need help to save old laptop with linux

tuneturkey · 12-26-2012, 11:46 AM

Forum - i have an old Dell latitude laptop 150xpi, 40mb memory, 2 GB hd, 150mhertz pentium proc., its running windows 98s, but slow. I tried puppy which runs but too slow. Will DSL linux run with only 40mb RAM.
the laptop will only boot from 1.4mb floppy, not CD.
Help
Tuneturkey

markush · 12-26-2012, 12:14 PM

Hello tuneturkey, welcome to LQ,

tinycore should work for you http://distro.ibiblio.org/tinycorelinux/intro.html

You could also look for an old version of Slackware which came also as floppy images, you could begin your search here http://www.nielshorn.net/slackware/slack_old.php

Markus

jkirchner · 12-26-2012, 12:16 PM

I never tried it but I did find this: http://delicate-linux.net/ Might be worth a try. With the specs you have it will be difficult.

Not sure if it would work with floppies though...

fakie_flip · 12-26-2012, 01:02 PM

Here's a list of light weight distros including Tinycore.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightwe...x_distribution

snowday · 12-26-2012, 04:45 PM

I recommend you recycle it and upgrade your hardware to something from the 21st century. Best Buy is having some great post-holiday sales right now. You can buy a Raspberry Pi with HDMI capability and 512mb ram for $25. Heck, you can get a smartphone FREE with 2 year activation that has 10x better hardware specs than your Dell!