I have a Laptop used to be Windows 98 SE with 256 MB ram. I have loaded Linux 11 on to of Windows XP but nothing seems to have happened. Just a screen with Linux 11 logo and nothing to click on to start. Can anyone guide me please?
Keith

Hi Keith, I would recycle the old Windows 98 laptop and look for something with the following minimum specifications:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/In...emRequirements

If you visit Craigslist, Freecyle, etc. you should be able to find something low-cost/free. Good luck!

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There is no such thing like Linux 11. It can be Ubuntu 11.04/11.10, Mint 11, openSuse 11.x and may be several others.
Anyways, if it is a modern version with a fully fledged desktop like KDE, Gnome or Unity it most likely won't work with only 256MB.
You can try a more lightweight version, like Lubuntu, antiX, WattOS, Bodhi or similar, but may be the best is to follow snowpine's advice and to try to get something more powerful.

I have a suitable machine so will follow your advice. The old laptop doesn't owe me anything so will donate it to TWAM (Tools with a Mission) sent to Rwanda top help people there. Thanks again. I am a veteran on Windows systems but heard good reports about Linux and invested in a suite which comprises:
Linux Mint 11 / Ubuntu 11.04 / PCLinuxOS 2011.6 / Mandriva One 2010.2 /SimplyMEPIS 11.0 DVD /and OpenSuse 11.4 DVD . No explanation so I don't know what is what and what I should be doing with them. I am prepared to dedicate a good spec machine to Linux as you suggest and don't want to double run with Windows as I have other machine for that. Any hints on how to proceed and make the best to learn on are welcome.
Keith

http://www.mepiscommunity.org/install-mepis11

should get you started.

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Here is a comparison of the Top 10 distributions or "distros" that I have found helpful in the past:
http://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=major

Keep in mind that many of the distros on your list are fast-moving projects; for example Ubuntu 11.04 (the April 2011 release) will reach its end of support in October. You can always download the latest version of any distro for free (with a couple of exceptions) from the project website.

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Thanks, I will use this as a reference when I am ready to start. I have given it a quick look and it looks comprehensive.
Keith

Thanks Snopine, I visited that and have copied and pasted out so I can read offline and will read it before starting. Most helpful. Thanks.

Like it was mentioned above. Linux distributions are moving fast and some of these distros you mentioned are already old. If you did get a newer computer I would just suggest you to download the distro of your choice straight from its web site to ensure you are getting the latest software.

Here are some links for distros you can download for free and burn into disk or make a USB pendrive.
for Ubuntu http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop
for OpenSuSe http://software.opensuse.org/121/en
for LinuxMint http://www.linuxmint.com/download.php
for Fedora http://fedoraproject.org/en/get-fedora

These are very user friendly distros, easy to setup on your laptop or desktop and pre loaded with ton of good application. You can look for screen shots there too on their site and find some more documentation.
Most hardware is supported under Linux however some pieces might need some tweaking to make it work the way you wanted. Broacom wireless card are one of them.

Good luck to you!

1 members found this post helpful.

Thanks Tron. What a nice helpful Forum this is. Here I am sat in Lincoln UK and instantly help comes from Michagan USA. Magic. I have made a copy of those sites and will download and prepare before setting up. I hope from your pseudonym that you are not set up for MAD the mutual destruction from the film?
Thanks again, I hope to post a message to my helpers in 6 months to tell you how I am getting on with Linux systems.
Regards to all helpers. Keith

If you really want to use that old laptop there are distros that might work. Puppy is one. Go to distrowatch.com. Check out the distros looking for tiny ones. Distrowatch will have the homepage. Go there and read up on what you need for hardware and look at the screen shots. You should find something like SliTaz 4.0 which installs a full desktop with only 48MB of RAM. Search for the best small Linux distros and you should find a list of what will work.

Lubuntu might work. A Pentium II or Celeron system with 128MB of RAM is probably a bottom-line configuration that may yield slow yet usable system with Lubuntu. It should be possible to install and run Lubuntu with less memory, but the result will likely not be suitable for practical use.

VectorLinux Light This distro edition is usable on computers with only 64MB of RAM.

There are more, some with less features. Burn a live CD and see what happens when you boot up. Good Luck.

1 members found this post helpful.

Thanks jym56 but I think I will set up a substantial capability from the start and grow into it, I have the necessary hardware. I will store your information in case I decide to have a play with that option later, though. Thanks for taking the time to help me. Just so you guys in the US know, we, in UK, really appreciate all the tax dollars you invested in the space program which led to giant leaps forward in electronics and communications thus allowing us, separated by about 6000 miles, to instantly respond to each other. The Chinese, Japanese and a host of asian countries may have jumped on the production bandwaggon but your guys in Silicon valley are my heroes and you and your countrymen with your tax payments are our benefactors too. Grateful thanks to all in the US.
Keith (Lincoln, England)

In spite of a lot of good advice in this thread, no one seems to have mentioned the idea of upgrading the RAM, which is another option. Assuming that the appropriate standard of RAM is available, and the machine will take it (ie, it is within the max memory that the machine can use) RAM tends to be reasonably priced.

I hope that you didn't invest too much in that 'suite' because

• anything that you are likely to want can be downloaded for free
• the versions there are a bit outdated, and once support has ended, you will no longer get updates, including security updates

In any case, there are about three magazines in the UK that have some kind of distro on the front of each issue, so buying a magazine with a distro that you fancy might be a good way of getting an up-to-date distro (one magazine does seem to specialise in late betas and release candidates, and for someone who is just starting out, that probably can't be recommended, except as a preview of the fully-released item).

If you have semi-infinite download bandwidth, it is easy to get get up in a 'just another distro to try' loop. Getting a limited number of live CDs, particularly including one or two of 'the big five' (or whatever) would be a good way to start, and then just give the one that you fancy most an extended run. In practice, you want to select a GUI that appeals to you (KDE, Gnome are the big hitters, but they are also the ones with the biggest appetite for RAM, so something like XFCE might also appeal) and ensuring that the distros you look at make your preferred GUI as an option.

Difficult to know what happened here; it may just be the lack of RAM, or it might be something else; without knowing the suite that you used, it is just a guess, although, if pushed to guess the lack of RAM does seem plausible. For some distros, there is an 'alternate install' (command line install, or something which uses less memory) although, if you don't have enough memory for the normal install, how well the distro runs when installed (probably not well) is an open question.

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Thanks Salasi
It is not possible to upgrade the RAM on the Laptop so whilst responding to these posts I've remembered I am lined up to do some experiments with a robot arm (miniture 5 axis) and also some software talking to PIC experiments. The hardware as specified is not a problem and no need to purchase new items. The Suite of CDs I think I paid around £15 for but now you guys have identified some good downloads for free I am happy to write that earlier expense off. Just got to get clear time to get started and now I have made some helpful friends I feel eager to start.
Thanks to all.

Yes but Ubuntu 12.04 ,which is downloadable now, is an LTS release (Long Term Support)for 5 years.