Hi ! I haven't been able to use any desktop in an older computer -
dmesg @ Slacko >>> https://pastebin.com/ma9wAG1Q
hardware >>>>>>>>>> https://pastebin.com/QVvTwRUN
diverse Xorg.0.logs https://pastebin.com/AgCr6L1X

I can use OpenBox with CrunchBang++, SlackoPuppy 6.3.2 and TiniCoreLinux. I can use different wms with Tini Core.

I haven succeeded in starting any Ubnuntu-based distro.
I have eventually used Debian-based distros (besides CRunchbang++) especially BunsenLabs. But when that happens it is always quite unstable feezing easily.

lshw says my computer has 64bits core and 32 bits width - something I don't know how to interpret. I have tried with both 64 and 32 versions.
Crunchbang++ has vmlinuz-4.19.0-5-686

PuppyLinux uname -a >>>>>> Linux puppypc9625 3.14.55 #1 SMP Mon Oct 26 11:54:01 AEST 2015 i686 Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU 440 @ 2.00GHz GenuineIntel GNU/Linux

Tiny Core is x86

I get often segmentation faults or kernel panic when trying to start desktops, and messages seem to often point at xorg.

Can you provide any guidance on how to handle this problem ?

Ok, let's start with the Celeron.

Most 64 bit computers have a 64 bit registers and databus, and can send 128 bit as 2 consecutive 64bit chunks from 2 paired registers. I

Your Celeron is a true (if sucky) 64 bit computer with 64 bit registers and only a 32 bit bus. So it sends 64 bits as two bytes of 32. The Celeron was one of the first, if not the first 64bit x86_64 cpu. So only 32bit control chip models were available. Someone could get a jump on the opposition by using 32bit chipsets with your 64bit cpu.

If you didn't understand the last 2 paragraphs, it's ok. The take away is that your Celeron is a sucky 64bit cpu. It's worth finding out how many address lines you have - that affects things.

It should run with 64 bit software. If it boots, it's ok. I would set your runlevel at three. That's usually multiuser console mode. Then you can type 'startx' to start X, and when it pukes, you're back in console mode.

You will gather how sucky the setup is from this: Your Celeron does 2Ghz; Your ram does 133Mhz; Your video does 66Mhz. So the video is AGP×1(66 Mhz), and the ram is ddr on agp, and you have two Gigs of ram.These days, that's nothing

It was built probably back before you were born.

So you have an antique POS that you're trying to run modern software on. The reason you can't is that you don't have the minimum requirements. I seriously advise not installing X, or use a historic distro. There was a cutoff around 2004 for ancient crap. The kernel ran compatibility for it for a few years then dropped it. Have you a floppy & serial/parallel ports? They're ancient. You may try to increase your 2G of ram, but I'd upgrade to a netbook or even a Raspberry Pi if I was spending money. If it has a hard disk, configure plenty of swap - you'll need it.

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Thanks a lot business_kid, for a crystal clear answer. No expert here but I do understand the essence of it.

You confirmed my suspections and released me from the fear of missing some unseen solution.

but in one thing you were wrong: I was born in 1944 :-)

merry X-mas !

The 610i chipset ostensibly supports a Core2Duo CPU, so it shouldn't be a complete waste of time making something out of it if this is intended to be more a learning process than configuring a PC for expected service over a lengthy period. A much more competent replacement LGA775 CPU can be had off eBay dirt cheap, and the RAM can probably be raised to at least 4GB similarly cheaply.

Hey! My Celeron-based Dell Inspiron (from probably 2009/2010 not sure; it has a Vista sticker on it) runs Tumbleweed and KDE -- the 32-bit version -- just fine[1]. It's no speed demon and I wouldn't even dream of trying to run any games on it more complex than solitaire but X11 hasn't been a problem. (Well, there was that time a Tumbleweed update broke booting into level 5 for a couple of days but that was easy to work around.) It works well as a graphical way to remote into my main systems while sitting in my Comfy Chair.

Anyone with an older system -- especially one that was built as a transition from 32-to-64 bit -- may be better off using a 32-bit distribution. They're getting a bit more difficult to find, though. openSUSE's Tumbleweed and Slackware are the ones that immediately come to mind as still having 32-bit version of their distribution though I'm sure there are still others out there.

Cheers...

[1] -- I was using Tumbleweed on a 32-bit Compaq and when it died the HD got moved into the Dell. Updating to 64-bit on the Dell is pretty far down on my to-do list.

