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Greetings all,
figured I'd start out with one of the bigger dumb questions, and go from there.
I've always wanted to try linux out, but havent been comfortable trying to setup a dual boot on our (only) home sys without at least a little exp.
I recently got possession of an old laptop from a coworker. its a dell latitude p2 w/ a 6g hd and 192 m of ram and xp. (its also quite possibly the slowest thing I've ever played w/, lol)
I'm wondering if it'd be worth the effort to switch it over? I know hardware wise its a POS, and would hate to lose some of the programs it came with, but I also recognize it could be a good "learning toy"
the only things I would need to really use it for would be occasional web browsing, writing, watching/burning vids and once in a blue moon playing an older pc game (most recent being diablo 2)
Is there maybe a "stripped-down" version that I could look into? I could care less about bells and whistles.
So, ideas, opinions, etc?
Thanks
J
Last edited by badlandsghost; 11-03-2012 at 12:50 AM.
Location: Northeastern Michigan, where Carhartt is a Designer Label
Distribution: Slackware 32- & 64-bit Stable
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You know, sorry to say this but that box is basically a doorstop as is.
If you can stick some RAM in it (like, oh, 2G to 4G) and pop for a new hard drive (like, 250G or so) then you might be able to do something with it. You're talking something on the order of $30-$50 for a drive and roughly the same for some RAM (and get the right types of both).
An alternative might be to get a Knoppix live CD -- see http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html. That you can boot and run from the CD without installing anything just to see what's what. You can download Knoppix ISO and burn it on a CD or just order one. Your box is just barely in the system requirements:
Quote:
System Requirements
Intel/AMD-compatible CPU (i486 and up),
RAM: at least 120 MB for the graphical desktop. Recommended for working with various office applications: 500MB RAM,
a bootable CD-ROM/DVD drive (IDE/ATAPI/SATA, Firewire, USB), or USB flash disk,
a standard SVGA-compatible graphics chipset,
PS/2 or USB Mouse.
I own a old IBM 390E, 14.1 inch LCD Screen, Pentium 2, 366mhz, 64mb of ram, 3 gig hardrive. I played with it once in a while learning about computers and Linux with it. It was my first computer 2 years ago. I ran Xubuntu and Mepis on that puppy after I put 2 128mb sticks of ram in it to bring it up to 256mb
Antix is what I would try if I was going to play with that laptop.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tronayne
If you can stick some RAM in it (like, oh, 2G to 4G) and pop for a new hard drive (like, 250G or so) then you might be able to do something with it. You're talking something on the order of $30-$50 for a drive and roughly the same for some RAM (and get the right types of both).
You arent going to get 2/4GB in any dell pentium II/III laptop. They were 1GB maximum, lots of models are 512MB max, and I suspect the OP has a Latitude CPi with 256MB RAM max-
I recently got possession of an old laptop from a coworker. its a dell latitude p2 w/ a 6g hd and 192 m of ram and xp. (its also quite possibly the slowest thing I've ever played w/, lol)
If it runs an xp why not a Gnu/Linux? Certainly it does. I have tried to run Absolute Linux over an antique. Absolute Linux is a trimmed down derivative of Slackware. Just go for an older version. Check the links here.
Quote:
the only things I would need to really use it for would be occasional web browsing, writing, watching/burning vids
It can deliver the goods to you. A matter of experience.
Rule: Get the year when your hardware came out into the market, and get the Absolute LInux version released about the same year: they should match in about one year or so --that's the rule I keep when installing older computers.
Good luck and hope that helps.
Last edited by malekmustaq; 11-03-2012 at 10:44 AM.
I recommend recycling that old computer (sorry) and taking Linux for a test drive on your more powerful computer. You can try it without making any changes to your computer in at least 2 different ways: first by running from a Live CD/USB, or second by using a "virtualization" tool such as VirtualBox.
Here are easy instructions for using Ubuntu on a fast modern computer without making any permanent changes to your existing Windows install: http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/virtualbox
What a bunch of pessimists! You've got a P2 and 192MB. That gives you a choice of
Antix: requires Pentium Pro & 64MB
Vector (Fluxbox version): Pentium Pro and 128MB
Archbang, Bodhi, Swift, ZevenOS Light: Pentium II and 128MB
I'd go for Antix, as you're over-specified (!) for that.
