My old Compaq Presario tower (2005 version) came with Windows XP, but it got scrubbed somehow (suspect that MS might have done it remotely in order to get me to "upgrade" to W-10, which I detest)
Manged to load Lubunto 14 on it a few years ago, but now it's real sluggish and won't update on line.
Downloaded Lubunto 18 32 bit on advice of someone who knows a lot more about LINUX than i do - recc. for old computers.
Loaded it on to a USB stick as an *.iso file; wouldn't boot, so ran it through RUFUS to make it into a bootable stick.
Still can't get it to run or instal either in BIOS or boot selection no matter what I try.
Any suggestions?
Old unit is pretty useless without a working OS.

Go into the BIOS and change the boot order to usb. Make usb to be the first choice in the boot menu.


You may want to try MX Linux.
It's lightweight and designed for older computers.

https://mxlinux.org/

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What are the specs of this computer? model, processor, memory?

That does not seem to be an option.
When I hit F10 on boot up I get [Boot Device Manager]
Which offers me 2 options:
SM-HL-DT-STDVDRRW GWA-466B
PM-ST3200822A
Have narry a clue as to what either one of those mean.

Tried booting into each one in turn and just got Lub. 14 back.

The purple light on the butt end of my USB stick flashed, but didn't do a thing for me.

Thanks; I'll give that a try.
Is there another program other than RUFUS to convert *.iso files to a bootable stick? Somebody on Facebook recommended one but I forgot what it is.

About all I can find so far is "Athelon 64 processor", but I managed to open one window with a lot of specs on it.
Too much to write down but I took a picture of the screen which I'll try to ATT.

Hope you can make sense out of it.

Got into the specs of my USB stick, which are encouraging - but still no clue as to how to install it.

Device /dev/sdb1
Partition type: W95 FAT 32 (LBA) (Bootable)
Contents: FAT(32 bit version)- mounted at /(file location)

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You may want to try MX Linux.
[/QUOTE]

Opened that site but it's a little confusing for this senile old phart.

Will it run on a 32 bit machine?

If it requires getting into terminal and entering magic code then count me out!

This looks like your hard drive:
When the system boots up it should show you on the flash screen which key is for the BIOS.
Try F10 or F1:-
Check your motherboard book if you have it.

The other tool you can use is Etcher and or Universal USB Installer.

https://www.techspot.com/downloads/6931-etcher.html

Opened that site but it's a little confusing for this senile old phart.

Will it run on a 32 bit machine?

If it requires getting into terminal and entering magic code then count me out![/QUOTE]

Like MX Linux, Anti-X will run on a 32-bit machine. The download is on this page. Click on antiX-17.3.1_386-full.iso.
Anti-X is also good for older machines too.

https://antixlinux.com/download/

Is your Compaq Presario one of these?

https://www.google.com/search?client...60.-Dt0zzRyc68

Or is it one of these?

https://www.ebay.com/b/compaq-presar.../bn_7024857054

AntiX-17 supports both 32-bit and 64-bit processors which is not surprising because it focuses on supporting older hardware. It can support Pentium III computers with a minimum 256 MB RAM requirement. The installer needs a minimum of 2.7 GB hard drive space to run.

When you used rufus did you select target for bios msdos partition scheme?
Are there usb options in the bios setup that can be changed? Is the usb your using usb 2.0 and not usb 3.0?
May have to use plop to boot the usb https://www.plop.at/en/bootmanager/intro.html

a. I don't remember.. b. I have no clue what that means.

Not that I can find.

(huh?).... About all I can see is in the Disc/Device manager:

"Device: /dev/sdb1"

Never heard of it, but willing to try about anything... at least once!
Thanks for tips / links!

Thanks; Saved it to a USB stick. Can I boot directly from it or do I have to Process it first?

Nope.

But this one looks a lot like it:

https://www.cnet.com/products/compaq...z-1-gb-200-gb/

That one says it's 64 bit capable but mine is only 32 bit - or so it tells me when I try to load a 64 bit OS.

Our tower is about a 2005 vintage. It's been "souped up" a few times since we bought it, but not sure just how much. I shoehorned an extra HD into it and RAM has been enhanced.
Could probably use the spare HD as a "partition" if I was clever and the iso installation utility let me see what I was doing.

You're Welcome-

You will have to process it first.

Take the .iso file of Anti-X on the usb stick cut it and paste it to your Downloads folder.

Than use Rufus <or> Universal USB Installer to make the usb stick bootable with Anti-X on it.

Does pressing F1 (while the machine boots up) get you into the boot menu in the BIOS?


Thanks for the link to the machine that looks like yours. I think you'll be able to install Anti-X on your machine.

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Some older systems would only boot a usb from a specific usb port. If more than one usb port try booting the usb from each usb port.

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Have you ever booted a USB from this machine? As stated above, try different usb ports if you have them as often you would only be able to boot from one port even theugh the computer has multiple usb ports. If you hit the specified key on boot to access BIOS or Setup and don't see an option to select a usb to boot you will need to use a DVD/CD.