My dear mother-in-law has bought a museum-suited PC and thinks it a good deal. The seller assured her it is allright for Internet, but she`d never allow a cable in her living room (she thinks it`s uglier than all the orange crates filled with her other "good deals"), and doesn`t understand why the wireless doesn`t work the moment it is plugged in. I`ve looked into ethernet-over-the-mains adapters but a set of those costs more than the whole PC. I am aware of the fact that she will be more comfortable with Windows, as she`s had some exposure to it, but after some tries that doesn`t seem possible.

Poor thing came with a Windows 98 SE. I managed to find a wireless dongle with drivers for it, but they wouldn`t install... Then I tried Win2000, that got even a connection to the router, but not to the internet. So I pushed my luck with XP. It threw an error in the middle of the installation and now, when I insert the XP or the 2000 CD, it notices there is an installation going on, but cannot proceed, and won`t let me go back and reformat the HD. So I need some other way at least to format it, but I think I should give Linux a try as there is no other Windows I can try.

First part of the problem: how to reformat the HD? The Wiley Linux Bible says "Some Linux distributions include a tool called QTParted that is an opensource clone of Partition Magic", but doesn`t say which distributions contain that. Is there a distribution with a live CD and a good formatting tool? It doesn`t have to be the one for permanent use.

The second part is choosing a distribution she can work with. I`ve heard that Ubuntu is the userfriendliest one, but the hardware is old an feeble and for such cases, that same Linux Bible recommends something called Damn Small Linux (I`ve never heard of that one before). Now I hope somebody who has seen both can tell me which is better for my case, or if there is some better solution. Following points should be considered:

-The hardware seems to be a Pentium II with 256 MB RAM and a CD drive (I guess I can hook my DVD for the installation if needed).

- The venerable lady has almost no computer experience. The only thing I am sure of, she can start a browser and type a URL. So she'll need a user-friendly GUI, preferably one that doesn`t require her to ever look at something a s confusing as a file tree. Despite her bad eyesight, accessibility tools are not important, as the joke of a video card (I suspect it is a 2D only) probably won`t manage more than 800x600, which promises nice big letters

- I should be able to set the whole thing up. I have very few experience with Linux. The only distro I`ve ever seen is Ubuntu. it will do me good to learn something new, but if this Damn Small Linux is little more than a naked kernel and I have to install on it most of the typical things provided with bigger distributions, I`d rather use a big one from the beginning (provided it runs on that hardware).

- What the system must have at all cost is a wireless connection. I already know how to set up one under Ubuntu using the wpa_supplicant package. I am so new to Linux, I don`t even know if this package works for other distributions too, or if they all have some equivalent that is configured in a different way, or if some distributions don`t support wireless at all.

- I think the only thing she`ll use the PC for is buying other (hopefully not computer related) junk over eBay and maybe the odd cooking recipe search. She probably won`t even need an office package. She`ll need a firefox with a flash plugin (no I don`t know either why some people use flash for their product descriptions on eBay) and maybe a printer. She wants to print those recipes, but she doesn`t know if the old printer she has lying around is broken or if the problem is in the cartridges.

- I guess she`ll start selling over eBay too, so she might want to connect her digital camera to the PC. I`ve never seen that camera, but if it is too hard to set it up, I might advise her to read the images in the card reader of my brother-in-law`s PC and transfer them via flash drive. Which means I`ll need an OS able to automatically mount a flash drive upon insertion (or one which can be configured to do that).

- Language packages. She only speaks German, French and Italian, no English. I speak no French at all and I`d rather not try configuring a Linux in Italian. I don`t know if language packs are part of the distribution or part of Gnome, but I definitely need an OS which will greet her in German and won`t crash if she happens to use a umlaut in a file name.

I think that`s all. I am aware of the fact that what she needs has to be as easy on the user as a Windows and at the same time as easy on the hardware as a Linux, and besides it will have to run new technologies with ancient hardware - the German term for such a thing would be "eierlegende Wollmilchsau", which loosely translates to "a sow that gives milk and wool and lays eggs", but I hope you`ll know some good approximation

She needs compiz....

No really...if she's not going to be doing online banking, and just checking emails and such, a browser and flash are all she'll really need. One of the smaller distros (DSL is not just a naked kernel..) would do the trick..just have an autologin and have firefox started up automatically. Unless she's doing spreadsheets or playing with webcams, that should do the trick.

You wrote so many things but didn't give an information.
describe the computer not your mother in law
(no one intends to marry her ;-) )

The only information was windows 98 - so lets say it is a Pentium 2 ?
How much Mhz, What is the RAM, does it have USB is there a CD-drive, How big the harddive,...?

I recommend you to take a view to the real small distros especially Puppy.
I can give you also links to older versions that need even less resources.

If you know Partition Magic you can prepare the hard disk also with that tool especially if you have the version on floppy-disk and can allow to whipe the hdd.
You can do it with GParted (included in many distros also in Puppy) and if you have dos knowhow you can do it even with fdisk (except formating)

The problem you will have is the RAM - Linuxes that have a grafical desktop needs a lot of RAM if you have less than 128MB you have to be tricky and less than 64MB I just can say better you forget it because your mother in law will not be able to use it and will not see your effort.
But when linux works you want to use a modern browser (RAM intensive) and you want whireless internet so you need usb (mostly 2.0)and the drivers. So it is the question if those drivers will work fine with an old distro.

=> I recommend you to spend about 360 Euro - to buy a new notebook ( or a netbook for about 200 Euro)- and your mother in law will love you
Those cheap computers usually come with whireless adapter have plenty of RAM and come with a good Linux-Distribution easy to handle all drivers included,...

