Many years ago I tried to load Mandrake 7.1 but without success. When I saw the Computer Active "Ultimate Guide to Linux" (Ubuntu 7.04) I decided to try the "run from disc" option. I couldn't get that to work either so gave up until seeing the recently updated version of the "magazine. This gave me the imputus to try again with the 7.04 version but this time attempting to load it as dual drive.

After an initial black screen with "Ubuntu" logo the expected brown background appeared. Over the next four hours(!) the screen alternated (at least 5 minutes between changes) between a completely black display and the brown the later sometimes showing a rotating roundal, sometimes an arrow that, on moving the mouse, took minutes to respond.

After four hours and the CD drive still showing regular "read" lamp indicators I called it a day and switched off at the mains.

Something must be wrong somewhere but I haven't a clue what - most frustrating - can anyone help? Is it worth obtaininig the later version and would this be any different?

It's an old computer system that I only use for internet (on dial-up) with Windows 97. It's an Intel Pentium 3 Processor with 127 MB of RAM and 20 GB hard disc.

The box isn't fit for use with Ubuntu - too little RAM (128MB is too little for Ubuntu - the site actually says so!), and probably some hardware recognition issues, but not necessarily bad ones (PIII normally sits on a solid platform that's well supported). You could use use a console based distro to determine what's up hardware-wise; Finnix and grml are great, as is System Rescue CD. grml also can run a minimalistic graphical session. But they're specialised distros.

You'll generally be better off with a distribution optimised for old computers; there are quite a few of those. If you want to use it for web only, you can use a minimalised window manager without a lot of drawbacks; Puppy Linux and SliTaz feature such a setup, as does Tiny Core Linux (but you'll have to customise that before you can use it for the web - which is its strong point, but maybe not for newbies). And you can also use Debris Linux with the Openbox option.

You may also get lucky with CrunchBang Linux - I've got mixed results, but it's also based on Openbox and will give you a full-featured distro if it works for you.

M.

Here is a nice list of distros for the lesser end of the PC spectrum.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=575456

Thanks for your help. The magwith the Ubuntu didn't give any minimum configuration information! Will look at these smaller versions.

Thanks for the help.

Ah, I understand... Here's the link to Ubuntu's page:

http://www.ubuntu.com/products/whati...desktopedition (scroll way down - not really obvious, I agree).

It's a bit of a bad idea not to state this. You could try the Alternate installation CD, but I don't think you'll get lucky with Ubuntu proper. Xubuntu may be better suited, but I stick to what I said in my first post: Use a resource efficient distribution on this box.

M.