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Thread: Linux on an old laptop

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    Illegal Alien wedge22's Avatar
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    Linux on an old laptop

    I have just acquired an old Toshiba laptop. Its running a Celeron 600Mhz, 64Mb RAM and a 6Gb HDD. Which linux would be a good choice for this old lappy.
    Main Rig: i2600k@4.3Ghz/ASUS P8P67 PRO/MSi GTX580/16GB Mushkin/HAF X/Noctua NH-D14

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    The late but legendary peterb - Onward and Upward peterb's Avatar
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    Re: Linux on an old laptop

    Probably none with a Gui - and with that amount of RAM it will be slow even in console mode.

    Best choices might be dam small Linux or Puppy Linux.
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    Re: Linux on an old laptop

    Yeah I the RAM is limiting you there, try get another 64mb stick and as peterb said go with a small resource Linux like puppy
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    Re: Linux on an old laptop

    I have just ordered a 128Mb stick off Ebay as I found out the max memory for the system is 192Mb. This should help me out alot. I like the look of puppy so I am going to give that a try, I have just installed it onto a USB stick and will try it out soon.
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    The late but legendary peterb - Onward and Upward peterb's Avatar
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    Re: Linux on an old laptop

    192 Mbytes will just about let you run a Gui - you should set about 512Mb for swap space and you may get adequate performance - don't expect anything startling though - the Gui - (at least Gnome and KDE) will be a resource hog. Some of the other lighter weight Guis might be better.
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    Senior Member Stringent's Avatar
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    Re: Linux on an old laptop


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    Re: Linux on an old laptop

    puppy linux

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    Re: Linux on an old laptop

    Arch + framebuffer + lots of spare time and willingness to learn. It could turn out better than you think.
    Quote Originally Posted by Agent View Post
    ...every time Creative bring out a new card range their advertising makes it sound like they have discovered a way to insert a thousand Chuck Norris super dwarfs in your ears...

  9. #9
    A shadowy flight. MSIC's Avatar
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    Re: Linux on an old laptop

    No-one want to mention Windows 2000?
    I agree with something like Xubuntu, but W2k (if you have it available) with suitable firewalls etc is still a good OS. Just another thought / option.
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    Illegal Alien wedge22's Avatar
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    Re: Linux on an old laptop

    I do not have Win2k available to me.
    I have installed Puppy v4 and its running quite nicely, even my usb Dlink G122 wifi is working although Seamonkey will not load any pages which is odd.
    Main Rig: i2600k@4.3Ghz/ASUS P8P67 PRO/MSi GTX580/16GB Mushkin/HAF X/Noctua NH-D14

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    A shadowy flight. MSIC's Avatar
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    Re: Linux on an old laptop

    That's good. I'm becoming a Linux advocate, but just wanted to consider other ideas.
    Have never tried Puppy myself though, but have had success with Xubuntu on a similar setup (and 192MB RAM).
    I'm commenting on an internet forum. Your facts hold no sway over me.
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    Re: Linux on an old laptop

    I think that I may have to update the drivers for the wifi to work, I have no idea how to do this.
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    A shadowy flight. MSIC's Avatar
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    Re: Linux on an old laptop

    Are there drivers available for Puppy Linux (or any Linux for that matter?).
    Looking at Dlink's page for the G122 and then here there is version 3.30 available for windows.

    I then personally use NDISwrapper for my Ubuntu box, with my Netgear card and found it to be 100% reliable once you get it installed.
    I don't know about Dlink, but netgear dont give you the files easily. You need a working Windows installation, then install the .exe, and then go into windows / system 32 / drivers etc to find them and copy them into Linux. Very frustrating, plus you need a working Windows environment to do it.

    Anyone else any quicker / easier solution?
    Plus i'm afraid i do not know how to install NDISwrapper in Puppy.
    I'm commenting on an internet forum. Your facts hold no sway over me.
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    A shadowy flight. MSIC's Avatar
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    Re: Linux on an old laptop

    And as if by magic....
    Found this on Digg today.
    Who'd have thought they'd have done something this useful?

    https://launchpad.net/auto-ndiswrapprer
    I'm commenting on an internet forum. Your facts hold no sway over me.
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    Illegal Alien wedge22's Avatar
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    Re: Linux on an old laptop

    I cannot get a wifi connection to my router, I get a message stating that the WPA connection did not work, why is this? I am using a static IP address.
    Main Rig: i2600k@4.3Ghz/ASUS P8P67 PRO/MSi GTX580/16GB Mushkin/HAF X/Noctua NH-D14

  16. #16
    Comfortably Numb directhex's Avatar
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    Re: Linux on an old laptop

    static ip with wireless? not a recipe for joy

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