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Thread: Old hardware brought back to life

  1. #111
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    Re: Old hardware brought back to life

    Evening, all.

    I've been trying on and off, over the last year, to get an ancient Dell Inspiron 1100 laptop (from 2002) to run one of the 'buntus. I soon realized that with an elderly 'Netburst' Celeron and 1 GB RAM, I was asking too much for Unity to work properly. So I tried Xubuntu & Lubuntu (Kubuntu? Not even GOING there, thank you very much!)

    Oh, they would all install. But in every single case, the desktop ended up jammed into the top left-hand corner of the 1024x768 display, at just 640x480; annoying, to say the least. So, since October she's been running Puppy Linux 'Tahrpup' 6.0. Everything worked OOTB, especially the display.

    It has an Intel 'Extreme Graphics', 'Brookedale'-cored, 82845 G/GL/GE/PE/PV video adapter; a somewhat awkward device. They threw the rule book out of the window when they designed THAT thing, believe me!

    I've tried several of morgaes' workarounds over this time frame, none of which have actually worked.....with the exception of the 'nomodeset' option, which DID at least move the miniature display into the centre of the screen...

    Anyway; for no particular reason that I can think of, I decided to have another go at putting Lubuntu 14.04 LTS on her last night, alongside 'Tahrpup' (having tried it before, and liked it). I thought I'd give the most recent point release a try, 14.04.2.....couldn't hurt. I'd done some digging around in the depths of the forum 'back-pages', and found this fix, which promised to sort the problematic card out:-

    http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...1100%2C+laptop

    So I was fully prepared to give the above workaround a try. I installed, and re-booted, not expecting the new install to behave any different to the previous attempts. Well...! WHAT a surprise. There, staring back at me, was a full screen display, with the log-in screen on it. I was GOBSMACKED. Had a job believing my eyes.....

    The inclusion of the 3.16 kernel into this point release seems to have tamed the 'awkward' adapter.....it's behaving itself like a charm, for now. Finally, I have a fully-working 'buntu install on the old Dell; many thanks indeed to Julien Lavergne & the Lubuntu team! Wonderful work. I suspect the kernel probably made the biggest difference; even 'Tahrpup' uses the 3.14 kernel.....both of the afore-mentioned being newer than 'Trusty's' original 3.13.

    I'm SO pleased, I'm seriously considering making a contribution to the Lubuntu team. They deserve it. Yet the strangest thing is, I've always understood that Intel hardware has worked successfully with the Linux kernel for several years now.....

    Odd, indeed. But who CARES...?? The Dell is going from strength to strength..!



    Regards,

    A VERY pleased Mike.
    Last edited by Mike_Walsh; April 18th, 2015 at 09:20 AM.
    Compaq Presario SR1619UK, running Xubuntu & Puppies 'X-Slacko' & 'Slacko'
    Dell Inspiron 1100, running Xubuntu & Puppies 'TahrPup' & 'Precise'

    IF
    the advice given has helped you, PLEASE have the courtesy to post back and say 'Thank you'..!

  2. #112
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    Re: Old hardware brought back to life

    Congratulations.

    Would be great if you would help promoting the latest kernels, also for old hardware. Some users are under the impression that old hardware should be fed old software.
    Bringing old hardware back to life. About problems due to upgrading.
    Please visit Quick Links -> Unanswered Posts.
    Don't use this space for a list of your hardware. It only creates false hits in the search engines.

  3. #113
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    Re: Old hardware brought back to life

    Congratulations Mike_Walsh

    Sometimes an old kernel is better for old hardware, because it comes with drivers, that are needed. Sometimes a new kernel is better also for old hardware, because it comes with drivers, that are needed.

    Mike shows us that it is worthwhile to try several versions and distros live, and after that install and use what works best in your particular computer

  4. #114
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    Re: Old hardware brought back to life

    @morgaes, sudodus:-

    Guys, I may not be sticking with Lubuntu... I'm about to try Xubuntu 14.04.2, because out of all the 'buntu flavours, it's always been my absolute favourite for ease of configuration, and what you can do with it. I've just created a LiveUSB, and am about to 'take the plunge'..!

    It, too, has the 3.16 kernel. Watch this space; I'll keep you posted. Here goes.....


    Regards,

    Mike.

    BTW: @morgaes; I'll be more than happy to help promote the newer kernels if they have such positive results for old hardware like mine. I am REALLY impressed, after the long. slow slog of the last year or so!
    Compaq Presario SR1619UK, running Xubuntu & Puppies 'X-Slacko' & 'Slacko'
    Dell Inspiron 1100, running Xubuntu & Puppies 'TahrPup' & 'Precise'

    IF
    the advice given has helped you, PLEASE have the courtesy to post back and say 'Thank you'..!

