[ale] linux for an old compaq

[Ron Frazier]

I'm currently running Ubuntu 10.04 on my machines.  I've run it 
successfully on an old Toshiba laptop vintage 2002 with a Pentium 4 chip 
(I believe) and 1 GB of RAM.  I tried Lubuntu briefly on an even older 
IBM Thinkpad, which (I believe) has a Pentium 1 processor.  I rarely use 
it.  That machine is maxed out at 160 MB of ram.  I put Lubuntu on it 
just for kicks to test it.  Lubuntu with the graphical interface runs, 
but very slowly.  I think this page is the same one others were 
referencing re the Compaq.  
http://home.comcast.net/~egkenny/files/Compaq_Presario_1675_Notebook.html  
That says it has an AMD K6-2 CPU at 380 Mhz and a maximum of 192 MB of 
memory.  Crucial, or someone like them, might have the memory expansion, 
which I would definitely put in.  It sounds like it's similar in power 
to my old IBM, although that thing only has an 800 X 600 screen and the 
Compaq has a 1024 X 768 screen.  I would think this would run Lubuntu 
somewhat better than my old IBM.  It would probably run the alternate 
install of Ubuntu, without the GUI, pretty well.  I checked 
http://lubuntu.net, but I couldn't find their minimum specs.  As a side 
note, I just got my hands on a demo unit of an Asus laptop, unused and 
unsold, at Best Buy.  It has a dual core Intel chip at 2 GHz and 3 GB 
RAM and a 500 GB hard drive.  And, it cost only $ 300 plus tax.  The 
reason I bring it up is that, with these low prices, it's something to 
consider before spending hundreds of dollars upgrading an old machine.

Anyway, if you'd like to try Lubuntu, I have ISO's for their installs 
back to 10.04.  I don't know where their mirror sites are for old 
ISO's.  I have ISO's for Ubuntu all the way back to their first release 
in 2006, I believe.  Of course, those old ones aren't patched any more.  
I also have a list of Ubuntu mirror sites in case their automatic 
download redirector fails you.

Sincerely,

Ron

On 6/22/2011 11:35 PM, Don Kramer wrote:
> Lubuntu 10.04 might work.  And while not officially an LTS, they're
> treating it like one with updates through April 2013.
>
> On Wed, Jun 22, 2011 at 11:27 PM, The Don Lachlan
> <ale-at-ale.org at unpopularminds.org>  wrote:
>    
>> On 06/22/2011 09:12 PM, Damon L. Chesser wrote:
>>      
>>> Sister-in-law has a compaq Presario 1675.  Anybody know of a *nix that
>>> will install a gui onto this old box?  Lubuntu and F15 both will not
>>> (Kernel does not support the hardware from boot up).
>>>        
>> I ran X on a machine that old using Debian 4.0/etch (I think). I won't
>> swear the kernel in the latest release has the modules you want, but
>> it'd be my best suggestion. I'll also say her machine may not be up to
>> spec to run X, even if it's installable. Try to install  to CLI only,
>> then install xdm and xorg afterwards.
>>
>> I've not run PuppyLinux but it and a few others are intended to run on
>> very minimal systems. Not sure how well it works.
>>
>> -L
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>>      
>
>
>    

-- 

(PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to
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Ron Frazier

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linuxdude AT c3energy.com