Linux on old box, Amd Athlon 1800+

dosboss45 · 12-06-2013, 05:43 PM

I'm looking for the best Linux version to put on this box, I want to install Linux Mint, but keep getting crash errors, Lubuntu looks like my next choice, any suggestions?

snowday · 12-06-2013, 05:51 PM

The obvious question is: what are the hardware specs?

The second most obvious question is: what are the "crash errors"?

You will get much better answers here if you provide a little basic information. Welcome!

Zyblin · 12-06-2013, 05:53 PM

I had to install Linux on an older computer, a little newer than yours. 2300+ I installed Debian LXDE and that worked fine, though it was slow compared to what I was use to. The biggest issue I had was with Flash. Newer flash did not work with older AMD processors. Gnash did work but was very limited. I also had an old NVidia 6200 and 1GB of ram.

dosboss45 · 12-06-2013, 06:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by snowpine

The obvious question is: what are the hardware specs?

The second most obvious question is: what are the "crash errors"?

You will get much better answers here if you provide a little basic information. Welcome!

"Yeah true that, just basic amd mother board with 1800 processor, embedded sound,video and I/O, Pci Nic" not sure I know what the errors are yet, system just states it has crashed and is restarting.

And thanks for the advice on information :-)

knudfl · 12-06-2013, 07:02 PM

Quote:

.. amd mother board with 1800 processor, embedded sound,video and I/O, Pci Nic

Could be a memory issue : A memory chip that occasionally fails.
Or a "sometimes mother board failure".

1) How much RAM ? ?
2) Please try running memtest86 from an install cd / DVD.

dosboss45 · 12-06-2013, 08:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by knudfl

Could be a memory issue : A memory chip that occasionally fails.
Or a "sometimes mother board failure".

1) How much RAM ? ?
2) Please try running memtest86 from an install cd / DVD.

[Yeah, thanks, I will have look at the memory and run diagnostic, the box has 256k]

EDDY1 · 12-07-2013, 01:21 AM

256k or 256M
256 is quite low for linuxmint
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_M...m_requirements

astrogeek · 12-07-2013, 01:43 AM

For what it is worth, I am now running Slackware 14.1 (current release) on this...

Code:

#uname -a
Linux eridani 3.10.17-smp #1 SMP Wed Oct 23 17:04:08 CDT 2013 i686 AMD Athlon(tm) AuthenticAMD GNU/Linux

# cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor       : 0
vendor_id       : AuthenticAMD
cpu family      : 6
model           : 8
model name      : AMD Athlon(tm)
stepping        : 0
cpu MHz         : 1248.759

# cat /proc/meminfo
MemTotal:         251676 kB
MemFree:          134680 kB
Buffers:           29640 kB
Cached:            58104 kB
SwapCached:            0 kB
Active:            41292 kB
Inactive:          53956 kB

The memory info was taken immediately after boot with SSH login.
In that it is running apache server, nfs server but no X server.

Although I run it as a headless server, I did startand run X with Fluxbox when I first installed it - but there was no breathing room for much of anything else.

Extra RAM is in the mail as I type.

So, it is certainly possible to run GNU/Linux on your system, not so sure about Mint. But I would also highly recommend that you add memory if you want to use it for web browsing and normal use in an X environment.

knudfl · 12-07-2013, 04:28 AM

# 6 .

Quote:

I will have look at the memory and run diagnostic, the box has 256k

Latest Mint : With KDE : 2 GB RAM is nice.
With Gnome, may be a little less.
Light weight Desktop Managers : 1GB? is to be preferred ?.

No full blown OS like Mint can really be used with 256 MB RAM.
Put in some RAM :
PC 100* RAM should be of no cost. Is a "give away for free" thing.

-

snowday · 12-07-2013, 06:19 AM

I agree that minimum 1gb of RAM is preferable for a smooth introduction to Linux.

Tech7 · 12-07-2013, 07:56 AM

1gb at least is best, though there are systems for that little ram. One, "WattOS" was built for older systems and uses LXDE. There is Bodhi, which will work ok with little recourses. There is also DSL Linux. Tails is ok though it is not intended for installation.

Another option would be to build a custom system that could require less recourses, maybe build a Arch Linux system....

Pandas · 12-07-2013, 09:55 AM

1 gb of Ram or above is nessersary for even using the latest google and mozilla internet browsers now. Also a processor of 1 ghz and above is recommended too. Cable/DSL internet connections really hammer CPU and Ram usage.

DavidMcCann · 12-07-2013, 10:32 AM

I'm currently running Opera and OpenOffice under Gnome 2 and that's using 600MB, including buffers and caching, so "1GB is essential" is rather exaggerated.

So, what can you do with 256MB? Well, firstly, you haven't actually got 256MB because some is reserved for video. You may improve things by editing BIOS and setting video memory to the minimum, if that hasn't been done. I'd look at the minimal distros: AntiX and Bodhi will both run.
http://www.linuxquestions.org/review...page/15/sort/7
http://www.linuxquestions.org/review...page/15/sort/7
(Not reviews of the latest versions, but my fullest reviews)

GVrooman · 12-07-2013, 01:48 PM

Puppy Linux will fit quite comfortably into 256 megabytes of RAM. It boots from a CD, runs in RAM, it is easy to configure, and it provides snappy performance on old computers. Although Slackware is my main distro, I have had a lot of fun playing around with Puppy.

aristocratic · 12-07-2013, 04:44 PM

GVrooman, the more I read about Puppy Linux, the more impressed I become. It sounds pretty awesome. I just downloaded an ISO. I am going to try it out.