Can I revive my old laptop?

[Patxi1977]

Hi Everyone!

I have an old laptop Compaq Armada 100s (Processor AMD K6-2+ 533 MHz, RAM 64 MB, HD 5GB) which I want to revive, and I though maybe ubuntu could be the perfect solution. Now I rarely use the laptop, because it is on Win98+Office97 and it is no good to connect online, because it has not enough RAM to run an antivirus.

What I want:
0. A user friendly environment to use basic office productivity. Ubuntu + OpenOffice would perfectly suit most of my needs.
1. Ability to connect my USB pen drive, which is the best way for me to share files with my other PCs at home and at work.
2. Virus free secure way to connect to the internet. This I do not have now. I do not dare to try again to connect Win98, because my laptop cannot perform with huge virus definition files. And everyone says linux is so safe, but I really have no clue about this issues.
2'. Browser (mozilla?) and email client (?)
3. WiFi card. Dare to dream, I haven't bought it yet, but wouldn't it be cool to connect to a hotspot?

Questions:
A. Do you think I can install ubuntu and have a reasonable speed? (I repeat: Processor AMD K6-2+ 533 MHz, RAM 64 MB, HD 5GB)
B. Is it a virus free good way to connect online without huge antivirus software?
C. Any PCMCIA WiFi card that works for you?

I have never installed Linux, so any idea / feedback / suggestion / alternative will be more than welcome.

Thanks in advance!

Patxi

[Quest-Master]

Yes, you can completely bring this laptop back to life.

All of what you want will work, and here I'll answer your questions.

A: Yes. Instead of using the default Gnome desktop, I'd advise installing XFCE or Fluxbox. You'll see a huge increase in speed, and you should be able to work it normally, though your RAM worries me.

B: Yup. I don't have much protection software, simply because viruses and malware are almost nonexistent on Linux, though there are a few programs to do this if you really want to be safe.

C: Yeah, there are tons. Most of them will work by default or through ndiswrapper.

If you have more questions, feel free to ask.

[Arthemys]

I live on the edge, my Windows box at home with its short life left has AVG 7.0 Pro installed. I did pay for it because I like their product line, it's small and efficient. I'm not advocating to stay with Windows, but if you must on any workstation that doesn't require "heavy" antivirus, go with AVG Free version, works very well. And in my opinion, if you're smart, viruses can't harm you, worms are a different story. But viruses need to be run inorder to execute their code, no execution no harm. It may sound foolish but I've never had, in all my years in Windows, trip my antivirus program.

You'll run into problems with any recent GUI such as GNOME or KDE, I've heard fluxbox and other types of window managers are much more efficient and will probably be more for what you're looking for, even though they're not as user friendly.

[krrh]

I've revivied a similar Compaq laptop using Ubuntu. Works great.

I would, however, recommend a RAM upgrade for your machine. I imagine it couldn't cost much to do. Max it out. That will eek even more crucial performance from your old hardware.

Good luck.

[az]

The processor speed is more than enough. The ram is very tight.

You should not have a lot of problems with wireless. Most cards work with ndiswrapper, if you cannot get a linux driver for them.

It would be nice if you did twenty minutes of research on the card you buy beforehand, though.

[poofyhairguy]

I would spend some money on RAM. With 256mb of ram, you would "revive" it and it would run great with a default Gnome install. Unfortunately with 64mb you would have to customize and bunch and miss out on features (like having usb drives mount to the desktop). AS far as wireless card go, and Prism or Orinoco card will work. Look on this list for Prism cards;

http://www.linux-wlan.org/docs/wlan_adapters.html.gz

Make sure to buy a card that has Linux drivers, as getting other card to work is a big pain (buy Prism card are plug and play).

[Patxi1977]

Poofyhairguy, Azz, Krrh, Arthemys, Quest-Master THANKS A LOT!

Linux looks scary for a first time installation, but with such a great forum of great people ready to kindly answer questions, I feel way more confident.

I cannot believe I just posted the message yesterday and I already got five specific and very helpful replies.

After reading your responses, I will probably
1. buy a 128Mb RAM card at ebay for 45 US$ and install it to reach 192Mb Ram.
2. install ubuntu
3. get a WiFi card!

I cannot believe I can revive my old laptop and be a cool wifi user. And for just a few bucks!

Thanks again!

[poofyhairguy]

Try to get an Orinoco card on second thought, I'm having throuble getting my prism to pick up local access points (it coneects fine though).