I have creared the slax iso cd and loaded it into my pc.(it has win 98 oswith a pentium 2)the cd booted uo and gave me options.I have allowed it to boot on its own and everything seems fine until I get a black screen with a tiny white rotating image (moves when I move the mouse) which looks like it's loading but goes on forever( I've left it for about half an hour but still nothing happens.

I've also tried to load ubuntu and freespire and they start very promisingly with their colourful graphics but behave in a similar way to slax.
my pc runs 350mhz and has a ram of 280 mb

Welcome to LQ winduzz

It's the 350mhz that's your issue

Slax uses KDE window manager, and 350mhz probably ain't gonna work...

Your gonna need a distro with light window manager and low-resources...

Tinycore would be good

winduzz,

Linus72 is right. Your 350mz and 280Mb Ram require serious attention: with that processor and ram it is less likely the current /new versions will easily install.

With your 280Mb ram, good that I have had positive experience to share: I have installed Aboslute Linux with ease within a 280MB ram of an old machine. But of 350Mhz engine I have no experience yet. So aside from linux72's tiny core, if you are interested you can also try Absolute Linux, you can download an image here:
http://www.absolutelinux.org/download.shtml

Hope it helps.

Good luck.

Only reason I mentioned Tinycore is cause I had a little dell that was 350mhz and only thing that ran good on it was DSL-4.4.10, which ran pretty quick.

DSL is now dead, Tinycore is new DSL, but not sure that 350mhz is enough...?
If you go tinycore
only install tcz's, not tce's
tcz's are mounted at boot, tce's are put in ram

I'll check out some others and see what's up too

thanks for your help
I tried tinycore and nothing happened.Maybe I downloaded the wrong bit.I find linux a bit confusing because when you go to the download page there is a list of files starting with th the Parent directory.I chose the one that says core elements.

Index of /pub/linux/distributions/tinycorelinux/2.x/release

Name Last modified Size Description
Parent Directory -
core_elements/ 15-Jun-2009 11:25 -
src/ 03-Aug-2009 23:18 -
microcore_2.2.iso 31-Jul-2009 20:23 7.0M
microcore_2.2.iso.md5.txt 31-Jul-2009 20:23 52
tinycore_2.2.iso 31-Jul-2009 20:19 11M
tinycore_2.2.iso.md5.txt 31-Jul-2009 20:19 51
Apache Server at distro.ibiblio.org Port 80

What I thought was that if my pc could run win 98 it should be able to run a decent linux alternative.The main prob is that I have broadbend from a wireless router but I my pc doesn't have a socket for ethernet cable and I cant find a usb for wireless that works so I thought I could install linux and then find a wireless usb that works with linux but it seems that it's not going to be possible with this pc.

I got hold of my son's temperamental pc that told me it couldn't find an operating sytem and I installed fedora 11 ,which worked but then the pc went on the blink so that's why I went back to my much older pc with win 98.Could the fedora installation have caused my son's pc to go on the blink?The machine starts to come on ,switches off, waits a few seconds and restarts on its own-bleeps about eight times and then just sounds like it's on but goes no further??
Thanks for all help so far.

OK

Actually, you downloaded microcore, no desktop
the core elements are for low-ram systems

If you wish, I will scrape together a iso or usb zip for you of microcore+some lite apps?

Yes, Linux can be confusing
Think of all the different Linux distro's as different flavors of ice-cream
each one is quite unique, even though most are actually based on the main distro's
Ubuntu
Slackware
Debian
Fedora
and more

Fedora 11 or any distro that uses Gnome, KDE window managers is way too much for a older pc.

I can make a multidistro cd/dvd for you of the most light-weight distro's and you can try them out without burning different cd's

What is tha main purpose of the computer?
web browsing or what?

Since my last post my son's pc with Fedora 11 has come back to life.I booted up keeping my finger on delete.It said it could find no os.I restarted and got into the bios where the first option was removable media- I had actually changed it to cd-rom but maybe I clicked the wrong option and then saved it by accident.I changed the startup settings to hard disk 1 and restarted and fedora is now working nicely.If this continues to work I might not need tiny core but you've whetted my appetite now and I think I'd like to investigate.I've just retired and for family reasons I'm stuck at home most of the day so this could be a very interesting project.
Mainly I want to browse the internet but
I like to write fiction and listen to music so the ability to to do this and record the odd stream would be excellentbut maybe it's too much to ask for.
I do appreciate your time in offering me your advice and suggestions especially the offer of a cd.

Ah, a kindred spirit

I also like to write and jam and browse, and make distro's work!

Which fedora 11 did you get?
The fedora 11 lxde edition runs faster than the gnome edition, as lxde is a light window manager.

Tinycore has just added Writer'sWorldMaker, a app for outlining/writing fiction but good for writing in general.
I was making a tinycore remaster for writers, maybe you would like to try it?

also, I was on unemployment but am now going back to work-good!
but, I can whip up a cd/usb of tinycore with opera, flash10, writers apps, jamming LOUD OSS stereo
and whatever, Do you like OpenOffice or a lighter wordprocessor like abiword?

thanks .You lot are amazing!all offers willingly accepted.
I'm really excited now because of all the experimenting I can do and because on the newer computer(my son's) that has come back to life, I tried out the Freespire os.Fantastic!It's better than any os I've tried.It looks great and it whizzes along.Installation of programs is(at least seems) 100 times faster than xp or vista.
Only one slight niggle- I can't change the screen resolution-I've tried using administrator access but it only offers 1 option 1024X 768.It means I don't need my glasses but my fingers are working overtime navigating round the screen.Even if I'm stuck with this I'm still in love with this os.

OK, so I'm making one for me too, so I'll have it ready in morning, only maybe sub 100mb too