 333 mhz desktop (less powerful than your 400).

I do have 128 mb ram though- you may want to up your ram if you only have 64. Old ram like that is very cheap ($5-$20 for 64 or 128 mb) at mom and pop type computer shops.

[oldcity]

An outstanding small distro is from www.slitaz.org.
Runs like greased lightning.
hth
oldcity

[AnLGP]

Here are links to the system info:

System (http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h235/themangoduck/0421080058.jpg)
C: (http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h235/themangoduck/0421080100.jpg)
D: (http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h235/themangoduck/0421080103.jpg)
E: (http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h235/themangoduck/0421080106.jpg)

The man didn't tell me why he partitioned it into three drives but I know I can format them into one to make one gigantic (or maybe two, a large and a backup) space.

I've tried using puppy, DSL & fluxbuntu and none install. maybe I don't know how to burn .iso's? I burn them at a slow speed and checked the md5s for fluxbuntu and DSL and they both matched but they won't boot!

[Helios38]

if you plan not to upgrade your RAM, go with Damn Small Linux or Puppy Linux.

i actually prefer Puppy, but if you are rather experienced with linux, DSL shouldnt be a problem.


if you do plan to upgrade, try getting 256 mb of RAM and go with Xubuntu


if you do plan to use Xubuntu and are having graphics problems, PM me :)

[AnLGP]

I'm not going to upgrade it. The reason why I was given the computer is because I'm studying for my A+ exam. Once I found out it booted into windows 98 and has (basically) a 200 gig HD I figured I'd also convert it to linux to store files as well.

I can't get puppy to boot, though. Can someone link me to the most current install? I've already used 3 disks on trying to get linux to boot.

[angry_johnnie]

Have you checked the computer's BIOS to see whether it's set to boot from cd?

Just a thought.;)

[meborc]

just some info on OSes for old computers - http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=575456

a good list of distros

[ukripper]

PUPPY all the way for your machine.

[skymera]

Ok my laptop has 192MB DDR RAM.

I had Xubuntu but seemed to slow and not snappy enough.
Puupy reminded me of M$
And DSL is too bare bones, great for USB though.

Then i found gOS!
www.thinkgos.com

Not many people suggest it, but after using it i highly recommend it!
Uses 70-100MB RAM as standard, great balance between effects and performance.
Boot time is good, easily configurable and the best thing, it's based on Ubuntu! :)
Give it a try

[Chessmaster]

Puppy Linux Rocks. So easy to use. And when you start it up it goes "Woof, Woof". What more could you want??!!

From wikipedia: "The PC needs to have at least 128 MB of RAM (with no more than 8 MB shared video) for all of Puppy to load into the ramdisk, however it is possible for it to run on a PC with only about 48 MB of RAM because part of the system can be kept on the hard drive, or in the worst case, left on the CD."

So, you might want to check the puppy forums, Q&As, etc on the puppy site on how to install on RAM smaller than 128 MB.

http://www.puppylinux.com/

[stalkingwolf]

I have an old box with almost the same processor ( a K-6 500) with 384 mb of ram. when i
got it it was running Ubuntu 7.04 or 7.10 ( i dont remember which) with a 4.5 gb HDD. and running it
pretty fast.

I just set another up last night with a K6-500 and512 mb of ram. I put 7.04 on it. It also runs fine

[AnLGP]

Have you checked the computer's BIOS to see whether it's set to boot from cd?

It goes to the screen (on all distros) where I have the option to boot as a live disc, etc. would that not be booting from a cd? just checking.

I will check out the puppy site. thanks.

[linuxlizard]

192 mb ram 400 mhz processor- your computer is more powerful than my pcfluxboxos tinyflux computer. pcfluxboxos will work excellent on there, and it isn't "hacked" like puppy or damn small linux. It's a full, complete linux with synaptic and tons of software in the repository. My machine runs the latest firefox, gimp and open office, and it's not even as powerful as your machine, and it runs them well- they open fast and are very responsive at 333 mhz with 128 mb ram- not some old version of firefox like dsl or seamonkey like puppy. Give it a shot- it's the best.

[C!oud]

I have an older Dell Dimension that i installed openSUSE on and it runs like a charm

[AnLGP]

Thanks everyone. Can you guys recommend how to burn an .iso? In your own words? I can use K3b, brasero, whatever. As I've said I've burnt three OSs (DSL, Puppy, Fluxbuntu) and checked hashmarks on two of them, burnt them at slow speeds and it won't boot. I can try to boot it as a live cd or install to HD it just never makes it.

[linuxlizard]

on your ubuntu machine you should be able to right click the .iso file and select burn to disk or some such similar.

Otherwise, k3b has always worked for me.

Make sure you are actually burning the iso to disk (uh- I mean converting the iso image to the actual cd when it burns) rather than just copying the iso to the cd and burning the file to the cd.

oh- and for pcfluxboxos, I'd recommend you go with the tinyflux version, rather than midiflux, etc. It's easy to add exactly the apps you want, and tinyflux has everything you need to get set up on the net, etc.

