Hello,

Let me begin by saying i've installed Mandrake 8.1 on an ancient IBM aptiva. The computer is a 300mHZ pentiumII with 64 MB of ram with a discount 16gig hardrive.

i became interested in Linux from overhearing several of my buddies claiming that the linux file systme was extremely efficient. I had the old IBM sitting around collecting dust, so i decided to give it a try.

my problem follows: i have the system configured to boot into a graphical login mode, so i'm running the Xserver from the get go. Everytime i reboot the machine completely locks up before the login box even appears. i have to turn the power off. After that it performs a file system check and boots fine. Any ideas?

second problem: KDE is freakin' slow! i know this is probably a hardware problem, but windows98 was way faster. it makes me think that i have something configured in the wrong way, or do i need to let go of KDE and the Xserver because the machine is too wimpy..? any help would be greatly appreciated...

--mXr

Check your log files (in /var/log) to see if there are any errors logged which might point to the lock-up problem. Type "dmesg|less" in a terminal window to review the startup messages for the same.

As for KDE, it is kind of boggy, but the computer should be able to handle it. I'd definitely stuff at least another 64 Megs of RAM into the puppy though. There are "slimmer" alternatives to
KDE as well; you might want to try some of the options.

i really wasn't expecting a reply so quickly.

I was hoping i wouldn't have to put any money into it to get KDE running well, but i guess i can part with 30 bucks...

i won't be able to get to the machine until tomorrow, so i won't be able to check the log's. I'll let you know if anything strange show's up.

I really do apprecitate the response.

mXr

you might want to try a more minimalist wm - sawmill, ice, and blackbox come to mind. there's always the fvwm/2 - i'd stay away from memory-hungry ones like enlightement and kde.