I have a socket 7 mobo, 200 Mhz processor, 96 Mb ram, 1.5 Gig hhd. I tried to install SuSe 6.2 (retail box set), but failed because install disk 1 had a deep scratch in it (anyone have one they don't need?). I then tried to install an OEM version of SuSe 7.2. This was more sucessful, but it's very slow.

My question is, can I install a newer version like 8.X or 9.X on this old of a machine? Will it recognize my old hardware? Or should I stick with older versions?

I can upgrade this machine to 128 Mb ram and a 10 Gig hhd.

Thanks in advance.

You can upgrade. Older hardware is recognized in newer versions. But you must be careful which applications you install. New KDE or GNOME won't work fast on your machine, but WindowMaker or Blackbox will.

I just installed Slack 9.1 on a similar machine (with less RAM). It runs perfectly fine with the Fluxbox window manager. I used to run Mandrake 9.2 with Gnome on the same machine, and it was a bit slower, but it worked. I don't see a reason to use older kernels and distros. As Mara said, older hardware is recognized just as well by the new ones.

I have kernel 2.6.3 running on a P/75@100MHZ (OC) with 128 megabytes of ram, running fluxbox.

Gnome was just too slow, itd take like 5+ seconds to open a terminal only, and menus took like 2+ just to initiate.

Redhat v.9