old fert
March 15th, 2010, 08:52 PM
I have a couple of old computers (AMD 1600 1.2 GHZ, 512 MB RAM, 40 GB HD). One of them had WIN ME and the other Win 98 installed. If I can get them working, one goes to my granddaughter, and one to my assistant's daughter.
I wiped both hard drives and have been attempting (unsuccessfully) for the last 2 months to install Ubuntu, Mint, Xubuntu, Puppy (you name it). I actually got as far as 70% on the mint install before it crashed. The disks were terribly slow, it would take an hour just to get started on step 3.
I finally found a thread somewhere that described a network installation. It is a little 12mb file that calls up an installation over the internet (much faster). It worked. I got ubuntu 9.1 completely installed. However, after I removed the startup disk and rebooted (as per instructions) all I can get is a command prompt. Yes, Grub2 is installed (but it doesn't show up).
How do I get to the desktop. Probably a simple question for the gurus, but keep in mind that I'm a pretty simple person.
If I can get these to work, I think I have enough spare parts to build another "Frankenputer." It goes to the neighbor kid.
Please note, I'm not trying to be rude, but it will probably be this weekend before I have time to mess with these machines again. Any suggestions will be appreciated. I will be checking the forums from time to time and will respond as quickly as possible.
I wiped both hard drives and have been attempting (unsuccessfully) for the last 2 months to install Ubuntu, Mint, Xubuntu, Puppy (you name it). I actually got as far as 70% on the mint install before it crashed. The disks were terribly slow, it would take an hour just to get started on step 3.
I finally found a thread somewhere that described a network installation. It is a little 12mb file that calls up an installation over the internet (much faster). It worked. I got ubuntu 9.1 completely installed. However, after I removed the startup disk and rebooted (as per instructions) all I can get is a command prompt. Yes, Grub2 is installed (but it doesn't show up).
How do I get to the desktop. Probably a simple question for the gurus, but keep in mind that I'm a pretty simple person.
If I can get these to work, I think I have enough spare parts to build another "Frankenputer." It goes to the neighbor kid.
Please note, I'm not trying to be rude, but it will probably be this weekend before I have time to mess with these machines again. Any suggestions will be appreciated. I will be checking the forums from time to time and will respond as quickly as possible.