The best thing with the least amount of aggravation for both you and her is to get one of those new netbooks for around $400 to $500 or even an inexpensive laptop for around $650. Make sure it has a wireless card. They will all come with plenty of ram. The netbooks may come with Xp or a version of Linux preinstalled. While Linux is much better and easy enough to use once set up XP may be better because there are more resources for her to get help.

But I think that Linux will cause far less need to get help and will run better. What you are attempting to do is not worth it.

You all know that a netbook is better, I know it too, but she doesn`t. And with her character, it is easier to write a new OS suiting her needs than to persuade her to change her beliefs.

The reason I describe so much about her is that the system has to meet her requirements, and the available hardware is only a small part of those. I wrote about it, too: it is a Pentium II with 256 MB RAM. The HD is about 10 GB, that should satisfy even a Vista.

I tried the DSL Live CD on my own PC, but it doesn`t look very good. First, there is the language. Setting lang=de at startup only changed keyboard layout; I didn`t find a way to change the interface to german. Second, the wireless. The OS didn`t recognize my dongle, and as I ran it from a CD-R, I didn`t try installing drivers. Anyway, as DSL uses an old kernel, my best bet seems to be ndiswrapper, and I don`t think it will handle the WPA2 connection, the GUI options only have a WEP field. Besides, a card with a chipset like hers was listed at the DSL wiki as impossible to work with that distribution. And last but not least, the interface is not really easy. An Exit icon that sometimes works and sometimes doesn`t, the confusing mounting of a flash drive without indication if it is already mounted or not, followed by browsing the device through firefox... Just getting her to understand that Firefox and the Internet are not the same thing would be a sisyphic task.

While I`m writing this, Puppy is downloading in the background. Its homepage promises a lot, I hope it is the thing I`ve been looking for.

265 MB RAM on a Pentium II is extremely much, but more than enough for Puppy.
I really love Puppy but Puppy is just in English.

If you want to find a German speaking OS - there are:
Sabayon (too big)
Mandriva (excellent but too big)
Ubuntu (good documentation but I don't really like it)
ZevenOS
KNOPPIX
SAM
GoboLinux ( a different more windows like file data structure)
SaxenOS

Good luck

PS: I found some more Distros in German but I didn't try them out yet.
e.g. TARTUGA-DSL, easys GNU/Linux, Sidux, Ark, Kanotix, CCux, sphinxOS,..

I have a sidux box for my kids with a setup very close to what you're looking for...Only difference is, a diff login for each so that their email pulls up when they log in...it's fast and will work on your rig...but will take some editing conf's and such

I understand your mother in laws position with regards re-use. I bought a Aspire one with Linpus Lite on it and it behaves very well which gave me the idea of trying to recover an older machine. Linpus Lite will not run on the spec of machine you have described I think it needs a clock speed of 336 as a minimum. I have now taken an old machine that was just about running 2000 professional and loaded Linpus 9.6, it claims to run on any x86 platform. The machine I have also came with CD drive which I swapped for a DVD and loaded the Linpus. There are some problems with screen resolution which I think I have solved by using the X configuration tool. It saw all of the installed hardware straight away but is not good at seeing the new wireless card I installed, Need to add some lines of code to tell it where it is. I got a friend/college to download the 9.6 from the linpus website [http://www.linpus.com/] and burn it to a DVD for me. The GUi is very clear and intuitive, It also has NTFS file support so you can plug in an external hard drive for extra storage and microsoft stuff. perhaps if you try it we can start an old machine re-use campaign
Hope this helps
Best regards Dave

It makes much more sense to buy a small inexpensive netbook with Ubuntu on it.

I don't thing that is a great idea.

I also recommended at the beginning to buy a cheap netbook or notebook.
But when it is said that this mother in law and her character it isn't in the discussion to change it is to respect the condition.

Also it is more work to find a notebook with Ubuntu on it than setting an OS on an existing Computer. It is an old thing but it has as we know in the meantime relatively much RAM so it is only a question of finding the right OS that has the support for the old computer-drivers speaks German (another condition we learned in the meantime) and can do the WLAN thing.

As there came no replay after my recommendation of probably suitable distros one month ago from rumtscho I think he already succeeded.
It would have been nice telling us how he solved the problem but ist's OK.

It doesn't have sense to return to a point of discussion when the discussion is over measekid please read the discussions before just additing something somewhere.

I just setup a computer for my mother with Mandriva 2009 (.0 instead of .1 because of intel video driver regressions in .1). Mandriva installs most language packs, English, French, German, Italian and others all by default (I installed KDE instead of Gnome, but I would imagine the language selections would be the same). My mom loves it, but she is used to using a Mac and not Windows.

Mike

She has enough memory for Linux; as for the CPU:

> 700 MHz — will run Ubuntu
> 500 MHz — Xubuntu
> 200 MHz — DSL
> 166 MHz — Puppy

All of these can be installed from CD and will format the drive when it installs.

She shouldn't find it any more difficult to use than Windows: in many countries they use Linux in schools.

Xbuntu should with with a pc running 500Mhz / 256Mb.

that would be one of the better choices, for your mother-in-law .
set it up in English, & ensure that the language that she is most
comfortable with, is also installed.
Set her log-in to that language, & yours still in English, to admin the pc.

ubuntu!
the cd is both live and able to install


to format us pmagic
its a live distro (not really a distro it is very limited like DSL) and it has Gparted built in.

Use Tinycore(the new DSL) and install only what you want-boots fast too.
I recommend the tce extensions.