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Replacing Windows & Installing LINUX How Hard?
1/22/09 | Don VB

Posted on 01/22/2009 8:37:41 AM PST by Don@VB

I have an old PC with a Pentium 1 it is ok for email etc.. I thought it might run faster with LINUX


TOPICS: Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: linuxpc; windows
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To: Don@VB

http://iso.linuxquestions.org/
Good place to get LINUX.
P1 is too old.


21 posted on 01/22/2009 9:34:54 AM PST by enduserindy (I hope he proves us wrong. Really, I do.)
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To: Don@VB

try debris linux

enjoy!


22 posted on 01/22/2009 9:48:15 AM PST by databoss
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To: Don@VB
I've been wanting to do this for years. I've tried pretty much everything and still use Windoze. The "Live disks" give you a chance to look without changing anything, but you will never get how difficult it is to "do" things with your new OS. It may as well be Korean or something. I can't even install an upgrade or a codec or almost any minor software adjustment without a huge hassle if at all.

Another fallacy is Linux takes less horsepower to run. The more modern distro's take just as much as Windows if not more. Also, the driver situation is lacking on some hardware you may own. I have Mandriva on one box and I can't get my Matrox G450 to work properly so I had to opt for a "throw down" card that doesn't show off Mandriva's capabilities and doesn't meet my needs for multiple monitors. The Linux lovers say "Well, just buy a new card", but that was supposed to be a perk with Linux to use your older hardware. The G450 works fine on XP and would probably work fine on Vista, I just don't have the desire for Vista yet.

You have to learn new things which doesn't make sense to Windoze users. Like why do I have to mount a drive to see it? It's transparent in Windows. Why can't I have an .exe file to install things? Later you find that certain distro's have .rpms which are easier to deal with, but still are a mystery where they put the files. Just upgrading FireFox from the website take hours of reading and downloading trying to get the simplest things done. Just changing the wallpaper on the desktop can get involved instead of 2 clicks. Most things in Windows happen automatically and we take the ease of use for granted.

I hate windows and am a clear candidate for a change, but I will get flamed just for saying Linux isn't easy. I have done Microsoft since DOS 3.1 and 286's and am not an idiot. It's just is like learning Polish after 60 years of English. Without a tutor to ask questions, you will be limited to e mail and web surfing for awhile. And the "junk box" will need an older distro to work. Ubuntu, Mandriva, and others today, need at least 512megs ram and a p4 to run without pain. Frankly, if you just need to read e mail and surf, Maybe a trip to Windows 98 would do the same faster without needing more hardware. If you are looking for the spinning desktops and other bells and whistles, it won't work on a door stop. In fact, If all you want is e mail and web surfing, maybe a smart phone is in order and you could clean out that spare bedroom with the 486's, 2 gig hard drives, EDO memory sticks and boxes big enough to jack the car up in the front yard. I know, I'm in therapy right now for the same malady. (I just tossed a Commodore 64 in the trash about a month ago) I kept thinking I would put in on Ebay some day. Believe it or not I still have my first 286 with an add on accelerator that boosted it to 12,mhz in a pile in a spare bedroom. I gave $2400 in '84. It has a 20 meg hd rll'ed to 30 megs. At the time, 5-10 megs was the norm. I was the envy of everyone I knew. I even payed extra for a 1.44 floppy drive. I found out you could drill the hole in the 720's to get 1.44 so I wanted the larger drive.

With a Pentium I, you will have to go way back to get a distro to run on it. Not sure it's worth the trouble. Pentium III, maybe a better beginning point.

23 posted on 01/22/2009 9:54:01 AM PST by chuckles
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To: Don@VB

You may have some difficulties with a machine that old.

First, almost any distro will require 64mb ram memory.

Second, make sure that the computer will boot from a CD. In the days of Pentium 1’s, most PCs would only boot from a floppy drive or the hard drive. If the computer won’t boot from a CD, you will have to find a distro that can boot from a floppy.

You will have to look for a very lightweight version of Linux. Puppy Linux seems to be a popular lightweight distribution. Ubuntu will probably be too resource intensive to run well.

Any lightweight distro will trade some user-friendliness to save resources. You will probably get a more basic window manager like Xfce instead of KDE or Gnome. Some things like the auto mounting of floppys and CDs may be missing.

Finally, support for some hardware may be discontinued. Assume your modem won’t work, although networking should.


24 posted on 01/22/2009 9:55:11 AM PST by MediaMole
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To: rdb3; Calvinist_Dark_Lord; GodGunsandGuts; CyberCowboy777; Salo; Bobsat; JosephW; ...

25 posted on 01/22/2009 10:14:51 AM PST by ShadowAce (Linux -- The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
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To: Don@VB

It wont be that hard to put linux on but beware which distro you use, some are nearly as bad as Windows regarding memory.

You can use Damn Small Linux is a good one and you can try it out via live cd (if that computer can boot off of cd)

http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS8121628070.html

This will give you a good look and you can see if this is the way you want to go..


