OS For Old Hardware
 

Need Distro to run old hardware. ASUS A7N8X-X mobo. Athlon XP 3200+ CPU. 3GB RAM. Want to install.Readon 7000 AGP video. Need to run SCSI Scanner. Mint 17.1 Mate 32bit live sessions works, but installation is wonky. Mint 18.1 32bit wont even run live.

I'm mildly surprised. Most distros will run adequately with 3GB RAM.

What happens when you try to spin up a Mint 18.1 Live session?

Back to your original question, the heaviest bit of any distro tends to be the desktop environment. I'd suggest trying something with a very light desktop environment, such as LXDE. Lubuntu might be worth a look. If you are set on using Mint and if you can get it installed (I'd recommend the MATE version, as MATE is lighter-weight than Cinnamon), you can then install LXDE; it's in the repos.

You can certainly run Mate on that sort of processor, as you can see from successfully running the live session of Mint 17.. When you say the installation was "wonky", what exactly went wrong? And what happened when you tried Mint 18?

I began to suspect hardware. I booted a memtest disk and discovered I had a bad memory stick. I replaced it with good. and confirmed with memtest. The 17 install was unstable. Would loose menu button, etc. 18.1 would not even boot before I replaced the RAM. I ran 18.1 mate live session (a first since having good RAM) and started the install. The computer restarted itself during downloading the language packs. I did previously install 17.1 and 18.1 32bit using my 64bit dual core laptop. I have done that before to speedup the install for older computers w/no problem. Could that be a problem for the ASUS 32bit mobo? The other hardware under suspicion are the optical drive, HDD and the CPU. The CPU could be overheating but I don't think so, and don't know how to monitor and save that info during the install. SMART indicates everyting good with the HDD. Could the Readon video card cause the system to reboot during the install? I do have a really good USB optical drive but the BIOS does not have option to boot from USB.

Lubuntu is no longer focusing on old hardware or being lightweight, that ships last sail is 18.04. I've always had good luck with antiX (if sticking with Debian base) or SalixOS if you want a lightweight Slackware.

Hi borgward,

The part I'm concerned about is the SCSI scanner ... for 2 reasons ...

1) I've personally never used SCSI for *anything* on linux, so I am unsure of current support. I would suggest you research this just to make sure you are able to find a distro with SCSI support.

2) Scanning in and of itself is one of Linux's few weaknesses, in my opinion. Support is not universal - some manufacturers' products are widely supported, others not. And even a given manufacturer's product line may not be uniformly supported under Linux (ex. Canon).

The manufacturer whose imaging products seem highly supported in my experience is HP.

18.1 live 32bit runs my Epson 636 large format SCSI scanner and Adaptec SCSI card with xsane.


I agree about HP printers and scanners. Don't like their computers - nice specs, poor support.

I have to run xsane from root. Have been warned about dangers of doing so, but have never had any problems. Antix sees my SCSI scanner but will not run it. Simple scan runs the HP all in one scanner, but does not meet my needs. Failed to install xsane. Will address that at another time and place.

@ borgward:-

Considered Puppy Linux for a try-out? I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, but Pup has come a very long way over the last few years.....and I certain don't have any problems getting every part of my old Epson SX218 'all-in-one' to work. Epson are another one who support Linux pretty well, despite pretending not to! And their scanner software (Image Scan! for Linux) works very well indeed.

I'll also second ChuangTzu, as far as Anti-X is concerned. Very light, and very stable.

As for the Radeon 7000 video card, well; AMD/ATI support has never been that 'clever' under Linux.....they seem to go through spells, from what I can understand. Though having said that, the Radeon Xpress200 onboard graphics on my mobo is covered very well by the 'nouveau', 'radeon' kernel driver module. It is, however, a pretty elderly chip; circa 2002.

Just my tuppence-worth, FWIW.


Mike. ;)

18.1 Live will run either the Matrox or the Radeon card. Have to work with antix to run SCSI scanner. Simple scan runs HP all in one but does not meet my needs. Looking for puppy now. Will it run SCSI?

Puppy no good. That dog won't hunt. Sending it to the pound!

Install AntiX or if your MX Linux. AntiX would be easier on your computer. AntiX and MX Linux both have 32-bit versions. You can try them first because they can run as a live USB. https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=antix https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=mx

Installed Antix seems OK, but does not run SCSI. Have to find out how to install xsane or similar. Simple scan not good enough. Will address that subject in another post. Mint Mate 18.1 live runs well and runs xsane, just can't install 18.1. Again another subject.

@ borgward:-

Puppy wouldn't have had the SCSI module loaded at boot, unless you had the printer plugged in and powered-up....and even then, maybe not.

Did you use Menu->System->BootManager ('Modules' tab)->Add new modules to check and see whether the scsi module was in fact loaded? (I'm not sure which one you'd actually need; there seems to be 6 or 7 of them available in the kernel).


Mike. ;)

SCSI scanner was turned on, plugged into Adaptec SCSI card.

No I did sudo apt-get install xsane w/no result. Will try Menu > System .....