  5. #115
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    Re: Old hardware brought back to life

    As Sudodus points out there are some exceptions like really old Nvidia graphics processors but in general I recommend that people try the newest first and then go for the old one only if some problem appears.

    Feel free to post your experience with Xubuntu as well. Lubuntu mentioned in original post is only an example.
    Bringing old hardware back to life. About problems due to upgrading.
    Please visit Quick Links -> Unanswered Posts.
    Don't use this space for a list of your hardware. It only creates false hits in the search engines.

  6. #116
    Join Date
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    Re: Old hardware brought back to life

    Quote Originally Posted by mörgæs View Post
    As Sudodus points out there are some exceptions like really old Nvidia graphics processors but in general I recommend that people try the newest first and then go for the old one only if some problem appears.

    Feel free to post your experience with Xubuntu as well. Lubuntu mentioned in original post is only an example.
    Sorry to be a little while getting back to you; hectic couple of days.

    I'm pleased to be able to say that Xubuntu 14.04.2. LTS has installed very smoothly. This time, I've had to employ the workaround given by LukeM in post #16 of this article:-

    http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...1100%2C+laptop

    Upon restart, I was greeted by the small screen jammed into the top left corner of the screen! (Been there, done that, etc....)

    I used Mousepad to edit /etc/default/grub, and changed this line

    Code:
     GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="persistent"
    to

    Code:
     GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="vga=792"
    .....and it really does work! I don't know WHERE LukeM dug this up from, or how he came across it (trial & error, maybe? Who knows...), but I'll give the guy credit where credit's due.....IMHO he deserves a medal for this one..!

    At this very moment I'm in the middle of updating, setting 'swappiness', etc., and all the thousand & one other little bits & bobs that are needed to make a new installation perform really smoothly. As soon as I have a screenshot worth showing, I'll post it, and let y'all know how she's performing.

    I'm dead chuffed!! To quote morgaes:-

    Would be great if you would help promoting the latest kernels, also for old hardware. Some users are under the impression that old hardware should be fed old software.


    In case anybody hasn't figured out where I'm coming from with this, we have a 13-yr old machine running nicely with the most up-to-date kernels. But I can't help wondering if this 'vga=792' trick would have worked on one of my earlier attempts, had I but known about it.....

    Never mind. She's running as smooth as so much oiled silk now.....and that WAS the whole point of the excercise.


    Regards,

    Mike.
    Last edited by Mike_Walsh; April 21st, 2015 at 12:05 AM.
    Compaq Presario SR1619UK, running Xubuntu & Puppies 'X-Slacko' & 'Slacko'
    Dell Inspiron 1100, running Xubuntu & Puppies 'TahrPup' & 'Precise'

    IF
    the advice given has helped you, PLEASE have the courtesy to post back and say 'Thank you'..!

  7. #117
    Join Date
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    Re: Old hardware brought back to life

    **UPDATE**

    I now have everything set up.....and here's a couple of screenshots to show the 'finished product':-

    Clean...

    Screenshot - C.jpg


    ...and 'dirty', with modified highlight colour, and the Numix theme.

    Screenshot - D.jpg

    Performance is not.....'exciting'. You wouldn't expect that from a 13-yr old P4-gen 2.2 GHz single-core Celeron, with a very small L2 cache (128k). It's best described as 'stately'! But I'm quite happy with everything; I don't need her for work, or anything like that.....so it's quite OK for what I use her for.

    Astonishingly, Psensor is giving me a fairly accurate CPU temp, despite claiming during setup that it couldn't find a sensor! The Celeron is averaging 45-48C, with occasional forays up to the mid-50's; the 20 GB Hitachi HDD is running roundabout 40-42C. The Dell motherboard uses a 'thermal hardware' sensor somewhere close to the CPU, though not internal to it. Not sure where, exactly.....I believe with the Socket 478 CPUs, this was actually in the socket itself, rather than on the CPU die.

    That's on a par with what I remember her running at according to HWMonitor, when she was still on Win XP a couple of years ago; if anything, she's running somewhat cooler. Mind you, that WAS before I stripped her down, gave her a good cleanout and re-applied the thermal paste last autumn..! The fan used to cut-in on high regularly prior to that; since then, I don't think I've heard it come on more than a couple of times (and that was when she was running streaming radio somewhat choppily..!)

    I shall be uprating the Celeron for a 2.6 GHz P4 (with a 512k L2 cache) in the next fortnight or so.....which should improve matters somewhat. TDP's about 5W higher, but I think the stock heatsink should handle that; with the larger L2, I don't expect it to work quite so hard. The lack of SSE3's means they DO work harder than a more modern processor, though. I'll keep y'all posted as to the outcome.


