Back again with a new (old) laptop running Linux Mint with some problems. First off, I am using it to write this via local wifi so it is usable.
The hardware:
Acer Travelmate 517TE. This laptop is 10 years old. I bought it maxed out at 256 Ram, it was supplied with only 64 Ram new. It has a hard drive with an amazingly ample 4.9gs. The processor is a pentium II running at an amazing clip of 366gh. Wow, right? I got the thing with Windows 98 on it with the intention of running two programs which don't have linux clones:
Naturally Speaking and another one. I soon tired of Windows and put ubuntu 6.06 on it. It ran and went out to the net, but nothing in the media area was running at all. I quickly moved into Linux Mint. I have tried to install 7, 5, 4. Only Linux Mint 4 will run on this thing at all well.
The problems:
on shut down, it just powers down the hard drive and not the screen or the wireless card requiring manual shut down.
The synaptic package manager can have some repositories added but there are a whole bunch of archives it can not get to. The URLs must be out of date since this version is no longer supported. This is the error window:
http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/di...6/Packages.gz: 404 Not Found
http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/di...6/Packages.gz: 404 Not Found
http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/di...6/Packages.gz: 404 Not Found
http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/di...6/Packages.gz: 404 Not Found
http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/di...ce/Sources.gz: 404 Not Found
http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/di...ce/Sources.gz: 404 Not Found
http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/di...ce/Sources.gz: 404 Not Found
http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/di...ce/Sources.gz: 404 Not Found
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...6/Packages.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...6/Packages.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...6/Packages.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...6/Packages.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...ce/Sources.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...ce/Sources.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...ce/Sources.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...ce/Sources.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...6/Packages.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...6/Packages.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...6/Packages.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...6/Packages.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...ce/Sources.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...ce/Sources.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...ce/Sources.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...ce/Sources.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...6/Packages.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...6/Packages.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...6/Packages.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...6/Packages.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...ce/Sources.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...ce/Sources.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...ce/Sources.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...ce/Sources.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...6/Packages.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...6/Packages.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...6/Packages.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...6/Packages.gz: 404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.88.30 80]
I can download some packages, not the ones with a lot of dependences.
The final problem is that the USB port can not be loaded. I put a flash drive in the USB. It lights up, but the drive is not accessible.
'lsusb' nothing, I 'dmesg' before and after insertion, no change. mnt only has:
meng6chiao@meng6chiao-laptop:~$ cd /
meng6chiao@meng6chiao-laptop:/$ ls
bin cdrom etc initrd lib media proc sbin sys usr vmlinuz
boot dev home initrd.img lost+found mnt root srv tmp var
meng6chiao@meng6chiao-laptop:/$ cd mnt
meng6chiao@meng6chiao-laptop:/mnt$ ls
meng6chiao@meng6chiao-laptop:/mnt$ cd /
meng6chiao@meng6chiao-laptop:/$ cd media
meng6chiao@meng6chiao-laptop:/media$ ls
cdrom cdrom0 floppy floppy0
This looks like another long term project. Looking I think that Linux Mint 4 is doing a great job with this old laptop, miles ahead of Ubuntu.
I am not complaining, IT IS A SUPER SYSTEM AND ALLOWS ME TO DO THINGS ON THIS OLD PIECE OF JUNK THAT NO OTHER OPERATING SYSTEM COULD DO. I AM VERY PLEASED, BUT I WANT A LITTLE MORE PERFECTION. LINUXNOVO