26 posted on 01/22/2009 10:23:40 AM PST by N3WBI3 (Ah, arrogance and stupidity all in the same package. How efficient of you. -- Londo Mollari)
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To: Don@VB
If you have a CD drive on the thing (and another machine that will allow you to download ISO images and burn them to disk) it's fairly easy to try various flavors of OS out without slicking your hard drive. HERE is a list of "live" CD distros; that is, you burn a live CD and it will boot the OS of your choice for you. Bear in mind that you're booting from a CD so it'll take a performance hit there; this isn't for benchmarking but just to see if your system will run the candidate. I've played with Puppy and PCLinuxOS in minimal-footprint modes but I'm not a Linux expert. YMMV. Best of luck.
27 posted on 01/22/2009 10:24:03 AM PST by Billthedrill
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To: Don@VB

I don’t believe any recent version of Linux will run acceptably on a Pentium 1. How much memory does it have, 16 MB? Years ago I tried intalling Red Hat on that class of PC and gave up — booting up took several minutes, and loading the browser took several more minutes. By comparison, Windows 95 had run on that machine just fine. On a decent computer, I prefer Ubuntu.


28 posted on 01/22/2009 10:28:20 AM PST by TexasRepublic (I am inconsolate over the death of our country.)
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To: Don@VB
Get Ubuntu, and you'll be just fine with it.

Amazing << Hear this. Feel this, and tell me that this isn't music.
And dont sleep on these two, either.


29 posted on 01/22/2009 10:41:28 AM PST by rdb3 (Oh, my. Uhh... No, it's... What's.., What's the word?)
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To: bcsco

Hah, the most irritating problem I’ve run into when writing a script to access a database (vb script) was a problem with the operators I was using.

Technically, both operators were correct and performed the same function..but, it wouldn’t work, because I was mixing them in the same line of code...bleah....


30 posted on 01/22/2009 10:44:05 AM PST by stylin_geek (Liberalism: comparable to a chicken with its head cut off, but with more spastic motions)
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To: The Great RJ
I have heard good things about Puppy Linux as a very basic operating system.

Yup. Also very lightweight as far as system resources used. Don't really know how well it supports peripherals, but it's tiny compared to other distros.

31 posted on 01/22/2009 11:02:37 AM PST by zeugma (Will it be nukes or aliens? Time will tell.)
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To: bcsco; Yo-Yo; LuxMaker
RAM does NOT = hard drive.

Didn't I say that? Right here: "note that RAM != hard drive".

Oh, wait. I just saw the posts further down.

I wasn't taught to use <> for NOT equals. I do know that slashing through an equals sign means NOT equals, and the convention at my school (and in programming) is that != means NOT equals. [No, I don't use it because it's "cool"; I use this convention because it's what I was taught.]

32 posted on 01/22/2009 11:11:51 AM PST by rabscuttle385 ("If this be treason, then make the most of it!" —Patrick Henry)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
I prefer kubunu over ubuntu because the KDE desktop is easier for Windows users to adapt to than the Gnome desktop of ubuntu.

i run KDE as well with my Linux system. The reason i'm responding to your post is that a month or so ago, i was getting a demonstration of the Mac computers when i was at Best Buy.

Ever notice how much the OSX desktop looks and feels like Gnome? Uncanny.

Wouldn't be surprised if they copied it, much like their appropriation of FreeBSD for OSX.

33 posted on 01/22/2009 1:04:01 PM PST by Calvinist_Dark_Lord ((I have come here to kick @$$ and chew bubblegum...and I'm all outta bubblegum! ~Roddy Piper))
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To: Calvinist_Dark_Lord
Ever notice how much the OSX desktop looks and feels like Gnome? Uncanny.

What's a "Mac?"

What's "OSX?"

;-)

34 posted on 01/22/2009 1:18:36 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum (You give peace a chance. I'll stay back here and cover you, just in case it don't work out.)
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To: enduserindy; Don@VB
P1 is too old.

Linux was designed for a 386. I think a P1 can handle it. The question is how many bells and whistles can you run in addition to the kernel.

Go here to see distros that are designed to run on computers that old. You'll notice i586 (Pentium I) is selected, so try 486 and even 386 for distros that will definitely run on your system.

Watch out, many older systems won't boot from CD.

35 posted on 01/22/2009 1:31:47 PM PST by antiRepublicrat ("I am a firm believer that there are not two sides to every issue..." -- Arianna Huffington)
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To: Don@VB

Marked for later read.


36 posted on 01/22/2009 1:35:34 PM PST by BuffaloJack
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To: chuckles

OS X is a good example of a UNIX made friendly. It addresses pretty much every example of difficulty in Linux you mentioned.

The down side is you can’t slap it on that old P1 that has been sitting in the garage for a decade.


37 posted on 01/22/2009 1:35:44 PM PST by antiRepublicrat ("I am a firm believer that there are not two sides to every issue..." -- Arianna Huffington)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

TO ALL FREEPER THREAD CONTRIBUTORS:
Thanks Thanks! I just got back to my computer and I’m going to digest all this info. A couple facts: the hard drive is almost full. Can I (Should I) uninstall Windows and then use a Linux Installation CD that I burn. I just dont know if I have enough room on my hard drive to run the install disk as it is now. Again you folks RULE!! I’ll be back shortly! Don


38 posted on 01/22/2009 1:40:45 PM PST by Don@VB
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Ping for later.


39 posted on 01/22/2009 1:48:09 PM PST by Eaker (All bow to the baby killing, muslim Kenyan Klown.)
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To: Don@VB
You don't need much room to run it, but you need 640 megs to download the ISO.

If you don't have some way of downloading a file that large, try Damn Small Linux. It to0 is a live CD, but it is only about 50 megs.

It will at least give you a taste.

40 posted on 01/22/2009 1:49:18 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum (You give peace a chance. I'll stay back here and cover you, just in case it don't work out.)
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