Linux

[Darkwind]

Back in the day, I started to study linux on the Redhat kernal. However, I was to busy to keep up on it and I've not had any real problem with Microsoft....ever.

But I have an old system that is really more trouble to upgrade the hardware then it would be worth, but I think it would be ideal to learn some linux on it again.

So, to all the linux guru's here.

Best flavor to go with?

 

[Likkmee]

MX Best I've run to date.I started running Linux when that Idiot Gates came up with 98SE

 

[Marion Morrison]

Old machine? Probably Lubuntu.

 

[Darkwind]

Old machine? Probably Lubuntu.

Yeah, I'd guess that the machine is approx. 7 or 8 years old. At the time, I pumped it up with max memory 2gb. The video card is OEM and from HP, and its getting tired. I hear the fan on the power supply whining up and down as it draws more juice than it was designed for. Could be the PS is just going bad. I never upgraded it.

I was thinking of putting unbutu mint on it.

 

[Montrovant]

Old machine? Probably Lubuntu.

Yeah, I'd guess that the machine is approx. 7 or 8 years old. At the time, I pumped it up with max memory 2gb. The video card is OEM and from HP, and its getting tired. I hear the fan on the power supply whining up and down as it draws more juice than it was designed for. Could be the PS is just going bad. I never upgraded it.

I was thinking of putting unbutu mint on it.

I've been using Mint alongside Windows for a while now. Mint has a very Windows feel to it. I think the xfce version of Mint is supposed to be best for low resource machines. That's what I'm running on an old laptop I use as a media center for my TV, anyway....the laptop is probably about as old as the machine you are talking about, and it runs Mint 18 xfce well enough.

 

[Darkwind]

Old machine? Probably Lubuntu.

Yeah, I'd guess that the machine is approx. 7 or 8 years old. At the time, I pumped it up with max memory 2gb. The video card is OEM and from HP, and its getting tired. I hear the fan on the power supply whining up and down as it draws more juice than it was designed for. Could be the PS is just going bad. I never upgraded it.

I was thinking of putting unbutu mint on it.

I've been using Mint alongside Windows for a while now. Mint has a very Windows feel to it. I think the xfce version of Mint is supposed to be best for low resource machines. That's what I'm running on an old laptop I use as a media center for my TV, anyway....the laptop is probably about as old as the machine you are talking about, and it runs Mint 18 xfce well enough.

This looks about right then?

New features in Linux Mint 18 Xfce - Linux Mint

 

[Marion Morrison]

Old machine? Probably Lubuntu.

Yeah, I'd guess that the machine is approx. 7 or 8 years old. At the time, I pumped it up with max memory 2gb. The video card is OEM and from HP, and its getting tired. I hear the fan on the power supply whining up and down as it draws more juice than it was designed for. Could be the PS is just going bad. I never upgraded it.

I was thinking of putting unbutu mint on it.

I've been using Mint alongside Windows for a while now. Mint has a very Windows feel to it. I think the xfce version of Mint is supposed to be best for low resource machines. That's what I'm running on an old laptop I use as a media center for my TV, anyway....the laptop is probably about as old as the machine you are talking about, and it runs Mint 18 xfce well enough.

This looks about right then?

New features in Linux Mint 18 Xfce - Linux Mint

That could work.

I was thinking this:

lubuntu

 

[Montrovant]

Old machine? Probably Lubuntu.

Yeah, I'd guess that the machine is approx. 7 or 8 years old. At the time, I pumped it up with max memory 2gb. The video card is OEM and from HP, and its getting tired. I hear the fan on the power supply whining up and down as it draws more juice than it was designed for. Could be the PS is just going bad. I never upgraded it.

I was thinking of putting unbutu mint on it.

I've been using Mint alongside Windows for a while now. Mint has a very Windows feel to it. I think the xfce version of Mint is supposed to be best for low resource machines. That's what I'm running on an old laptop I use as a media center for my TV, anyway....the laptop is probably about as old as the machine you are talking about, and it runs Mint 18 xfce well enough.

This looks about right then?

New features in Linux Mint 18 Xfce - Linux Mint

Yep, that's the one. It's supposed to be the "lightweight" version of Mint.

 

[Darkwind]

Is the full version of Mint a significant load on a system? I guess I could go get the specs. lol

 

[Darkwind]

Ah..Okay, this is what I found.

System requirements:

• 512MB RAM (1GB recommended for a comfortable usage).
• 9GB of disk space (20GB recommended).
• 1024×768 resolution (on lower resolutions, press ALT to drag windows with the mouse if they don’t fit in the screen).

The resolution is going to be a problem.

 

[Montrovant]

Ah..Okay, this is what I found.

System requirements:

• 512MB RAM (1GB recommended for a comfortable usage).
• 9GB of disk space (20GB recommended).
• 1024×768 resolution (on lower resolutions, press ALT to drag windows with the mouse if they don’t fit in the screen).

