I moved my questions to this new line out of respect for others in the other thread. Also, wish to thank everyone past, present and future for the help with this thing.

I have a Gateway2000 P55-233, 64mb RAM attempting to load Ubantu breezy. Several had gotten me through a Grub18 error by installing a 32 mb partition on ext2.

Looks like 3 current problems:
(1) it is not configuring itself
(2) Random number generation error
(3) looking for name server, which I tried deactivating during install


needing input on this thing

As for the problems you'd probably need to be much more specific in order to get replies.

Just a note regarding RAM: 64 MB appears to be too few for Breezy. I'd installed Breezy with 192 MB, and it was slow - almost impossible to open larger applications, like OpenOffice.org. Even having a number of tabs open in Firefox was a tough thing, and the memory started to swap hard. After I changed the desktop manager to Xfce, memory consumption was in its limits. I'd say, 256 MB is the minimum for Breezy.

First, thanks for the input. Guess the new question needs to be which linux systems would be for combo of newbie setup and this machine setup? As for more specific information, I think I took it straight from the install screen (unless I missed something).

Another question: Is there a website or something that I can find out what specs various distros need?

At this point, anything would be appreciated.

Paul

Damn Small Linux is popular and should be fine with 64 MB RAM. I'd tested it in a Virtual Machine, it's OK.

There's also the Ubuntu Mini-RAM FAQ. Before installing the packages being recommended there, I'd discuss if there weren't smaller, equivalent programs. I'd always prefer Ubuntu over DSL as Ubuntu's software distribution mechanisms are great, as well as the support one can get for it.

Sorry it took me so long to return your post, my internet connection was down for a few days. Anyway, I took your suggestion about the ubuntu-mini and worked very well on my smaller machine. Looks like the grub errors were resolved.

Still working on getting it on the internet through the router and any advice would be appreciated.

tokenringman:

Actually, there'll be nice way to run a useful subset of Ubuntu shortly - and you can try it now, it's called Xubuntu; I've just tested on a P233MMX with 64MB RAM (yes, that's your configuration) as a live CD, and it runs okay (well, very slow, but it's a live CD running Xfce. It's still a beta, but it worked quite well on different machines here. You can use DistroWatch to locate a Xubuntu download server.

You might want to use DamnSmallLinux as proposed above just to test if you can connect to your router at all (DamnSmallLinux will run nicely on that configuration - as a live CD as well as installed to hard disk). Does your router provide DHCP server functionality?

Thanks for the input on the DSL and xubuntu distros. I will keep an eye on them both. Router is d-link.

I'd advise to put a distinctive, extra question for the router issue.

Unfortunately, I'm not a networking guy - and I think it's quite good practice (and more efficient) not to mix different issues within one thread.

In that, proposed, thread, please post exact environment data, error messages, and other data you think could be relevant.

Thanks and good luck furthermore

Want to say that this is probably the most patient group that I have ever worked with for newbies. I joined other groups and was not treated very well at all, so thanks. With that said, I'll say this that I have little to no experience with the threading stuff, so even more thanks.

Attempted update of BIOS and crashed, was down for a few days.

Reformatted the harddrive with the 32mb partition and all that had previously been suggested with the ext2.

Loading Kubuntu on this system and gives a bootstrap error:
/usr/lib/debootstrap/scripts//target

Guess 3 questions (at this point)
(1) What is the bootloader error
(2) Any workarounds
(3) ANy prevention steps

Hi tokenringman38,

I'm a newbie too (4 Linux installations until now) and have never tried to install GRUB into a separate partition.

Im just wondering:
- Why are you trying to install Kubuntu (as it needs more RAM than your computer has)?
- And, are you possibly going a difficult way where there might be an easier way? (Eventually, you could install some Linux version without that boot loader partition. I mean, do what's possible; other things might become possible lateron...)

Thanks

If you wanted to go this route, I would do a server install of Ubuntu, which install only the extreme basics, and then use apt-get to install XFCE. This method would also work if you wanted use Fluxbox, another extremely lightweight window manager. Which I use by the way on my AMD64 system, so its lightweight but still very functional.

Have been asking around several linux sites about what to go with that would work with my machine. Am suspecting someone (a) was completely ignorant of the ubuntu/kubuntu/xubuntu requirements; (b) missed the fact that I have a very old system; or (c) maybe I misspoke on some of this.

Basically what I am looking for is soomething with a small GUI that I can run on my machine being only a P55-233 with 64mb RAM. Adjunct to this is the fact that I am more hardware than software and not a programmer.

Please help me cut through all this.

How much a linux distro needs to run processor and ram wise is more up to the window manager than anything else. If you load up a server install of Ubuntu, it will run just as quickly from the command line as will a Debian, Gentoo, Fedora, etc. You just need to pick a light weight window manager to go along with the distro you want to use. Gentoo probably isn't a good choice considering your system, but the others should be fine. I'm assuming you have a fairly small hdd to go along with those specs.

I suggest doing a server install of Ubuntu (which is really easy to do, don't let the word "server" scare you, it just means your installing without a gui) and then load up a manager or two, I recomend XFCE for a newbie, but if your more attune to how linux works, Fluxbox and Blackbox make excellent chioces.

Have 2 harddrives, both small on there: 10.6 gb and 2gb

THanks