I have a Dell Latitude CP, 128mb RAM, 60GB HD[yep, I upgraded it myself], latest BIOS, no NIC[PCcard or USB]. I was able to get Mandriva to install ok, and could not get it to run fast. I also clean installed Knoppix 3 [STD version] and it ran ok, unable to find drivers for sound. I DL'd Freespire lastnite, and burned the ISO to CD, and attempted to clean install it to the laptop, but I got an error, I will have to post the error description later as I am at werk now and I can't remember the error off hand. I am wondering if there is anyone who can help me with the install.

Thanks to All who try.

I do NOT want to go back to W98 because graphics handling for Wincrash 98 is unacceptably lousy. Plus the partition horrors using the FAT32 FS is horrible as well. Also I am hoping to change the 60GB HDD to an 8gb SSD so I need a LINUX OS that supports the old systems.

A couple of my friends have experienced problems like you mention. The most likely thing would be an incorrect burn, or a corruption in the file. I would recommend you burn the disc again, and if possible redownload the iso image

Thanks Dhulme, I have the error:
[ 147.803000] Buffer I/O error on device fd0, logical block 0
I waited for about 10 min, and then the screen blanked out, came back, and it started to install with a whole bunch of messages, I had to resort to installing CentOS, which was successful[3hrs to install???]

Are all linux Distros supposed to take a long time on legacy systems? This DELL LAT CP has the latest BIOS update, and this may seem confusing, but that is because I am new to LINUX after being a Windows fed user.

Also related to Freespire, an issue I am having with the neomagic 128 drivers, the display maximum is 800x600 but the display is stretched, and it looks a whole lot WORSE than when I used Knoppix with the cmd
fb800x600[the display is NOT STRETCHED...]

Is there a way to have neomagic come up 800x600 NOT STRETCHED

Took 45minutes to install, firstboot login, then kdesktop filessystem crashed and system locked up. Force off, rebooted system, System ok after logon for 1sec, after taskbar appeared then taskbar disappeared and system locked up again. Ooooooh this is so frustrating. I don't have any peripherals attached to the PCMCIA or USB port...
Forced off again, rebooted system, logon successful, Knotify Problem message[During the previous startup, Knotify crashed while instantiating Knotify. Do you want to try again or Disable aRts sound output? Again locked up, trying to wait it out for around 5min. if not successful will force off/reboot again. Uff, there has to be a better way to do this...

I'm sorry but I don't know enough about linux to help you solve your problem, my only guess is that there's something wrong with your hardware, if you havn't already check the os website for supported hardware, and after that i don't know what to do. Sorry I can't be of more assistance, dhulme.

It would help if you posted the specs for the computer

It's a very sad case, Microsoft WXP works fine on the DELL Lat CP, a little bit slow. But since I was going to stay with LINUX DISTROS for the old laptop, the only things which worked were KNOPPIX and DSL using fb[width]x[height]. The Framebuffer driver in all the other DISTROs do not work, and the Neomagic Driver that installs is the 128XD version[which unsuccessfully stretches the display into Windows Ugliness].
Further evaluation suggests that Windows reports the device using Neomagic 128ZV, without stretch. I have partitioned the Drive now for 20GB[WXPHOMESP2] and I am hesitant to install on the remaining partition any Linux Distro. I need to know how to get the neomagic driver NOT to stretch the display...
Again the SPECs of this laptop:
Pentium 2 MMX[233Mhz]
128mb RAM
60gb HDD
1 USB/2PCMCIA slots
No periphery attached to the USB/PCMCIA until after I can certify a correct Linux Distro Install.

One more thing, KNoppix and DSL Distros load up ok, I can't figure out HOW to install peripheral Drivers in LINUX, and some of my NICs don't have support for LINUX.
Thanks for helping guys/gals.
Akber

Have you tried Ubuntu or PCLinuxOS?
You can google how to install certain peripherals in Linux, there is no general rule