Distribution: OpenSUSE 13.2 64bit-Gnome on ASUS U52F
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You can install Slitaz in that computer and it will have a decent speed. http://www.slitaz.org/en/
For sure you wont be able to play Diablo I dont think a Pentium 2 will have the power in their video card needed to play games. But for sure you will be able to surf the web, check your email and basic things.
I dont think you can add much ram, no 2GB for sure but Slitaz doesnt require too much to run. You should give it a try.
I'm not a pessimist--actually a huge optimist! Optimist in the advance of the hardware industry, every 18-24 months CPU technology doubles in a phenomenon called "Moore's law." New computers are not 2x faster or even 4x faster, but entire orders of magnitude faster, than the OP's pentium 2.
yep, its a POS, although I actually got diablo to run on it (i was surprised too.)
tronayne: I'd no idea about about knoppix (I've read the name somewhere, but beyond that...), will have to check into that angle. I'm guessing thats one of the approaches snowpine was referring to? (and I will also be checking out the virtualbox)
rokytnji: I will check that out soonest.*edit* just read the first page, would it be cool if I pm you a few unrelated laptop questions?
malekmustaq:
Quote:
Originally Posted by malekmustaq
Rule: Get the year when your hardware came out into the market, and get the Absolute LInux version released about the same year: they should match in about one year or so --that's the rule I keep when installing older computers.
I get your point, but just to clarify, if the hardware is for instance '99, you should shoot for a 2k version? what sort of window is there, 1-3 years-ish?
And finally, wow, my ignorance is hanging out, I though as a rule most of the "name brand/box" laptops were proprietary setups to resist non company mods.
Thanks for all the info folks, I'll have more q's as soon as I learn a bit more.
J
Last edited by badlandsghost; 11-04-2012 at 12:05 AM.
For sure you wont be able to play Diablo I dont think a Pentium 2 will have the power in their video card needed to play games.
Diablo 2 doesnt require much, and should run on most Pentium II systems-
Quote:
Diablo II Minimum System Requirements
Windows
Single-Player System Requirements:
Windows® 2000, XP, or Vista*
Pentium® 233 or equivalent
32 MB RAM
650 MB available hard drive space
4X CD-ROM drive
DirectX™ compatible video card that supports 640 x 480 resolution (800 x 600 for the expansion)
Multiplayer System Requirements and Options:
64 MB RAM
Open Battle.net game Creators and TCP/IP game Hosts: 128MB RAM recommended (256MB RAM in games with over 4 players)
950 MB available hard drive space
28.8 Kbps or faster modem
Up to 8 Players over TCP/IP Network or Battle.net® (Requires low-latency Internet connection with support for 32-bit applications)
Optional3D Acceleration:
Supports Glide™ and Direct 3D™ compatible video cards with at least 8MB of video RAM. Direct 3D™ requires 64 MB of system RAM
If it runs an xp why not a Gnu/Linux? Certainly it does. I have tried to run Absolute Linux over an antique. Absolute Linux is a trimmed down derivative of Slackware. Just go for an older version. Check the links here.
IMO dont go for an older version.
Why muck around with the harder OS setup from years ago, and have an unsupported release as well, when you can get current distros that will run on that hardware?
Quote:
Originally Posted by malekmustaq
Rule: Get the year when your hardware came out into the market, and get the Absolute LInux version released about the same year: they should match in about one year or so --that's the rule I keep when installing older computers.
Rule: if you are ever considering hooking it up to the internet, dont use an unsupported distro/release.
I cant know for sure, but it looks like Absolute Linux only dates back to 2006/2007, and that hardware dates back to 1997-2000 or so.
Hardware support tends to get better over time, not worse. A 2012 distro will in most cases have better hardware support than a 2007 release.
Distribution: Debian testing/sid; OpenSuSE; Fedora; Mint
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If you don't already know UNIX or Linux, or some *NIX, then it's a waste of time on a PII lappy. For 75.00USD you can get a 1.8 Ghz. Core2Duo/100GB/2GB/ which is going to be a lot less painful and frustrating. I know it's nice to make something good out of a landfill candidate, but command-line only 'print server' is all I can come up with for a PII lappy.
Although, I confess, I still have a PII desktop, somewhere.
Sent you a friend request and befriended you so we could pm each other. So yeah, it would be cool to pm me on unrelated laptop questions.
ok, cool....
(warning: ignorance alert!) now I just have to figure out how to pm here. I've looked for half of forever, but the option isn't anywhere I would expect it.
...having said that, I'm sure it'll be pointed out to be somewhere completely obvious that I have somehow overlooked
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