Which ubuntu on an XP machine?

[mawil1013]

I have an older PC that came with XP and has a bios dated 1997, which version of ubuntu would work best with this machine??

[jerrrys]

do you meet system requirements?

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LucidLynx/ReleaseNotes

[AcidMoon]

*cough Xubuntu You can find system requirements for Xubuntu here http://www.xubuntu.org/getubuntu

[SlidingHorn]

I'd have to see the specs, but I have an old system that I run Xubuntu with LXDE (thinking about using the straight Lubuntu, not decided yet) and it screams.

[Jorge Alban]

I have installed Lubuntu 10.04 on a Dell C400 (2001), Dell XPS M1210 (2005), and Dell XPS M1530 (2007). I expected issues reported under Ubuntu Karmic but other than a couple of fstab lines on the C400, almost everything worked right away: sound, fan, resolution, brighntess control, graphics, wireless and LAN.

The Lubuntu project is not just about a light desktop manager but about whole new repositories with light versions of most used apps so the system remains light as long as processor and RAM-hungry Gnome-native apps such as Open Office or Firefox are avoided (the ones that turn the otherwise svelte Xubuntu into a not-so-fast-anymore OS !).

So the question is: Are you willing to learn and use Lubuntu-native light apps in order to keep your system lean, mean & zippy ? BTW I love chromium (Lubuntu's native browser and what I am writing this post on !). Lubuntu can be command-line installed on just 160 MB of RAM, where not even Ubuntu graphical installer would do the job.. If you have less RAM than that I suggest you look at Lupu, the new Lucid package-based Puppy Linux.

[Mark Phelps]

Well, as everyone says, your mileage may vary ... but I tried installing an older Ubuntu version on an old (1995) laptop running 256MB of memory and a P3 600 MHx processor -- and even using Xubuntu, it was so slow as to be all but useless.

You could try booting from a LiveCD to at least see that it detects all the hardware OK, but the only way you'll know for sure about the real-time performance is to install it.