Linux

karin

I am having a new computer built - it will be much faster than my present very elderly pc, which has a fairly slow processor, about 900 mhertz, (whatever that is!!),- only 350mb ram, although it DOES have a 40gb hard disk

I am having windows xp on it as i have tried vista on a friends pc and prefer xp.

I would though like to play around with the old pc until it finally expires, which will probably not be long in the future, by installing linux.

Is that difficult ??

Any tips for doing it successfully.

I have an ''ubuntu'' disk so that would be the one I would use as I don't want it to cost me.

As this is a very old computer will it have enough power to experiment
and play around and experience linux OS??

Some expert advice would be VERY helpful.

Karin

mrscruffy

You should be fine.

Try to get hold of a "live CD" boot disk (which I think is included on the lasted Ubuntu installer CD). This will load a version on Ubuntu onto the computer without installing anything. This will allow you to check that all your hardware is compatible before installing anything. If all is OK then go the whole hog and install a version on Linux.

Robin_T_Cox

There are various ways to experiment with Linux to start with.

When I started with Linux, I downloaded the Knoppix distro, which runs from a live CD. You don't need to install anything to your hard disk, and not only does Knoppix include a full suite of free software but it is the best distro of all for sussing out your hardware and installing all the necessary drivers in order to run. The only thing that may slow it down is if you have a slow CD drive, otherwise it's highly recommended.

Although Knoppix was the first, it is by now not the only distro that runs from a live CD. Your Ubuntu disk may run this way, so to try it you just pop it in your CD drive and boot up. It will boot to a Ubuntu desktop, and if you want to install it to your hard disk you can do it from the desktop menu. But beware: unless you repartition your hard drive to give XP and Ubuntu their own space, your Ubuntu installation may overwrite the XP. It is possible to install the two operating systems side by side, but if you are new to this, wait until you've read a bit more about it.

You may prefer to try Wubi, which enables you to install Ubuntu inside a folder in your XP system. This will enable you to see how you might get on with Ubuntu on your hard disk, without any risk of screwing up your basic XP system.

There's more expert advice on Ubuntu in the Ubuntu forums, including a special section for absolute beginners.

karin

I am quite happy to get rid of xp on the OLD computer as I am having a new one and so I can ''play'' happily with the old one and not worry that I will get in a mess.
Before finally dumping the old faithful it seems too good a chance to miss.

Robin_T_Cox wrote: »

There are various ways to experiment with Linux to start with.

When I started with Linux, I downloaded the Knoppix distro, which runs from a live CD. You don't need to install anything to your hard disk, and not only does Knoppix include a full suite of free software but it is the best distro of all for sussing out your hardware and installing all the necessary drivers in order to run. The only thing that may slow it down is if you have a slow CD drive, otherwise it's highly recommended.

Although Knoppix was the first, it is by now not the only distro that runs from a live CD. Your Ubuntu disk may run this way, so to try it you just pop it in your CD drive and boot up. It will boot to a Ubuntu desktop, and if you want to install it to your hard disk you can do it from the desktop menu. But beware: unless you repartition your hard drive to give XP and Ubuntu their own space, your Ubuntu installation may overwrite the XP. It is possible to install the two operating systems side by side, but if you are new to this, wait until you've read a bit more about it.

You may prefer to try Wubi, which enables you to install Ubuntu inside a folder in your XP system. This will enable you to see how you might get on with Ubuntu on your hard disk, without any risk of screwing up your basic XP system.

There's more expert advice on Ubuntu in the Ubuntu forums, including a special section for absolute beginners.

bat999

That's OK karin, but many/most people prefer to set up a 'dual-boot' system.
They leave Windows installed then make another partition on the hard drive to install Linux in.
So, at boot up, you get a mini-menu, 'Windows or Linux?'.

Lord_Gardener

I've found puppylinux to be a good starting point for Linux on 'older systems'!

http://www.puppylinux.org/home/overview

hootiegibbon

karin,

I am a member of the PCLinuxOS Community.

PCLinuxOS is a live distribution of Linux designed for ease of use by the newcomerto Linux and like most it is free to download and use with thousands of applications available for free.

PCLinuxOS can also be installed easily

I would suggest you give it a try, PCLinuxOS is known to be the 'DistroHopperStopper' (DistroHopping is the phrase used to describe the habit of trying out distributions on a regular basis)

There are two official releases at the moment the PCLinuxOS2007 release is the one I would recommend, there are other versions available should you like it and want to see what else is available.

PCLinuxOS is Developed by a small but dedicated team called 'Texstar and the rippergang' . Texstar is the lead developer of PCLinuxOS. the developers take in suggestions from the community and listen to its members,

There are various community projects including a project to port over PCLinuxOS to the EEEpc.

The main site for PCLinuxOS is www.pclinuxos.com

The Download page is here http://www.pclinuxos.com/index.php?option=com_ionfiles&Itemid=28

Forums: http://www.pclinuxos.com/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=26
(make sure to read the usage rules)

The projects site is currently www.mypclinuxos.com

There are also several IRC chat channels for live help if you need it. (Freenode) #pclinuxos-fixme for example

There is a java client for freenode channels at http://java.freenode.net (change the channel to join)

If PCLinuxOS ios not for you there is a great resource www.distrowatch.com that has an extensive list of distributions to download and try, again there are (for the most part) free to try and use.

Other good 'alternative' operating system includes the *BSD family of operating systems. The esiest of these toinstall/use is PCBSD http://www.pcbsd.org/

I hope this is of interest


Jase

spud17

I would suggest you give it a try, PCLinuxOS is known to be the 'DistroHopperStopper'

I agree 100%, it worked for me after trying several distros via their live cd's.

I now dual boot PCLinuxOS with XP.

One drawback is that I cannot get my Canon i560 printer to work properly.

The basics, in broad terms are familiar, Firefox browser replaces Internet Explorer and Thunderbird replaces Outlook Express.

The latest Ubuntu will work on your PC but each release demands a better PC, I think PCLOS will work fine.

Another to consider is Mandriva.

wolfman

Ubuntu is a good choice, and comes in all the flavours (gnome, kde etc...)

I'd personally go with Ubuntu or Xubuntu (it's lighter and will run on the hardware better).

They've recently just released 8.04 LTS (long term support) and it works great.

PCLOS is ok, although I find it less polished and a bit garish. It also by default uses KDE which is heavier than Gnome or XFCE. There is a Gnome version and you can install XFCE, but it's not as smooth as Ubuntu in my opinion.

myhooose

As a Linux noob, I'm impressed with puppy linux, running off the live CD totally in ram made it runs fast. It seem a good distro to learn the basics on however the help files seem a little disorganised at times.

I'm still going to try some others to compare.

mdbarber

Been a while since i had a fling with linux but http://www.freespire.org/ was a good place to start.
Very highly polished and user friendly