Re-using old laptop

excollier

Hi, I have an old (around 9 years old) Compaq laptop that I want to pass on to my mum, who is 75 and has never yet used a computer, but wants to start.
The laptop runs XP Home, and alongside that, I have installed Puppy Linux as a dual boot. This I did to get a fast starting and low maintenance os for my mum to use, as XP has become slow and bloated, and having to contend with daily AVG updates, and Windows updates and re-boots would be just too troublesome for her.
Thing is , how do I shrink the size of XP on the hard drive to give more space for Puppy to use as storage, XP occupies 12GB of a 18GB hdd, so at the moment I have allocated just 1.5GB to Puppy, until I can shrink XP, and allocate some more.
I have uninstalled all the unnecessary programmes I had used before, and all stored personal data.
Would I do a system restore to the point of SP3 update, I'm not really sure why it occupies so much space, is it the constant Windows patches and security updates? Is it safe to get rid? I would like to keep XP there as an alternative when my mum gets more confident.
I did try to install Linux Mint to completely replace XP, but it wouldn't work, I think the computer just isn't capable, thinstall DVD's just don't work withit, and it flatly refuses to boot from any usb device.
Sorry for the long post - the laptop has just (reported) 650mb ram, but works quickly enough, and the processor is AMD (not dual core obviously, and is hopeless when AVG or Windows updates are in progress).
I use Linux Mint myself, dual booted with Vista (used by my wife)
All help and tips gratefully accepted.

Monotype

You could try ccleaner to get rid of any unnecessary and temporary files from the xp install.
https://www.piriform.com/CCleaner

the_syco

excollier wrote: »

XP occupies 12GB of a 18GB hdd

Sounds like XP alright; it'll just get bigger as time goes on.

Get Spacemonger v1.4.0 under the "Free Software" tab at http://www.sixty-five.cc/download/index.php run it, select the windows folder, and it'll tell you what folders are taking up the most room.

I did a check on the "family" PC (XP) there, and the Windows folder is 21GB's. After running Spacemonger, most of this is the Temp folder, taking up 11GB's!!!:eek: A further 3GB's is taken up by a "Installer" folder, so the Spacemonger program will tell you pretty quickly what folders take up the most room. As it's the family PC, I let it build up and only delete the unneeded stuff whenever I'm told it's slowing down (updates & temp are usually the biggest reasons).

excollier

XP has grown to 12GB over 8-9 years, I don't have original install discs, never did, so I can't wipe it and start again. Even if I could wipe it, it wont run linux .iso install/live discs, at least not ones on dvd, I don't have any cd sized linux distros to try. If anyone knows where I can get a distro that fits on a cd (i.e. small enough) then let me know and I will give it a try.

challengemaster

excollier wrote: »

Even if I could wipe it, it wont run linux .iso install/live discs, at least not ones on dvd, I don't have any cd sized linux distros to try. If anyone knows where I can get a distro that fits on a cd (i.e. small enough) then let me know and I will give it a try.

You need to make sure you're burning a bootable cd/dvd in the first place. If you just copy the .iso over and burn it, you just have an .iso file sitting on a cd. Nothing will boot that, as .iso files are almost like .zip files for operating systems.

Download ImgBurn and use that for burning .iso files

Because the laptop is probably old and slow anyway, you can try Lubuntu - a light weight version of ubuntu.

http://lubuntu.net/

or the full version of Ubuntu can be installed from within windows to give a dual boot using this installer

http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/windows-installer


Overall I'd say Ubuntu (in any form) is probably the easiest linux distro to use for someone that's never seen linux before.

excollier

I know how to burn bootable .iso disks, I made one to install Linux Mint 13 on my other Vista laptop, but the older laptop refuses to run them at boot up, even with cd/dvd at the top in the bios boot up setting. I have tried Ubuntu, Mint and Fedora live/install .iso disks - no go they just hang, and then the laptop boots into XP when it gives up.

