Linux mint install
 

I own a TOSHIBA SATELLITE PRO 4600 that once had MICROSOFT WINDOWS 2000 PROFESSIONAL on it. I have a LINUX MINT 12 DVD154 that I am trying to install. In attempting this install I receive a message,
"error loading operating system" I have upgraded this laptop to I believe 540 MG What am I doing wrong ? ctelwood@yahoo.com On the bottom of the laptop it states - Pentium 3 850 mhz - 512 MB - 20GB HDD

That laptop is hardly meeting the minimum requirements for Linux Mint 12 and way below the recommended hardware specs. Even if you would be able to install Mint on that machine it would be very slow.
I would recommend to use a distribution aimed at lower spec hardware, like Bodhi, Vector, Lubuntu/Xubuntu, ..., or a mainstream distribution (Debian, Slackware, ...) with a more lightweight desktop environment, like XFCE or LXDE, or even one of the many window managers, like Enlightenment, WindowMaker, one of the *boxes, FVWM2, ... .

We had been over this discussion many times already, I have heard another member saying that he had good results installing Vertor Linux in a laptop with very limited resources.
Budhi Linux also I hear is a good choice.
Good luck to you!

In addition to the above, you could try Puppy Linux, MacPup, Slitaz, antiX or Peppermint Linux which is also an Ubuntu based operating system. You might try googling Linux on older hardware and see what you can find.

Here on this link you can get some help: http://www.desktoplinux.com/articles/AT8654567451.html

I think any lightweight distro can work on your machine with lightweight desktop environment like XFCE.
You can checkout PuppyLinux also.

Also checkout this link: http://livecdlist.com/?pick=Linux_x8...All&sort=&sm=1