Installing Ubuntu on a REALLY old computer
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From: JDS on 8 Jul 2006 19:57 On Sat, 08 Jul 2006 08:54:22 -0700, bbbl67 wrote: > Does this have any chance of > working? Yes, but it won't be pretty, fun, or very usable. Even with a fast, lean window manager like blackbox that machine will be sluggish doing what today passes for the most basic of tasks. -- JDS | jeffrey(a)go.away.com | http://www.newtnotes.com DJMBS | http://newtnotes.com/doctor-jeff-master-brainsurgeon/
From: ray on 8 Jul 2006 20:45 On Sat, 08 Jul 2006 22:48:23 +0000, nobody(a)nowhere.net wrote: > On Sat, 08 Jul 2006 14:36:52 -0600, ray <ray(a)zianet.com> wrote: > >>On Sat, 08 Jul 2006 08:54:22 -0700, bbbl67 wrote: >> >>> I just upgraded my brother's computer from Win XP to Ubuntu 5.10. It >>> was an unbelievable success! It surprised even me how smoothly it went >>> -- didn't need to go into the command-line even once. Linux has >>> arrived, it seems. My brother is a highly typical computer user, >>> doesn't know how it works, just wants to use it for: email, chat, IM, >>> P2P, videos, MP3's, etc. What surprised me too was that after I >>> finished installing Ubuntu 5.10 for him, he himself went to the >>> Internet and upgraded it to Ubuntu 6.06 without my assistance! You know >>> you've got fool-proof system when it's that easy. So he's got his >>> Firefox and Thunderbird just like in Windows. He's found himself a >>> bittorrent client that he likes, IM's with Gaim. I've even found the >>> solutions to allow him to play Windows *.WMV and *.WMA video and audio >>> files. He's happy. :-) >>> >>> So, later I told this story to some of my cousins and now they're >>> interested in putting Ubuntu onto a secondary computer of theirs. Now >>> my brother's computer was easy because it's a relatively modern PC (AMD >>> Duron 1.1Ghz), but the cousin's PC is a really old museum piece of a >>> computer, an old HP Pavillion with an original Pentium at 100Mhz. I >>> tried to boot from CD, but I'm not sure if this thing can even boot >>> from CD. Looking up the HP site seems to indicate that it can boot from >>> CD, but maybe that's only for its own original equipment CD drive -- >>> that's long since died and it's been replaced with an aftermarket CD >>> burner. I can't even get into the BIOS setup of this HP PC. Anyways, >>> long story short, I'm thinking of taking the hard drive out of the HP >>> and temporarily plugging it into a more modern computer to install the >>> Ubuntu from CD there. Then when it's done installing the packages and >>> it asks you to reboot the machine, I'm thinking of then moving the hard >>> disk back to the old HP, and let it finish its setup there. I'm >>> assuming that there's nothing system-specific that's being done in the >>> first part of the install, and all of the system-specific stuff is done >>> in the second part of the install? Does this have any chance of >>> working? >>> >>> Yousuf Khan >> >>IMHO - you should not even try to install Ubuntu on a computer that old. >>If it succeeded, you would not be happy with the performance. Much better >>to try Elive, Vector, Damn Small, or something of that ilk. > > Win98. And while you are tinkering with it, look through your pile of > junk for any Pentium MMX. Don't try K6 or Cyrix - it will not > withstand such an abuse. I "upgraded" a few boxes that way. The > last one was Gateway P75. I plugged in a PMMX200, played a bit with > jumpers, and got it work at 166 - a hell of upgrade from 75. The BIOS > reported it as P66, but Sandra recognized it as 166MMX. Seems it > could survive 3.2Vcore socket5. But don't try any modern OS on that - > Win98 or (cough) NT4 is tops it can "run" (rather crawl), even with > sufficient RAM (at least 64MB). > > NNN I have installed Elive Linux on several P166 with 64mb ram - runs well, and performance is quite acceptable.
From: Mouser on 8 Jul 2006 21:09 Rod Speed wrote: > bbbl67 <yjkhan(a)gmail.com> wrote: > >> I just upgraded my brother's computer from Win XP to >> Ubuntu 5.10...Linux has arrived, it seems. > > Nope, now try accessing NTFS formatted partitions on that. > > Or even just FAT32 partitions. > I have two external (USB2.0) 112GB hard drives where I keep everything that isn't part of the UBUNTU 5.1 system. That's on an internal 35G drive. Both the USB drives are set up with FAT32 partitions. They work fine. In 1996 I put Slackware 2.something Linux on a 40MB (yes, MB) hard drive. Don't remember for sure, but I think the clock speed on that computer was around 50 MHz. Didn't have a clue about drive partitioning, so I kept everything in one "big" partition. And everything worked fine. (No bearing on the original poster's question, but I thought it might be of interest to somebody...)
From: The little lost angel on 8 Jul 2006 23:50 On 8 Jul 2006 08:54:22 -0700, "bbbl67" <yjkhan(a)gmail.com> wrote: >I just upgraded my brother's computer from Win XP to Ubuntu 5.10. It >was an unbelievable success! It surprised even me how smoothly it went >-- didn't need to go into the command-line even once. Linux has >arrived, it seems. My brother is a highly typical computer user, >doesn't know how it works, just wants to use it for: email, chat, IM, >P2P, videos, MP3's, etc. What surprised me too was that after I >finished installing Ubuntu 5.10 for him, he himself went to the >Internet and upgraded it to Ubuntu 6.06 without my assistance! You know >you've got fool-proof system when it's that easy. So he's got his >Firefox and Thunderbird just like in Windows. He's found himself a >bittorrent client that he likes, IM's with Gaim. I've even found the >solutions to allow him to play Windows *.WMV and *.WMA video and audio >files. He's happy. :-) I am embarrassed and stunned speechless by your brother wrt the same attempt. I had to jump through hoops just to get a newer version of Firefox to work on my Ubuntu. A new project got in the way so I still haven't got around to fixing sound (gone after attempting to make MP3 work), much less video. :( -- A Lost Angel, fallen from heaven Lost in dreams, Lost in aspirations, Lost to the world, Lost to myself
From: Rod Speed on 9 Jul 2006 00:14
Unruh <unruh-spam(a)physics.ubc.ca> wrote > Rod Speed <rod.speed.aaa(a)gmail.com> writes >> bbbl67 <yjkhan(a)gmail.com> wrote >>> I just upgraded my brother's computer from Win XP to >>> Ubuntu 5.10. It was an unbelievable success! It surprised >>> even me how smoothly it went -- didn't need to go into the >>> command-line even once. Linux has arrived, it seems. >> Nope, now try accessing NTFS formatted partitions on that. >> Or even just FAT32 partitions. > Yes, and you will find that it makes a terrible cup of espresso as well. Have fun explaining how come knoppix handles the same drive fine. >>> So he's got his Firefox and Thunderbird just like in Windows. >>> He's found himself a bittorrent client that he likes, IM's with >>> Gaim. I've even found the solutions to allow him to play >>> Windows *.WMV and *.WMA video and audio files. He's happy. :-) >> Until he trys to access XP partitions. > And he wants to do that why? Irrelevant to whether it really has arrived. It hasnt even now. |