Advice on Open Source Operating System

Cinamon Girl

Can someone help me on this one please?

I am running Windows 98 on a Pentium 2, 800Mhz? processor (I know, dark ages, but I got it for free and it's going to have to last another while)

Can I upgrade to an open source system, if so which would you guys recommend.

Also if it doesn't work I don't have the disks to reload W98.

Any advice very welcome

Karoma

How much HDD space?
What are your requirements(How shall teh computer/OS be used)?

Prior to any installing:
Get a copy of Windows or Norton Ghost (Older version) as a precaution.
Get a copy of Belarc Advisor or similar to get a list of hardware in your computer.
Backup. Backup. Backup.

Zonko

My advice to make a nice desktop out of that would be something like Slackware Linux, with Fluxbox, or Blackbox, or if you want to go even lighter, something like vector Linux, or Puppy Linux. You could go BSD too, but it's a bit harder, if you don't know your stuff.

robfitz

When ever I talk to people about installing Linux (or any other open source OS) for the first time, I always recommend that they get a second hard disk drive or a second computer and use that to play around with.

Ask around your family or friends if they have an old HDD or old computer you can have, you should try and get a HDD of more then 2GB and as much RAM as possible.

I use Debian myself but you do need to have some experience to be able to install it, maybe you could try Ubuntu.

deRanged

A good option for safe testing would be a live cd, like knoppix
You can check your system for compatibility without fear of wiping it.

Also - backup. *before* you do anything. Then test the backup. Then make a spare backup.
Then carry on.

Cochise

i would also recommend ubuntu, i use it and its really good

amp

Yeah, very impressed with Ubuntu's ease of use.

Blowfish

I also find SuSe 10 to be a breeze. Yast is a godsend.

scojones

Lads, I'm a Ubuntu user for ages now, but running it on a 800mhz machine? That'd be way too slow a machine for it.

SouperComputer

bedlam wrote:

Not really, I currently have it running on a 667mhz Sony Picturebook with 192mb ram and it copes pretty well. The likes of Firefox and OpenOffice might be a bit slow to start but once up and running they are fine.

id agree with this, 800mhz is fine 256Mb RAM and a light window manager without too much eye candy and you're flyin'.

Cochise

im running ubuntu breezy 5.10 on a p3 500mhz with 256 mb of ram and a 7gb hard drive, (Its my os testing machine) works perfectly much better than windows on the same machine, cinamon girl i run my own IT consultancy business one of our services is linux installation and configuration, so if your interested in putting Linux on your machine and your in the cork area i will setup linux (ubuntu) on it and run through using it with you, for free a present from one boards.ie member to the other.

Steveire

Try Xubuntu. It uses a lightweight desktop environment.

Zombrex

DamnSmallLinux is supposed to be good on old hardware

Gone West

ubuntu is fine on anything slow like this.
basically anything above 450mhz and 200megs of RAM will run breezy just fine.
Dont know what sjones is talking about "being a ubuntu user for ages now" apparently doesnt clue you in

scojones

FuzzyLogic wrote:

ubuntu is fine on anything slow like this.
basically anything above 450mhz and 200megs of RAM will run breezy just fine.
Dont know what sjones is talking about "being a ubuntu user for ages now" apparently doesnt clue you in

Come off it fuzzeh! I'm running it on a 2.6GHz machine with 512 RAM and it can be slow enough when it wants to.

generalmiaow

I agree with Steveire. Xubuntu runs at a great speed on a 300Mhz PII I have and the hardware detection is second to none. An 800Mhz PII may be too slow for XP, but it's by no means an ancient computer and it can run an up to date OS.

Static M.e.

I say Ubuntu aswell as a complete novice I found it very easy to install and operate. I now have it on a PC in work and my own laptop at home all in the last week.

it had zero install problems so I was very impressed.

Karoma

GNOME is terrible on old hardware. Also, a default KDE install can be rather slow. Xubuntu thirded or ,better, Damn Small Linux.
Obviously you can change WM after install,but this might prove easier for starters.

Dev 17

I had a P3 550 MHz machine with Ubuntu on it and it ran very slow but I agree thats it's a great Linux distro for a novice like me.:D
Just my €0.02

Red Alert

Personally I use Gentoo Linux, but steer clear for a newbie. I wholeheartedly reccomend Ubuntu, but only after you've tried a Live CD like knoppix first!

Good luck! and come back if you need any more help.

Steveire

Ubuntu is also a liveCD. I'm not sure if I'd say it's neccessary to use one before installation though. You can't do things like install other software etc with a liveCD AFAIK. I think you should either read so much into the installation that you know what it will be like, or use a computer that is not too important to you to see how straight-forward it is.

I think the most awkward part of an imstallation is partitioning for dual boot. I have always edited my partition table to leave some unpartitioned space for a linux distro before even putting the distro CD in. I use Hirens boot CD for that, which is a very handy CD to have around.

On another point, this thread is getting quite old. I'm not sure Cinamon Girl is coming back here.

oscarBravo

Good point. If anyone has any other points to make or questions to ask on Linux or other Open Source OS, they can do so on the Unix board.

Thread closed.