James Ashburner wrote:
> Gavin wrote:
>>
>> Hi I have an old Toshiba portege 7020 CT Laptop plus base station
>> containing CD rom drive. It currently runs Windows XP Professional.
>>
>> **
>> *Processor Type: Pentium II*
>>
>> *Processor Speed: 366MHz*
>>
>> *RAM: 128MB*
>>
>> *RAM Technology: SDRAM*
>>
>> *Hard Drive Capacity: 6.4 GB*
>>
>> *Max. RAM: 192MB*
>>
>> *CD: on external docking station*
>>
>> *Installed Video Memory: 2MB*
>>
>> *Display Size: 13.3in*
>>
>> *Display Type: Active Matrix LCD (TFT)*
>>
>> *Operating System: Microsoft Windows NT 4.0*
>>
>> *Cache Size: 256kb*
>>
>> *Display Resolution: 1024 x 768 (XGA)*
>>
>>
>>
>> I would like to clear all the old stuff off of it and and install
>> Linux instead. I am a complete Linux virgin and not a techie!
>> I have tried running Live CD's of Both Obuntu and Mandriva without
>> success? Not sure if I have a problem with the CD's or with the PC
>> (see specs attached)
>>
>> Obunbtu starts to load and then just chunters away for ages without
>> anything further happening.
>> With Mandriva I get some error messages.
>>
>> Any suggestions or ideas as to whether what I want to do is possible
>> and what I can do to get it running?
>>
>> Gavin Meikle
>>
>>
>>
>
> You may have more luck with a light weight distro such as Puppy, mainly
> due to only having 128MB RAM. Ubuntu requires 256MB for the live CD and
> I can't imagine Mandriva's requirements being any lower.
Both Puppy and Damn Small Linux will work, but don't expect good
performance. I've run DSL on 128M/200Mhz diskless machine, but it does
crawl sometimes.
>
> Another option is Knoppix, which should switch to using fluxbox (I
> think, or something similar anyway) when it detects you don't have a lot
> of RAM.
Some of the older versions of Knoppix would run in this memory space,
but I think the newest release would have difficulty. About 3 years
ago, I ran a Knopix on a 266Mhz with 64M of memory. It just about worked.
>
> Xubuntu may work, a version of Ubuntu using Xfce as the Window manager
> to cut down on system requirements.
Most "Live" distributions require 192M or more of memory. Xfce will
install in 128M, but not from the "Live" version. From
www.xubuntu.org
"To run the Desktop CD (LiveCD + Install CD), you need 128 MB RAM to run
or 192 MB RAM to install. The Alternate Install CD only required you to
have 64 MB RAM.
To install Xubuntu, you need 1.5 GB of free space on your hard disk.
Once installed, Xubuntu can run with 64 MB RAM, but it is strongly
recommended to use at least 128 MB RAM."
You can find the "alternative" install disks on the download page. Good
luck.
ps: Shame, but you can only get 192M of memory in your machine according
to my memory supplier so the most you can upgrade to is 192M!
<
http://www.aememory.co.uk/uk/productlist.asp?id=4723&type=498&type1=5689>
>
> James
>