    Regards,

    Mike.
    Last edited by Mike_Walsh; May 4th, 2015 at 11:32 PM.
    Compaq Presario SR1619UK, running Xubuntu & Puppies 'X-Slacko' & 'Slacko'
    Dell Inspiron 1100, running Xubuntu & Puppies 'TahrPup' & 'Precise'

    IF
    the advice given has helped you, PLEASE have the courtesy to post back and say 'Thank you'..!

  8. #118
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    Re: Old hardware brought back to life

    So after all these tests with different linux distros, flavours and versions, what would you run in this computer, if you would need it for doing 'work', not only taking part in a veteran computer's rally

    Still Tahrpup, or are the light-weight Ubuntu flavours efficient enough?

  9. #119
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    Re: Old hardware brought back to life

    Quote Originally Posted by sudodus View Post
    So after all these tests with different linux distros, flavours and versions, what would you run in this computer, if you would need it for doing 'work', not only taking part in a veteran computer's rally

    Still Tahrpup, or are the light-weight Ubuntu flavours efficient enough?
    I think, in all honesty, that I'm torn between Lubuntu and TahrPup. Lubuntu, simply because like ALL the 'buntu flavours, it's very professionally finished, it runs well, there's awesome backup, and huge, well-maintained repositories. Tahrpup, because it runs at lightning speed, is super lightweight on resources, and it, too, has good community backup. I'd dual-boot. My 20 GB HDD would have:-

    One 12 GB partition (for Lubuntu or Xubuntu)
    One 6 GB partition (that's HEAPS for Tahrpup), &
    A 2 GB swap partition ( but with 'swappiness' dialed down to about 10).
    And I have a 64 GB SanDisk flash drive that I use for external storage anyway.....which gives me a total of over 80 GB; that's enough.

    The 'buntu's run SAMBA, the Puppies Samba-TNG. It appears the two ARE compatible; I have both Xubuntu & Tahrpup on my 'big' desktop, so it doesn't matter which way I transfer files, it still works. I've also recently discovered NitroShare, after reading about it SOMEWHERE on the Forums; works brilliantly.....rather similar to how Bluetooth file transfer works, except it will handle entire directories, unlike Bluetooth, which works rather better with single files. Plus, it's completely automatic; no 'setting up' required. It's a good choice for total newcomers, actually. And network printing works well, too.....though of course, that's taken care of by CUPS, so it would work regardless.

    I'm going to wait until I get the P4 installed, at some point during the next couple of weeks, before delivering a final verdict on this. I really like Xubuntu; if the P4 does what I hope it will, then I could make that dual-boot with Xubuntu & Tahrpup.

    Time will tell. Will report back with the results, as & when.


    Regards,

    Mike.
    Last edited by Mike_Walsh; April 21st, 2015 at 08:42 PM.
    Compaq Presario SR1619UK, running Xubuntu & Puppies 'X-Slacko' & 'Slacko'
    Dell Inspiron 1100, running Xubuntu & Puppies 'TahrPup' & 'Precise'

    IF
    the advice given has helped you, PLEASE have the courtesy to post back and say 'Thank you'..!

  10. #120
    Join Date
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    Re: Old hardware brought back to life

    I have to be honest here. After using Xubuntu on the Dell for a week or so, the Celeron is not 'bogging things down' as much as I feared it would. In some respects, she actually seems to run faster under Xubuntu than she does under Tahrpup. Chromium certainly does; I'm really quite surprised at that. I shall still go ahead with the P4 upgrade.....it will be interesting to see how much better she may perform.

    It appears that the P4 should go straight in, without the need to upgrade the BIOS:-

    http://en.community.dell.com/what-do...4510/t/2259155

    Apparently (can't remember where I saw it now) the existing A22 Dell BIOS supports up to a 2.8 GHz P4. Makes sense; it's still single-core, the same FSB, still the same instruction set, even the exact same architecture on the same socket; just a speed & L2 increase.

    I'm not expecting a huge boost in performance. The higher frequency ought to give me a small increase (2.2 GHz to 2.6 GHz), and the L2 increase (from 128k to 512k) should increase things a bit further. We'll see what happens. I may well end up leaving things as they are, with Xubuntu on the HDD by itself, and Tahrpup running from a flash-drive. I don't think I'm going to bother with a dual-boot.

    There's also the added complication that with Puppy running as root all the time, it kinda screws up file permissions when I want to access them from Xubuntu, so.....I'm not quite sure whether I'll continue with Puppy on the Dell. It'll definitely remain on the Compaq desktop for the foreseeable future.


    Regards,

    Mike.
    Last edited by Mike_Walsh; April 28th, 2015 at 03:25 PM.
    Compaq Presario SR1619UK, running Xubuntu & Puppies 'X-Slacko' & 'Slacko'
    Dell Inspiron 1100, running Xubuntu & Puppies 'TahrPup' & 'Precise'

    IF
    the advice given has helped you, PLEASE have the courtesy to post back and say 'Thank you'..!

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