I wanted to find a Linux platform for my P2 333mhz 32mb ram Gateway Solo laptop. I've used Red Hat and Mandrake before but with little success. I am finally determined to put in the time to learn Linux properly, but I admit I'm still intimidated.

Basically, I am looking for a straight forward installation that offers good power managment and wireless networking capabilities. Ideally, I'd like to find something that supports composite video output, such that I could play divx files onto my tv. That would obviously be great, but I'm not sure my little old laptop will have the strength.

So, web surfing and Open Office would be great. I'd like to have a chess program too. Finally, besides here, where are other places to seek support in migrating towards Linux.

I greatly appreciate any help you can provide,

Dave123456789

No, 333MHz and 32MB of RAM is not enough for DivX movies nor OpenOffice.

Can't comment on general Linux compatibility of Gateways (try this site - http://www.linux-on-laptops.com/ ).

The big problem with those specs is the amount of RAM. The latest GNOME desktop (default for Fedora) won't be happy with less than 128 Mb RAM, and the latest KDE (default for most other distributions) is probably the same, so you would need to use a light-weight graphical environment like IceWM or XFCE and avoid heavy applications like Mozilla and OpenOffice.org. So getting a fully featured graphical setup on this would be a challenge rather than a really practical solution. Given the age of the machine, sourcing more RAM could be difficult and probably not cost effective.

FWIW, my solution for a Linux laptop was to buy a refurbished ex-corporate machine from one of several firms that specialise in this kind of business - these days you can pick up something like a brand-name P3 700MHz with 128Mb RAM and DVD for the same price as a bargain basement desktop. If you go this route then check the Website above for
compatibility.

You might check out Cobind, they base on the principal of making old hardware still work for the desktop (though i admit I am yet to try it).

I have fedora running on a 566Mhz with 128Mb of RAM and it is quite slow