Which would be best for my laptop?

chiefbutz · 03-22-2006, 02:15 PM

I have a horribly carrpy laptop and I want to see if I can get linux on it. Below are are laptop's stats. If you need more info I can get it.

CPU: Pentium MMX 150MHz (I think that is right)
Memory: 80 MB (Most it can take)
HD: 500 MB I THINK I can't remember off the top of my head
Video: Don't know, but it only has 16 colors

Is it even possible to run any version of linux on this POS with a GUI?

acid_kewpie · 03-22-2006, 02:37 PM

if you want xwindows certainly don't hold out for much flash stuff, but i'd suggest DSL, which does include very minimal vesa X server running a stripped down WindowMaker all in 65mb.

chiefbutz · 03-22-2006, 02:44 PM

oh yeah would it make any difference that the screen resolution is something like 600x468 or something like that?

acid_kewpie · 03-22-2006, 02:50 PM

nah, i doubt it. there are plenty of boot time options you can give dsl if it doesn't cope well enough.

chiefbutz · 03-22-2006, 03:30 PM

Nope, didn't work. The colors were wrong andi could hardly see a thing, plus the screen resolution was too high. I think I am screwed and have to stick with Win98 on this crappy old laptop

pkozub · 03-22-2006, 05:07 PM

What is the make/model?

chiefbutz · 03-23-2006, 03:46 PM

Compaq Presario 1610 upgraded to 80 MB of memory (Keep in mind this is an old freebie I got, i wouldn't buy something this crappy on purpose)

pkozub · 03-23-2006, 05:04 PM

Ooh...that's not that bad ;-)

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...name=c00256203
^ According to Compaq, thats the full specs.

Have you thought about Slackware? I haven't tried it yet, but I hear it's pretty stripped-down.

pck

truoc444 · 03-23-2006, 05:31 PM

i have debian 3.1 (i had to do the net install) running on a P166 toughbook with 64 MB Ram and a 4 GB Hard drive. i made boot floppies (No CD) to start the net install and let it go with the PCMCIA NIC and it's up and running. i initially installed gnome (default) then the first time it booted i loaded blackbox and use that on it. it runs pretty quickly. gotta love linux. Vector is supposed to be good on older systems also.

chiefbutz · 03-24-2006, 09:14 AM

Those stats for video are WAY off. I have done every grafics driver update I could, and can only get 16 colors....

I think Vector may be out of the question. Version 4 requires a 200MHz processor.

EDIT: Found a driver I had never foudn on driverguide before. I HAVE LOTS OF COLORS! Yay! But wait, that isn't going to do didly for linux will it, dang!

pkozub · 03-24-2006, 07:11 PM

Linux supports the VesaBIOS extensions, and chances are your video adapter does too. Unfortunately, it often needs some tweaking.

Don't know if I'll get lynched for this or not, but you might wanna try SuSE 7.1 or 8... it has the YaST config tool that could make things a hell of a lot easier.

just my two cents...

pck

chiefbutz · 03-25-2006, 07:06 AM

Alright, I guess I can give that a try. I have found a "liveeval" 8, it that what I am looking for?

pkozub · 03-25-2006, 09:44 AM

Only one way to find out!

I must confess, I am still a bit of a novice, so I can't say for sure. The liveevals are good, though, because they don't require you to install anything. Just pop it in your computer and press "power".

chiefbutz · 03-25-2006, 12:53 PM

I guess that is a valid point. That way if it doesn't work, I didn't screw up windows, if it does, well then yipe I can install it. OK I will give that a try.

darkhatter · 03-25-2006, 01:27 PM

slackware isn't stripped down, I'm not sure what you can do with that.

hmmm, try vector linux, that should help you