Installing Ubuntu on a REALLY old computer
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From: bbbl67 on 8 Jul 2006 11:54 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
From: ray on 8 Jul 2006 16:36 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.
From: Rod Speed on 8 Jul 2006 16:37 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. > 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. See above. > 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. > 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. Unlikely to be any different on booting. > 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? Should work, you can usually move a hard drive between systems and have it boot fine with linux. You could also try http://btmgr.sourceforge.net/about.html to boot the CD You should be able to see how to get into the bios on the Pav on the HP site if you have a proper model number.
From: Unruh on 8 Jul 2006 16:51 "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. >> 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?
From: nobody@nowhere.net on 8 Jul 2006 18:48
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 |