Install Ubuntu on old PIII laptop

[a4su_skyhawk]

Hi All

I want to install Ubuntu on a PIII laptop, which version of Ubuntu should I use?
Desktop or Remix version?

Thank you.

[SoftwareExplorer]

I would use the desktop version. Remix is for netbooks.

[a4su_skyhawk]

Thanks. But the problem with this laptop is, it does not come with an optical drive and the BIOS does not support USB boot. The laptop is currently installed with Windows XP and I am wondering whether is it possible to copy the contents of Ubuntu CD into a USB pendrive and install via Windows. Or are there other ways to install for such machine?

By the way, this laptop has only 256MB RAM.

Thank you very much.

[tgalati4]

linux mint xfce. 256 MB is minimal, but see if you can upgrade to 512.

You should be able to install using wubi.

[SoftwareExplorer]

Thanks. But the problem with this laptop is, it does not come with an optical drive and the BIOS does not support USB boot. The laptop is currently installed with Windows XP and I am wondering whether is it possible to copy the contents of Ubuntu CD into a USB pendrive and install via Windows. Or are there other ways to install for such machine?

By the way, this laptop has only 256MB RAM.

Thank you very much.

Use can use this -> http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/downloadmirrors#wubi . It will let you install ubuntu or even Xubuntu IIRC. Xubuntu is a little different from ubuntu because it uses a lighter desktop environment, so that it will run better on older hardware.

[ackley]

This is what I would do. If the P3 supports cd roms, which I'm sure it does. I'd take my drive from another computer, throw it in that for the install & use crunchbang. It runs the OpenBox WM & is super fast on minimal machines.

[snowpine]

256mb is borderline for either Ubuntu or Xubuntu. Crunchbang is a pretty good choice. If you can't get a CD-Rom drive working, you can use Unetbootin to install from the .iso image on your hard drive.

[raymondh]

256mb is borderline for either Ubuntu or Xubuntu. Crunchbang is a pretty good choice. If you can't get a CD-Rom drive working, you can use Unetbootin to install from the .iso image on your hard drive.

ditto on crunchbang

[a4su_skyhawk]

Thank you all for the your valuable suggestions.
Managed to get Ubuntu installed into the laptop.
Got an old external cd-rom and install via Wubi. The Wubi that come with the Live CD has issue and alway stuck at the 'Formatting swap space......" screen. Solved the problem with Wubi r134.
After that I just moved the Wubi installation to the Windows one using this guide
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=438591

[vinutux]

Xubuntu or Spri linux

[a4su_skyhawk]

Ubuntu. But my hard disk died yesterday!
A bit laggy with 256MB of RAM.