Oh... and as a side note... I'm encouraged that there are four or five
14-year olds who want to learn more about Linux and Java, so I'd like to try
to support them as much as possible... I've actually got a second old
laptop (Toshiba Satellite Pro, Pentium MMX processor, 80 MB RAM with 1.34 GB
hard drive) that I'm hoping I can also make useful for one of these kids to
experiment with this summer, if possible.
Peg
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill Ricker" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Tech Writer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Cc: "GNHLUG User Group" <gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org>
Sent: Sunday, June 04, 2006 9:57 PM
Subject: Re: Linux on old laptop in two stages
Ubuntu is a great desktop Linux distro, but I'd suspect it's not going
to perform nicely on an older laptop like that. There's a new
"Xubuntu" derivative that is using Xfce windowing for older hardware,
will supposedly give you the best of both worlds -- light weight
distro with the Ubuntu elan and bug-fixes, but optimized for (and
packages selected for) Win95/Win98 era hardware. If and when I reclaim
an old Win98 box here, I'll try Xubuntu and "Damn Small Linux",
Vector, Puppy.
A review of other distros for old hardware was recently posted
http://www.linux.com/article.pl?sid=06/02/13/1854251
and you can get more information on the individual distros at
http://distrowatch.com/
The installation steps vary depending just HOW old your hardware is.
Most Gnu/Linux Distros install from a bootable CDrom. If you can set
the BIOS to boot from the CDrom, you can install straight from the CD.
(When booting, there's probably a message that flashes by early on
that says something about hit some F-key (possibly in combination) to
adjust/edit BIOS or CMOS or boot options. Just be sure the CD is
before the hard-drive in boot order. And follow instructions on how to
save before exiting setup. And don't change anything you don't need
to.)
If your old laptop can't boot from CDrom, you'll need either a
runs-from-DOS installer or a boot-CD mini-installer, same as for
Windows-98. Some distros have one, some the other, some may not
support either.
Good luck,
--
Bill
[EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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