the_syco

Can it read stuff from the cd/dvd drive okay within Windows? I ask to ensure that the drive is working correctly.

excollier

Everything except live .iso dvd, (it is a dvd drive, read only)

That doesn't sound right. A fully patched XP system with .NET 4.0, 1GB of RAM and hibernation enabled uses about 5.5GB.

excollier

Well, I downloaded and burned a SliTaz Linux .iso cd, only 35MB, loaded it up live on the old laptop in question and here I am 10 minutes after starting, replying on this forum via a browser on the live disc (Midori, used by many linux os).
It's very fast and easy to use, looks like the answer.

excollier

Karsini wrote: »

That doesn't sound right. A fully patched XP system with .NET 4.0, 1GB of RAM and hibernation enabled uses about 5.5GB.

Believe it, it's right there in front of me.

Patrick 1

Any chance you upgraded from one XP to another and have multiples floating around in the install? Personally I'd recommend wiping XP altogether and just running with ubuntu/linux.

excollier

I installed Mint 12 and wiped XP. Lubuntu refused to install after wiping XP, but Mint 12 worked fine. Trouble is support for it ends in April, so I will have to look around for something else in the future, but all's working well atm.

Lovely Bloke

What about Mint 14?

Zillah

Isn't teaching her Linux kind of counter productive? It's not like she's likely to find it anywhere else. Honestly, given that you've lost your original boot I don't think you should feel particularly guilty of, uhm, acquiring a new copy by the means available to you. It's an OS that has been superseded by three generations of Windows, and it is for your 75 year old mother. Just get the a boot with SP3 included, format drive, enjoy fresh, clean, minimalist XP.

Patrick 1

Ubuntu 10.04 gets my recommendation, but mint has good work around it.

excollier

Windows of any sort soon gets slow and bloated, and the constant anti-virus and secrity patch updates are a pain on an old slow computer. My mum just needs a fast booting and easy to use gui. At gui level, linux is as easy as windows, there's no need for her to learn the cli stuff, I certainly don't use it much, I've only been using linux for about 5 months, and took to it very quickly, so if Linux Mint is my mum's first contact with computers, what difference does it make?

excollier

TheNinthGate wrote: »

What about Mint 14?

The laptop in question absolutely refuses to recognise and boot from dvd or usb but it's fine with cds, so Mint 12 lxde is the only one small enough for a cd (Lubuntu failed to install).
(I use Mint 13 on my own laptop, dual booted with Windows Vista).

Lovely Bloke

Zillah wrote: »

Isn't teaching her Linux kind of counter productive?

There isn't much "learning" with a distro like Mint or Ubuntu tohugh, especially for a woman in her 70s who is just browsing and maybe using a mail client - but the web based mail services are good enough to not even need that.

Even if she wants to compose letters, LibreOffice Word equivalent is not a hard concept to learn.

Also, the OP says that she's never used a computer before.

Better to start her off on a stable linux OS than some bloated XP on a 16gb HDD that will almost definitely run into issues.

Stick on Linux, put a huge Firefox Icon on the desktop and rename it to "Click This For Internet".

Lovely Bloke

@OP

Have you considered the Joli OS?

I played around with it, and thought it would be perfect for an older person.

http://www.jolicloud.com/jolios

Patrick 1

TheNinthGate wrote: »

There isn't much "learning" with a distro like Mint or Ubuntu tohugh, especially for a woman in her 70s who is just browsing and maybe using a mail client - but the web based mail services are good enough to not even need that.

Even if she wants to compose letters, LibreOffice Word equivalent is not a hard concept to learn.

Also, the OP says that she's never used a computer before.

Better to start her off on a stable linux OS than some bloated XP on a 16gb HDD that will almost definitely run into issues.

Stick on Linux, put a huge Firefox Icon on the desktop and rename it to "Click This For Internet".

Exactly what needs to be done, did a similar thing for my mother, a huge icon that says INTERNET and then have the homepage as her auto-matically signing in e-mail.