Anne, I have a box running 8.2 for my daughters when they are home to visit, and for any guest that would want to get on-line. It's a Intel P133 MHz, 128 MB RAM running two 3 GB HDs. I can't recall the video card, off-hand. KDE starts up slow as molassas in January, but once up, is adequate for what the box is used for.
If you think he is going to need a powerful GUI that looks and functions more like Windows on this old box, I think that 8.2 would run better for him. If he would be more interested in "roughing" it, as most young men like to, and sans a GUI, or work with a lighter version, I don't see why 9.0 wouldn't be a great choice. The RAM has to be up around the 128 MB mark, in my opinion, where 64 MBs of RAM will work OK for 8.2. The more RAM the better, as you well know. If you have to pick the best of anything in your spare parts bin, make it the video card! Keep in mind that the video card and ability of the monitor to go hi-freq without destroying itself are important. I have already ruined one older monitor by running X-windows too 'hot' for the monitor's capabilities. You are definitely going to want to load XFree86 3.3.6 instead of 4.2.2, Xconfigurator, and your favorite text editor. I also would recommend that you both do the X-windows testing after installation, not during. Tell us more about the specs for this older box, Anne. This the perfect place to find if anyone has had any problems with older components in Linux. T ----- Original Message ----- From: "Anne Wilson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, November 19, 2002 4:38 AM Subject: [newbie] Min spec I hope to rebuild an elderly pc with my grandson, who is now showing interest iin migrating. He knows that at best it will be dog-slow, but is happy to use it as a learning situation. I would like to install 9.0, but what, in terms of cpu and ram would you consider absolute minimum - remember that ti doesn't have to be a really useable speed. Also, would I be likely to have problems with a pci video card? I intend checking out the options this week. I have a fair computer graveyard, so I'm hopeful of being able to do something with it. Anne ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
