startx on some distros is what starts the GUI.
startx on some distros is what starts the GUI.
I think the problem can be in the old nvidia graphics card.
I have found this thread: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1687699. Perhaps it can help you to install legacy nvidia drivers ( it seems the newest doesn't work in so old cards) as it is addressed in this thread.
I have lubuntu 12.04 in a similar laptop (2002 hardware), pIII 1GHz CPU, sys 630/730 64 MB graphics card, 448 MB RAM, 20 GB HDD, and it is usable with lubuntu to surf web (not flash videos, it is a resources hog, I have to use a special script to convert youtube videos to be in .mp4), doing office tasks and playing streaming music.
I hope it helps
Lubuntu is LXDE on Ubuntu - what you want. It it didn't work, then I'd follow that other link about all the fixes for blank screens during installation, especially if you are not comfortable with the shell.
In Linux, the GUI interface is not core to the OS, so getting the OS installed can be without any GUI. Later the GUI libraries can be added as needed with a little typing. I find this way easier to trouble shoot because the OS is more easily available to provide data about what it sees and 1 task, driver install, can be performed at a time.
When I say "a little typing, I really do mean it. Most commands can be started with a few characters, then a {tab} pressed to complete them. Options can often be auto-completed too. Once you see someone else using tab-completion, you'll never go back. To people that don't know about this, it looks like magic.
BTW, I've run Lubuntu on Pentium4 machines with 1G of RAM. It runs nicely. The motherboard for that box fried over the summer and was replaced with a hot, new, MB and CPU, so it is not a low-end box anymore. Actually it is the fastest box that I manage now for Mom to check her email and do some investment trading with over the web. She has never noticed the difference between the Core i7 box and that old Pentium4 thanks to LXDE-buntu.
Boot, Backup, and Security questions. Std Linux Sys Maint..
Why LTS release? Mark Thread SOLVED.
Use "code tags".
Last edited by jmbarsk; December 10th, 2012 at 05:13 AM. Reason: posted in wrong place
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