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trampintransit2
August 19th, 2009, 01:52 PM
I'm trying to install ubuntu on an old TINY laptop, originally it had widows millennium on it. I have installed Puppy linux, but i just cant get on with it. If i try to install ubuntu it just starts the install then stops! I understand that maybe an older version of ubuntu might install? Where do I get older versions?

Mighty_Joe
August 19th, 2009, 02:38 PM
Locate a download mirror (http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/downloadmirrors) close to you. They will usually have old versions.
I would not expect an old version to run well on your hardware if the current version does not. Ubuntu has always been a "kitchen sink" distro, trying to provide a stable and full-featured desktop. There are lighter versions of Ubuntu, like Xubuntu or CrunchBang, but they are still going to have a heavy footprint compared to Puppy. You could also try to fudge a ubuntu minimal install (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1155961), but again, it's still going to be heavy.
Puppy Linux or DSL (http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/) are probably your best bet for running on old hardware as they are tailored for machines with minimal resources, as opposed to Ubuntu, which tries to be a feature-complete desktop for current hardware.

snowpine
August 19th, 2009, 02:58 PM
Hi there, the oldest Ubuntu version that is still supported is 8.04... don't go any older than that. Some users actually feel that the current version (9.04) is the fastest yet.

You haven't given system specs for your laptop, so it's impossible to give a recommendation... but here are the minimum requirements for Ubuntu so you can make your own decision:


Recommended minimum requirements

Ubuntu should run reasonably well on a computer with the following minimum hardware specification. However, features such as visual effects may not run smoothly.

* 700 MHz x86 processor
* 384 MB of system memory (RAM)
* 8 GB of disk space
* Graphics card capable of 1024x768 resolution
* Sound card
* A network or Internet connection