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Older Computer Reccomendation

Ok so here it goes. My little brother has just seen my laptop that has Ubuntu 7.04 (which I love :)) and he has made the decision that he wants it as well. The problem is that his computer is rather old. The hard drive is around 10GB which I have Ubuntu istalled on one with less so that isn't problem. The thing is when I put in the Ubuntu disc it says something about cut off 1999 ACIP or some abb. like that. I have heard I need to update the bios, but the company that created the computer doesn't offer support or bios anymore. So I need a version that is a GUI that will be good for a 13 year old. The newest and best possible is what I would like to gie him. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

A.

That error message sounds like a date problem, so a BIOS update may be necessary. If you give the name and model/manufacturer of the computer, some on here may be able to help. The age of the bios seems to be too old to allow the installation to continue.

As for the GUI, all distributions of Linux basically come with the same or a very similar choices. The hardware does not sound too old (compared to what I've heard some people running on), so one of the more lightweight options might be a good idea. If you want to stick with Ubuntu, I would recommend xubuntu, which comes with the xfce packages. This can be found here. If you find this too slow, you could try something even lighter, like icewm.

Quote:

The goal of IceWM is speed, simplicity, and not getting in the user's way

Linux will run on your sytem, however old it is, despite the loss of graphical performance.

You may also find this thread on another forum useful http://lists.centos.org/pipermail/ce...er/054114.html

Also, when booting for an install, try typing

Code:

acpi=off

To deactivate acpi. Hopefully this will kill the error.

Yes, that error only has to do with the year 2000 cutoff for enabling ACPI in the bios. If it detects a bios before the year 2000, it won't use ACPI, and you'll get that warning. This doesn't mean you can't use the ACPI power features. Some pre 2000 laptops have valid ACPI support. My HP laptop (1999) has good ACPI, but I have to enable it with "acpi=force" in the kernel boot.

If you want to give your brother the same GUI that you use, but it might make the system run slower, add memory, and it should run fine.

Sam

This message was written in haste because I have a homemade burger waiting for me :)