Ubuntu forever!

[WI16thJim]

I'm new to Linux and I'm 59 years old, so we're doing the old dog - new tricks thing. I know enough about computers to get myself in serious trouble sometimes. I was at my brothers for Thanksgiving and saw that he was throwing away a 7 year old Dell computer. He said it was old, slow and the drive was being maxed out. I brought it home and discovered it had a bug and tons of worthless programs on it. I erased the drive and decided to try an OS called Ubuntu that I'd heard tales about. WOW!!! I won't go into the learning curve of downloading ISO's, creating USB bootups, etc., etc. It was so successful that I decided to try it on an old Gateway laptop. Getting the wireless to work was interesting, but thanks to Ubuntu Forum and Yahoo search, it's what I'm using to enter this post. I have an old 1998 Gateway that is going to get the treatment next. If Ubuntu gets that thing going!?!?!?, I'll have to let out a real big WOW! I want to thank all of you who are involved in this wonderful enterprise and I hope you put Microsoft on the run.

[snowpine]

Great testimonial!

For your oldest computer you might try Lubuntu: http://lubuntu.net

The minimum hardware requirements are explained here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Lubuntu/GetLubuntu

[2F4U]

I have an old 1998 Gateway that is going to get the treatment next. If Ubuntu gets that thing going!?!?!?

That would depend on the processor in that machine. Unfortunately, any Ubuntu version beginning with 12.10 doesn't run on CPU's that don't support PAE.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2044667

Personally, I have two laptops from 2003/2004 that won't run a PAE kernel, so Ubuntu is out of discussion on these machines. The good news is that you will recognize immediately whether your machine can run Ubuntu or not, because if you have a non-PAE CPU, Ubuntu will not boot.

[oldos2er]

Moved to Testimonials & Experiences.

[stalkingwolf]

Actually most starting with 12.04 require pae. The Mini iso for ubuntu is non pae. it is however not easy if you havent done an alt install in a while.

[mastablasta]

Actually most starting with 12.04 require pae. The Mini iso for ubuntu is non pae. it is however not easy if you havent done an alt install in a while.

ah but it is easy if one follows this tutorial for example: http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/minimal

[3rdalbum]

Your average computer from 1998 will have 32 or 64 megabytes of RAM. Ubuntu requires 512 megabytes, if I remember correctly.

If your 1998 computer's RAM has been upgraded you might have some luck with more lightweight Linux distros. Puppy Linux or Tiny Core are very well-known distros for slow computers.

[WI16thJim]

First off, let me apologize for misleading everyone:
"I have an old 1998 Gateway"
I looked up the paperwork (how's that for a pack rat??) and discovered I purchased it in March of 1999.
The good news is that I'm doing this post with It!!
I just got it fired up and felt it was appropriate that this be this first thing I do with it on the web. Thanks for the suggestions. I tried Lubuntu, Xubuntu and a few others, including Wubi downloads. Then on a Yahoo search, trying to figure just what grub rescue> meant and whether it's curable, I came upon an article stating that the best versions for old machines was Ubuntu 10.04, and gave this link:
http://mirrors.gigenet.com/ubuntu/10.04/
I tried a few, with varying degrees of success, until the last one, wubi.exe.
Worked rather well and surprisingly easy. Even updated the wireless card I put in it in 2005 and that works. Darn computer just might be working about the best it ever has.
Getting this going was fun. Learned a lot in the last week, including the fact that doing multiple downloads/erase on a machine with 384 RAM is S L O W !
I do feel next spring I may be qualified to watch grass grow.
Thanks again for the help. I just know I'm going to enjoy it here in Linuxland.

Jim