[AnLGP]

rather than just copying the iso to the cd and burning the file to the cd.

so what you're saying is if all I did was go to the .iso and burn it to a disc i did it wrong?

no wonder it doesn't boot. d'oh

[linuxlizard]

so what you're saying is if all I did was go to the .iso and burn it to a disc i did it wrong?

well maybe. What I'm saying is if all you did was *copy* the iso file to disk and burn it that was wrong. Make sure you are burning an image to disk, rather than just copying the file over.

[live.it.right]

I just reloaded a NEC VersVX laptop that was running windows98 with Xubuntu 6.06.1 alternate install. The machine only has 64mb of RAM. I've toyed around with versions of SuSE and Ubuntu on more powerful machines but that is it. In other words I'm still totally new to linux.

I want to try to load the GUI on the version of Xubuntu that I'm running now (on an old laptop with 64mb of RAM) but I don't know the command to type to launch the GUI. I tried some of the different commands such as sudo aptiude install xubuntu-desktop but nothing would happen. That is to say that it would ask me for a password, I'd enter the password, and the cursor would just start blinking again waiting for me to enter the next command.

I've ordered RAM from Kahlon.com to upgrade to 256MB. I'll try to install a full ubuntu version after I get the RAM installed.

I'd be interested to try some different options to launch the GUI included with xubuntu.

[AnLGP]

well maybe. What I'm saying is if all you did was *copy* the iso file to disk and burn it that was wrong.

yep. downloaded file from site, went to file in thunar, right clicked hit "burn to CD" and burnt the image at a slow speed after checking the md5

[stchman]

this is the computer I had given to me:

http://www.ciao.co.uk/Compaq_Presario_5240__5362379

I know it's a presario 5240, but don't know if those specs match exactly. I do know it's got a 200 gig HD on it w/windows 98 preinstalled.

I want to know which linux version will run on it best. I tried burning fluxbuntu (checked the md5 and everything and they matched) but when I booted there was an error and -- i'm kicking myself now -- can't remember what that error was.

I vote for Puppy, really good distro.

[AnLGP]

I burnt pcfluxboxos onto a disc as an .iso. I'm running off the live CD right now on my main box. When I try and install it on the other one it hangs. It'll start loading the OS but fail.

The disc sounds like it's really putting forth an effort in the old machine, then it will stop, then it will start again.

Any idea as to what's wrong?

[linuxlizard]

don't know, but maybe it's your cdrom drive starting to fail from age?

[linuxlizard]

don't know, but maybe it's your cdrom drive starting to fail from age?

You've got your bios configured to boot from cdrom right?

[AnLGP]

it starts to boot it so I figure yeah.

It is an old drive, maybe I need to replace it.

[lkraemer]

I am running DSL Ver 4.2.5 on an Old Compaq Presario 1672
450 MHZ AMD K6-2 with CDROM Drive and 192 Meg of Ram with
80 Gig Drive. Ver 4.3 is now available for download, but
I haven't had time. I just boot it from the LiveCD and
have my 1 Gig USB Drive plugged into the USB Ver 1.0 Port
and it comes up with the MYDSL Extensions and works wonderful.
Everything including the MODEM works with DSL.
I did change the Desktop to JWM versus Fluebox and
set my background so it looks like Ubuntu 7.04. NICE!

You won't be sorry. I tried Puppy but didn't like it as
much as DSL.

If you like DSL when you try it, you can purchase the book
"The Official Damn Small Linux Book" ISBN-13: 978-0-13-233869-1
from Amazon for ~$23.69.

Try it out!

LK

[CREEPING DEATH]

You're probably having the same problem I've run into on a lot of the older machines I've messed with: a failing CD-ROM
The way I've gotten around it is using minimal images. You'll need an internet connection. Check here (https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/MinimalCD) for how to do it with Ubuntu or do like I usually do on the old machines and use Debian's minimal install (http://www.debian.org/CD/netinst/) CDs. A couple of cheats for Debian: entering "desktop:xfce" (or something very similar) will get you a very light desktop that is usable on lesser machines than yours. Hitting "Esc" when it asks for a root password will usually take you to the steps, hit "Enter" then select "No" when it asks about root login, this will set it up with Sudo like Ubuntu defaults to.

CD

[K.Mandla]

It sounds odd to hear myself say it, but the Gnome version of Debian Sarge was alarmingly fast on a 450Mhz K6-2. If you want something that has the same framework as Ubuntu and works like Gnome Ubuntu, that might be an option for you.

On the other hand, something like Puppy or Slitaz is a good way to go.

Now if you really want performance, put Crux Linux on it. My 550Mhz Celeron boots in 16 seconds with Crux. But, Crux might be a bit of a task. It's slightly advanced. ... :shock:

P.S.: Moving to Other OS Talk.