Help with updating
 

I have an eee pc 701 sd that I've had for a while. I broke the screen not long after I got it and just now got around to putting a new one in. Now that it's so old, I find that I can do more with my phone than with my netbook.
I am unable to update anything, not even Firefox. Following someone else's directions, I did apt-get update and apt-get upgrade and it seemed to be downloading things for a while but it didn't actually update or upgrade anything.
This is my first linux experience and I'm very nervous to do too much on my own. I'm ignorant enough of linux not even to be sure what information to give you in this initial post. I do basically know my way around a (windows) computer and am a wonderful follower-of-directions, if the directions are clear. Is someone willing to help me get this thing right?

Your phone probably is a more powerful computer than the eee pc 701. What is your goal for this outdated hardware? In other words, what applications do you hope to run? What tasks do you hope to accomplish?

The first step toward getting answers is to tell us which distribution ("distro" for short) is installed on your eee. If it's the distro that came preinstalled on your eee, called "Xandros," it is obsolete and outdated, which is why you can't update Firefox or anything else. Basically not recommended.

So if you wish to have a happy Linux experience on your eee, you'll need to replace Xandros (if that is what you have, I can't tell from where I'm sitting ;)) and do a fresh reinstall of a currently-supported "lightweight" distribution that supports old hardware. Some of the more popular lightweight distros include: AntiX, CrunchBang, Puppy, SliTaz, Tiny Core, etc. (this is a very frequently-asked topic on these forums; just do a Search on "lightweight" and you'll get all sorts of great suggestions). I suggest you visit the websites for these lightweight distros, search their forums, see if any users have reported success on the eee pc 701, and if you are comfortable with the friendliness and knowledgability of the people on these forums to support you in this task.

ps Here is an entire forum dedicated to the eee 700 series: http://forum.eeeuser.com/index.php?/...al-discussion/

Lots of good information over there.

I know it's horribly old. I'll be taking a few classes online over the summer and that's the reason I finally fixed that screen. It's so tiny that I'd much rather carry it about with me to watch lectures and things than my big old laptop. That's a lot of lightweight distros you listed there and I really don't know my head from a hole in the ground as far as this goes. Would you mind telling me which you'd choose if you were me? Then I'll head over to their forum and bug them. Thanks to you both for your help!

I do not have personal experience installing on that model (my eee is a slightly newer 900ha) which is why I recommended the 700 series subforum of forum.eeeuser.com

Of the distros I mentioned, Antix is my favorite (and its developer is a nice guy, very active on the forums). However, I am not currently an Antix user. I use a distro for modern hardware called Linux Mint. It is very easy and user-friendly, and I think would make a wonderful intro to Linux for you, if you can scrounge slightly better hardware. It might possibly even run on you eee in some stripped-down form; a good question for the linux mint forums. :)

Bodhi Linux has been known to require very little resources to work on limited hardware computers. It is base on Ubuntu and there fore you have access to lot of software from there. However because it is base on Ubuntu and Ubuntu recently droped support for some Pentium M so Bodhi Linux also cant boot in computer with that processor.

You can check Bodhi Linux at this link http://www.bodhilinux.com/


Vector Linux is very nice too, if you install the light weight version from the light weigh family. it comes with everything you need for everyday computing, even media codecs and flashplayer for youtube. The installer in vector linux is non graphical and during installation you have to do everything on terminal. not difficult though, you can check them out at this link
http://vectorlinux.com/downloads

Good luck to you

There are many choices for that system. Most will allow you to use some set of basic tools and apps pretty well.

If you need to keep the current OS on it that is one thing, if you want or need to switch that would be a choice too. I'd say don't worry about it much if you want to fully change. Even if you bork it, we can help you fix it.

Along with what others have said, many sites offer some choices. I might suggest WattOS for a try.

There may be a few ways to run an OS on it too. One might be to run a live usb flash drive of some choice before you install it to the system.

Be sure to search for the choice you want to try and eepc. It would yield some clues to problems you might have.