I got Linux Mint up and running on an old Pentium 4 desktop PC from about 2004. The graphics are quite jolty, I suspect there is no hardware acceleration or the provided open source driver (nouveau) is running the card on low settings. I might be mistaken since its an old PC, but my raspberry is faster than that!

Anyways, here are some specs and what I tried so far:

Graphics card: Nvidia Geforce FX 5500 (I also tried a GFX5200, same result)
Mobo: MSI 865PE Neo2 Premium
CPU: Pentium 4 DualCore
OS: Linux Mint 17.3 Cinnamon

-The official Driver Manager shows the proprietary driver as an option, but when I try to install it returns an dependency error:
- so far, I read some forums, but since Linuxmint.com is down atm I registered and posted here. Other blogs refer to Ubuntu or older LinuxMint versions, and supposedly the process is different in 17.3. (I do actually read full blogs, but You know: not every post is reliable)

- I tried this procedure and ended up in fallback mode. It was a fail. It still might be my mistake, but I do believe I followed the instructions correctly.
(EDIT: It's an old graphics card, the PPA procedure is meant for newer graphics cards. I will try the -not recommended- manual install as soon as i find the time now and keep You posted)

- And yes, I did run updates

The next best solution I can come up with is switching to Ubuntu, which I've heard is free now. But I'm not giving up just yet.

Thanx in advance!

Hi...

Welcome to the forum

Ubuntu has always been free, as far as I know.

As a suggestion, I think Mint is, most likely, too "heavy" for your particular system and you would be better served migrating to a more lightweight distribution, such as AntiX, Linux Lite, or even Debian, depending on the DE (desktop environment) used.

EDIT: If you'd like to try and stick with Mint, give the MATE version a try. Also, if you downloaded your copy of Mint on February 20th, please see the information here!

Regards...

Thanks for the hint, I'll definitely check those out!

But I still believe that LinuxMint is already lightweight for a Pentium 4. I have another old Pentium 4 desktop PC with Windows XP and LinuxMint (Dualboot) and the exact same problem on yet a third Nvidia graphics card. So I compared performance directly just now:

Windows XP uses 724 MB RAM approx
Linux Mint uses 237 MB RAM approx
(Ubuntu use 384 MB RAM (supposedly))

So although Mint is one third as "heavy" as XP, I can only watch i.e. Youtube videos at approximately 0,6 fps and a generally unresponsive desktop, while in Windows XP (on the same PC) I can watch 720p flawlessly. So there is definitely something wrong with the setup, main suspect is still the missing graphics card driver.

Windows XP ran fine on that same PC, using approximately 800 MB when idling. Linux Mint is 1/3rd as "heavy" and the desktop surface is kinda unresponsive. I still suspect the nouveau graphics card driver to be the culprit.

I know about Feb 20th and the Bulgarian hacker attack, that's why I am posting here and not on linuxmint.com

Although I could use spiritual guidance right now, I am not sure if Your signature is meant to be sarcastic...

Thanks for the reply tho

Now i did try to install manually, even found the right driver from Nvidia home, but got this message:

it said later that the graphics driver has to be stopped in order to install a new one (Duh. Same as in Windows...)
I listed the services but couldn't identify nouveau.

If I was to remove the whole nouveau package, how would I proceed?

If you have the Cinnamon desktop, I suggest Xfce even if just to test the Video characteristics.
Cinnamon is quite heavy and does have some issues.

Do you know how to install the xfce meta package and login to Xfce?

I'll give it a shot. After I tried Ubuntu :P

Funny thing: I actually did want to check out different builds. Of course I've read some reviews, but I guess you learn the most by just trying things out.

One Question tho: Where does Xfce stand on security? Will it run minecraft?

(Okay that's two questions lol)

What does Xfce have to do with Security?
I don't know about Minecraft.

After what happened to LinuxMint on Saturday? Everything. I was one of the "Lucky Ones" who downloaded on the day the site was hacked. It's still down, I guess we will have to wait until its back up in order to resolve this issue.

additional info

I just tried an tutorial that's meant for ubuntu on linuxMint, blacklisting the nouveau driver. I got the most interesting graphic errors. I couldn't even read the console text to install the new nvidia driver. (So i ruined the install again, third time now)

Anyway, the ubuntu installer DVD is done burning right now. Let's see how that goes.

Did you check the md5sum of the downloaded iso?
Did see the file /var/lib/man.cy ?

I wouldn't trust that system to guard a web paper bag.

I'm not sure if a repo install of xfce4 is safe to do, until things are straightened out.
Your hesitation is wise.

Maybe blacklist nouveau after installing the Nvidia driver from "Driver Manager"?

read the first post pls

Sorry about that.
That whole system is suspect, IMO.

but if you're feeling froggy, open a terminal and issue
logout of the GUI and select Xfce as the session and login as yourself.

Have you verified the md5sum digest of the iso?
Looked for /var/lib/man.cy ?

I just installed ubuntu, similar issue.

Seems You where right (but You already knew that):
The bad performance seems to come from desktop visual effects and does not seem to be related directly to the amount of RAM used by any OS.

About xfce: I'd rather have it run on startup as an default OS, but after a glance at the guide i don't think i can do it. they mentioned "compiling" and "knowledge about dependency trees" etc.

Isn't there an installer like for other OS's? Or do I HAVE to run it as a session?

Hi Randall...

Xfce in itself is a DE, not a Linux distribution, so you should receive regular updates for Mint Xfce, as well, which I'm guessing comes from Canonical.

Regards...