That is interesting that it wouldn’t boot from a CD/DVD. Almost all Linux distro’s will do that. Well, if your computer is old enough you might try a smaller distro first.
A few distro’s are too big to install into RAM if you don’t have a lot of RAM. If you have spare blank CD’s around burn some smaller ones like Puppy Linux or Tiny Core Linux www.tinycorelinux.net (latest version is 72MB)
They don’t come with a lot of add-on software. (You can always download LibreOffice and stuff later)
I run Ubuntu 12.04 (I see no good reason to install a newer version yet)
A possibility, although I thought that unit had 2 gig like the other XP laptot does (and on which I can boot the Linux DVD..)
I'll check the ram first and then try another distro, or something. What I tried is one of those Ubuntu offspring (Mint) which I have running on another desktop here (one of those 'extra' thingies that Mrs. NoC threatens to beat me with... ;-) I do think that they have a 'lite' version, just never thought it necessary.
Thanks, I'll let you know.