[wplug] Old Laptop

[terry mcintyre]

When installing Linux on older machines, I prefer to start with a server install, in text mode. Otherwise, machines with limited memory tend to spend a lot of time swapping, and take hours ( or even days ) to install.

 
Ubuntu, to name just one example, has a text-based "alternate installer" at 
http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/downloadmirrors#alternate

If you prefer Redhat, and have a kickstart server set up, that's another option - you can go for a minimal install of, for example, the Centos base.


Terry McIntyre <terrymcintyre at yahoo.com>


-- Libertarians Do It With Consent!



----- Original Message ----
> From: Jonathan Billings <billings at negate.org>
> To: General user list <wplug at wplug.org>
> Sent: Friday, November 14, 2008 7:15:19 AM
> Subject: Re: [wplug] Old Laptop
> 
> On Fri, Nov 14, 2008 at 08:49:14AM -0500, Weber, Lawrence A wrote:
> > I have an old IBM E600 Pentium II laptop currently running a buggy
> > Win2k.  It is connected to a wireless network via a PCMCIA card
> > (D-Link).  RAM:128, HD:20G.
> >  
> > I would like to replace the OS with Linux and use it for a simple serial
> > terminal and occasional wireless web browsing and email. I have tried
> > XUBUNTU, Slackware and a couple other LiveCD's to see what distro might
> > work but have not been able to get any to boot.  They start but never
> > finish.  I recently tried what I thought was a FreeBSD LiveCD but it
> > also refuses to get very far into the boot.
> 
> You didn't give a very good description of what the error was.  Have
> you tried doing a network install?  Install from disk?  
> 
> I have a Dell Inspiron 4000 with around the same specs, that I have
> install ubuntu on.  I used the CD install, and didn't have any
> problems.  
> 
> > Should I be looking at an older version of Linux?  Should I expect
> > problems with the PCMCIA wireless card?
> 
> You should probably use the latest version of a linux distro that has
> been slimmed down.  Versions that are old enough to be small by
> default will not have security updates.  Xubuntu is a good start, it
> should be able to work with 128M of ram, particularly if you use the
> text-based frontend.
> 
> Currently, I'm actually running a fedora 10 beta with the "Sugar"
> desktop, which is what the OLPC laptops use.
> 
> 
> -- 
> Jonathan Billings 
> _______________________________________________
> wplug mailing list
> wplug at wplug.org
> http://www.wplug.org/mailman/listinfo/wplug