The resolution is going to be a problem.

Take a look at lubuntu, maybe that has lesser requirements. I also remember using macpup at one point to read information off of a damaged hard drive, but I don't know how that would work as a full OS; I just booted it off a flash drive to read the hard drive, I didn't try to use it as a daily OS.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Keep in mind you can test just about any Linux OS without installing it. SImply run it off of a thumb drive. Obviously it will be slow, but you can see how everything works before fully installing

 

[Ringel05]

Back in the day, I started to study linux on the Redhat kernal. However, I was to busy to keep up on it and I've not had any real problem with Microsoft....ever.

But I have an old system that is really more trouble to upgrade the hardware then it would be worth, but I think it would be ideal to learn some linux on it again.

So, to all the linux guru's here.

Best flavor to go with?

How "old" of computer? Do you know the configuration, CPU, RAM, mobo, graphics, is it SATA or PATA (IDE)? That'll tell you which distro version will work best.

 

[Ringel05]

Ah..Okay, this is what I found.

System requirements:

• 512MB RAM (1GB recommended for a comfortable usage).
• 9GB of disk space (20GB recommended).
• 1024×768 resolution (on lower resolutions, press ALT to drag windows with the mouse if they don’t fit in the screen).

The resolution is going to be a problem.

You could also try Bodhi Linux.

System requirements:

Minimum:

• 500mhz processor
• 256MB of RAM
• 4GB of drive space

Recommended:

• 1.0ghz processor
• 512MB of RAM
• 10GB of drive space

I used it about 7 years ago on a old 486 Dell desktop and it was fast even on that old hunk of junk.

 

[Darkwind]

Ah..Okay, this is what I found.

System requirements:

• 512MB RAM (1GB recommended for a comfortable usage).
• 9GB of disk space (20GB recommended).
• 1024×768 resolution (on lower resolutions, press ALT to drag windows with the mouse if they don’t fit in the screen).

The resolution is going to be a problem.

You could also try Bodhi Linux.

System requirements:

Minimum:

• 500mhz processor
• 256MB of RAM
• 4GB of drive space

Recommended:

• 1.0ghz processor
• 512MB of RAM
• 10GB of drive space

I used it about 7 years ago on a old 486 Dell desktop and it was fast even on that old hunk of junk.

Not as old as a 486, to be sure. I think it has 2mb of ram, a 1 gig hard drive, and a 2 MHz processor. Really, the problem with it seems to be the bus speed of the main board and a tired power supply.

 

[Ringel05]

Ah..Okay, this is what I found.

System requirements:

• 512MB RAM (1GB recommended for a comfortable usage).
• 9GB of disk space (20GB recommended).
• 1024×768 resolution (on lower resolutions, press ALT to drag windows with the mouse if they don’t fit in the screen).

The resolution is going to be a problem.

You could also try Bodhi Linux.

System requirements:

Minimum:

• 500mhz processor
• 256MB of RAM
• 4GB of drive space

Recommended:

• 1.0ghz processor
• 512MB of RAM
• 10GB of drive space

I used it about 7 years ago on a old 486 Dell desktop and it was fast even on that old hunk of junk.

Not as old as a 486, to be sure. I think it has 2mb of ram, a 1 gig hard drive, and a 2 MHz processor. Really, the problem with it seems to be the bus speed of the main board and a tired power supply.

Yup, probably one of the older duo-cores, pre-hyperthreading days. You could try Lubuntu, Mint Xfce or Bodhi Linux to see which one works best, I would suspect Bodhi might be the answer here though as it's actually designed to work with older and newer configuations.

 

[waltky]

Ubuntu Linux Mint 18.3...

... still has a 32 bit version.

 

[Tax Man]

Not to be a pooper but XP serves me fine! My machine is 18 years old and functions well.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Not to be a pooper but XP serves me fine! My machine is 18 years old and functions well.

And the point would be that every time Microsoft finally gets their OS right - they bring out a new buggy/slow OS with even higher hardware requirements.
Windows XP SP3 is certainly a contender as one of their best OS's. It was followed by Windows 7...but Windows 7 was XP with new carpet. So it was/is an equally good system
Windows 8 was the next big change, and we all know where this headed.

 

[Tinhatter]

Back in the day, I started to study linux on the Redhat kernal. However, I was to busy to keep up on it and I've not had any real problem with Microsoft....ever.

But I have an old system that is really more trouble to upgrade the hardware then it would be worth, but I think it would be ideal to learn some linux on it again.

So, to all the linux guru's here.

Best flavor to go with?

I run MX Linux 18.2 on an old Dell Optiplex 755 in LiveCD mode, but no reason to think it would not install if you wanted. It works as good as XP Pro. Been using it to teach myself Linux.