Replacing Windows & Installing LINUX How Hard?

1/22/09 | Don VB

[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

[Don@VB]

OK an update. I have a Pentium III 501 mgz 160 mb RAM

I previously said Pentium I Sorry! Don

[Calvinist_Dark_Lord]

What's a "Mac?"

Apple Macintosh computer. Perhaps you've seen the "i'm a Mac, and i'm a PC" commercials.

What's "OSX?"

OSX is the common way of referring to Operating system 10, which was a derivative of the FreeBSD operating system.

Certainly you already knew this.

[Big Giant Head]

I have a Pentium III 501 mgz 160 mb RAM

TinyMe will run fine on that. It's a stripped down version of PCLinuxOS. Puppy will work, Damn Small Linux will work, and there's a couple of others out there whose names escape me.

Most Linux distros need at least 256 RAM to load and run, later machines need later kernels and more memory. Older machines like yours need older kernels.

I've got a 233 laptop with 64 megs of ram that will not run any Linux distribution I have, but will run Windows 98 like a champ.

[msnpatriot]

How hard? IMO not hard at all. Installing Ubuntu 8.04LTS by itself or Dual Boot with windows.

For an easy installation, I would recommend the Linux book for non-geeks 3rd edition. I would suggest getting the book and reading the first few chapters first to orient yourself with a new way of doing things, compatibilities, pre-install info, etc. Includes disc with install and live functions if you haven't burned an iso image on a CD yet. All the info you need to install codecs to play MP3’s, other files, radio streaming, DVD playing & Backup, Real Player, etc are in the book which covers a complete functional install.

http://www.amazon.com/review/product/1593271808/ref=cm_cr_pr_recent?_encoding=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&sortBy

Ubuntu (Hardy Heron) 8.04LTS came out mid year or so 2008, and it is supported 3 years.

I can make these suggestions as I used the book to install 8.04 on two Dell D600 laptops dual boot with xp, with no knowledge of Linux. After about 4 months use I usually use the Linux Ubuntu about 75% to %25 XP.

The Linux system doesn't seem to require the maintenance XP does or defraging and constant anti virus worries. I spend all the time I used for those things in just using Linux.

BTW, for the Linux experts out there. I'm am lost when it comes to setting up wifi drivers for a card, is there a tutorial out there that shows the proper procedure to use when getting a wifi card working? Or what to do when the Network Mangager doesn't show a wireless signal. TIA

[enduserindy]

“designed for a 386.” Hence the designation x86.

99% of all OS’s were. Again P1 is too old. I recommend SUSE Linux, my personal favorite. I have a P1 too. I keep it as a memento. It has caldera v1.2 I think. (All command line.)It has trouble with HIGH SPEED inet and high end encryption. While I wouldn’t sell it on ebay for 500.00, I also wouldn’t recommend any stripped down versions of Linux to a new comer. Suse however I would.

[chuckles]

....."OS X is a good example of a UNIX made friendly."....

Yeah, I've been toying with the idea of a VM ware type setup where I could try different OS's while still on XP. I just don't know enough about it yet. I've watched a friend do it and it looks kewl.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

With a Pentium I, you will have to go way back to get a distro to run on it

Not true at all...There are some very active Distros focusing on older machines with limited memory...Puppy Linux is in that category ...but there are others also. Slax is a Slackware based that runs well and has a lot of good features...

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

I think you should look at Puppy Linux....looking at the info on ?DistroWatch,,...says it is aimed at 386 class machines....that would include yours ...right?

Do you have a USB?

Guessing NO!...

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Link to Puppy at Distrowatch:

Puppy Linux from Australia

***********************EXCERPTS************************

# Will breathe new life into old PCs
# Load and run totally in RAM for diskless thin stations

[Calvinist_Dark_Lord]

Sorry, didn’t see the emoticon at the end of your post. Thought you were shining me on.

Maybe it’s time for new glasses for me.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Another option for i386 machines is SLAX...which is small to download and has an interesting modular structure....Live CD also. From the Czech Republic....Slackware Based.

Distribution Release: Slax 6.0.9

**********************EXCERPT************************

Slax is a Slackware-based bootable CD containing a Linux operating system, designed with a modular approach. Despite its small size, Slax provides a wide collection of pre-installed software for daily use, including a well-organised graphical user interface and useful recovery tools for system administrators.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Scanning the thread again ...I missed the machine specifics...with 160 MByte...you have more options than the two I gave you...give us a report back when you find what you like.

[McGruff]

We recently purchased an ASUS Netbook: It has a limited amount of capacity but runs very well on LINUX. I was considering a switch to LINUX for our older PC.

Naturally a new PC is going to run faster than an old PC. Your needs don't seem to be to demanding EMail, Web browsing. If you already have experience with Linux others have recommended their favorites. It would be interesting to see how much faster Linux is on your old computer. Let us know. You could probably burn one of the Live CDs on your new computer then run it on your old one.