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Installin linux on a very old comp


Charlie
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I have an old NEC C700, Intel pentium 2, with 300Mhz and i would like to turn it into a linux PC for personal learning purposes(i want to learn more about using it for when i install it on my Xbox) so what version(s) would be best to use with it, im not sure of how much memory it has but it's from the 300Mhz-era so mebbe some one will know(it was top-of-the-line in it's day). Thanks in advance :thumbs:

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300mhz actualy will run mandrake just fine. Your big issue is going to be RAM. If you can get 128mb on that motherboard you can run basiacly any flavor of linux you want. 256 and you can do it well.

 

It's not realy important what distro you use. What matter more is how you use it.

 

Some of this is a litle pedantic, so if you know this allready, forgive me.

 

Linux is a command line OS. IT's NOT a graphical OS. With a project called XFree86, we can use all the graphical p[rograms we want and all of the nice pretty graphical desktop window managers we want, but they all run ON TOP OF THE OS.

 

What that means for you with your old computer is that if you boot up mandrake and find that it is too sluggish with kde, you can switch to gnome, and if that's still too sluggish, you can switch to Windomaker, XFCE or even a plain x server and console with no pretty window manager. Just X and a console app runs amazingly fast on a system like what you have, though as I said, if you can get 128 or 256mb of ram, you can run whatever you want.

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another suggestion, I get the impression w're not talking about your main computer, but a toy you bought to learn linux on. If that's the case, you might look into a distro called 'linux from scratch'

 

It's VERY hard core, but there is no better way on this earth to learn about linux than to set up a linux from scratch desktop.

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if you boot up mandrake and find that it is too sluggish with kde, you can switch to gnome

Are you saying that on a low-spec PC Gnome is faster than KDE?

 

I have an old laptop (266Mhz, 128RAM) that I installed Fedora with Gnome (mandrake wouldn't install on the CDROM...) on and used as a surf-box with wireless LAN in my livingroom. Now it crashed, and I have to set it up again, and I heard that KDE was faster on a slow machine!? What would you suggest?

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I have an old NEC C700, Intel pentium 2, with 300Mhz and i would like to turn it into a linux PC for personal learning purposes(i want to learn more about using it for when i install it on my Xbox) so what version(s) would be best to use with it, im not sure of how much memory it has but it's from the 300Mhz-era so mebbe some one will know(it was top-of-the-line in it's day).  Thanks in advance :thumbs:

 

Do you call that "very old"? You'll need see my server (until very recently it was my desktop)

 

Mandrake should work fine on your comp.

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thanks guys,

if linux is command line, then what are a few commands i should know before i do anyting, and if it dosnt have a GUI then how do you navigate through files, what program creators can i use (e.g C++, Java, ect) will my mouse and keyboard need linux drivers for them to work? My modem isnt a Winmodem so i wont have compatibility issues. Any other tips/hints/suggestions?

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hmmmmm, doesn't sound slow to me.....

I've got a Paxkard Bell with an underclocked PentMMX (233 running at 200Mhz with 96 Megs of RAM) As I'm still very gui dependant, I can sympathize.

I haven't been able to upgrade to 9.1 as there is a problem with the S3 V64 chipset I have. Something you might want to watch for as NEC bought Packard Bell. XFree86, which is the software that drives the GUIs, stopped supporting it a few months ago in version 4.0.x and the newer version of 3.3.6 just isnt' working for this one. Doesn't matter to me; 8.1 works just fine and it's the house server for three other computers as well as my personal computer. But I've installed 9.1 on two Compaqs in the house. One has a 400 Mhz Athlon and the other has a 266 Celeron and they both work perfectly. Had a little prob with the sound in the celeron but sndconfig, an older console program, worked just fine.

One trick I read about in installing on a computer with a lower amount of RAM is to use the text install option. That goes for Mandy as well as some of the others and it's good practise in getting used to a text/console environment.

Something else. Know your hardware!

I'm not trying to discourage you but Mandrake has a wonderful Hardware Database that you might want to check first to see how much or how little frustration you might be in for, just in case you have one of those problem child machines.

And what ever distro you choose, be sure to take your time in choosing what software you want on it. There aren't many conflicts but the nice thing is, you can always add later.

Try to remember one other thing while your installing whatever you choose, what M$ achieves by force, Linux achieves by cooperation.

This doesn't only pertain to the programming scheme, either. :headbang:

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About gnome being faster, yes, for me, I have found that gnome requires less ram and less processing than kde. Perhaps that is a false impression, but it isthe impression I have gotten none the less.

 

That aside, the point still remains that there ARE a number of very 'old system friendly' GUI's for linux such as XFCE and fluxbox.

 

 

As for commands you should know, that's a big question, but I' will list the handfull I use more than anything else.

 

cd Very similar to the DOS cd command, except you put a space after it directories use a / instead of a \

 

ls identicle to the dir command in DOS

 

cp works just like the DOS command 'copy' so you enter 'cp filelocation filedestination'

 

mv works just like the cp, but it moves the file intead of copying

 

ln creates a link, lot's of different syntaxes depending on what you're doing.

 

tar This is the command for extracting and createing tar and tar.gz archives. Example 'tar -zxvf example.tar.gz' would extract the file example.tar.gz to the current directory.

 

 

 

 

But there is one command that is more important that any other linux command, and I'm certain about his. That command is 'man'

 

If you want to know how to use a command, let's say you want to know why the heck I put -zxvf in that tar command example, you can open a console and enter the command 'man tar' and you will be presented with a manual for the tar command. Remember that command, and use it. I can't tell you how many time the man command helped me.

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I recommend running Debian since this is the only viable distro for the XBOX.

Xebian 1.0.1 comes with XFce4 as the WM so Id recommend that.

 

However, the hardest part of the XBOX install is getting the Xbox mem unit loaded with the savegame.

After that you stick in a CD and that it....

 

I just upgraded from xebian 0.4.0 by wrting a single CD and rebooting then running the installer.

 

So get a mem stick written for you, send a blank to me and stampped addressed envelope and Ill write one or anyone on the list at xboxlinux !!! Then JUST GO FOR IT on the xbox :D

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