@rturn: The Celeron isn't the problem. I imagine his 2G of ram is, along with the great disparity between cpu speed & ram & video. The ~2004 cutoff was for ISA buses, serial/parallel ports, and anything else non-pnp that relied on fixed I/O ports. The Celeron should have died long ago but manufacturers kept using it for cheap systems.

The original IBM PC had an 8088 = a 16 bit 8086 cpu with an 8 bit bus. This was largely because 16 bit chips were thin on the ground. The Motorola 68000 was out then, and they should have used it, because it had support chips and was the better cpu, but being M$, they didn't.

I wouldn't have any hesitation using 64bit software, if you have the ram. You'd be into astronomical numbers before you had to go outside the 64 bit space anyhow. Most of the 64bit CPUs have only 48 bit address buses anyhow. 32bits only gets you 4G, and it gets very messy hardware and software wise if you go above a 32bit address space.

My previous desktop (which I was still using at the beginning of this year) had 2 GB of RAM and it ran X in both Debian and Slackware without problems. My laptop has (I think) only 1 GB and it runs X (admittedly in AntiX, which is optimised for old machines). I suspect the OP can't run X in Ubuntu because Ubuntu is a memory hog!

My old Dell stsrted out with 2GB and I used it with that much for a while before adding the extra RAM. I don't recall it being terribly slow but software has gotten fatter and if I still had only 2GB I might be noticing it running slow. I wouldn't expect X to flat out not want to start, though.

I think you meant "IBM" and not "M$". I ran into an engineer out at a NASA facility who had a side business designing a 68000-based luggable (similar to Compaq's so-called portable PC) mainframe (well that how I described it to co-workers) he was going to sell. Sadly, I don't think he ever got the business off the ground.

That's been in my Rainy Day Project queue for a while.

Cheers...

Questions:

• Have you run 'memtest' on your system? It may be a boot menu option along with whatever alternate kernels and other OSes (i.e. Windows) are installed on the system. If it's not listed, you should be able to find a CD/DVD ISO image that has it available as an option when you boot from that disc.
  
• Do you have swap space set up? The dmesg log indicates that you should have enough RAM (~3.5GB if I'm reading that right) but it is possible that it not quite enough, you may be running out of RAM, and the system is not handling it well. Some people swear you don't need it but disk space is so-o-o cheap nowadays, I can't think of any really good reasons not to set aside the disk space for a swap partition. Or a swap file (if you don't want to be messing with your disk's partition tables).
  
• Have you run any general searches for the strings in those 'EE' messages in Xorg.0.log? My Xorg.0.log has a couple of 'EE' messages in it and no ill effects.
  
• Have you tried booting into level '3' as 'business_kid' suggested? Did 'startx' get X up and running or did it freeze up? Not too long ago I had a problem where transitioning from 'sddm' to KDE was hanging. (If memory serves, I was able to switch to a console (Ctrl-Alt-F1) and at least gracefully shutdown.) Booting to single user mode and changing the boot level to '3' and manually running 'startx' was the workaround until a distribution update eventually fixed the problem.
  

Thank you all for your interest, even after I mistakenly marked this as Solved.

I was away from the forum a couple of days, had a problem with logging in - due in part to a faulty keyboard in the laptop i use as my side machine.

rnturn :
The mesmTest failed at 97%

I had done a mem test before, but it froze and I thought it had frozen for the same reason I had been having so many freezes.

I have about 8 Gb swap o HD, ad then 15Gb on a usb pendrive. I realize only recently that when install on my multi-install the installer reformats the partition marke as root, - i choose it - and changes its UUID. And i thought i shouls use UUID becaus the /dev/sd* format was a risk for changes.

as for EE messages, I have researched them but i have got soooo many and so different that i don't know if i have interpreted them in the best way.

the last two days i have been booting level 3 to swapon the usb swap and then tried startx, which i had tried a few times before, but no success.

I suspected it was the Nvidia GeForce 7100 / 630i. Maybe in conjunction with the Celeron. I spend the day today trying to install the nvidia driver, but got millions of segmentation faults, and segmentationfaulty trees. But now the memtest seems to present a plausible explanation.

As I stated in my first post Puppy Slacko and TinyCore function very nice with OpenBOx and other wms.

CrunchBang++ with OPenbox is the most stable distro here. BUnsenLabs works but not 100% stable. AntiLInux works but quite unstable.
SysREscueCd works nicely with GUI. But all this seems understadable now in view of the Memtest. WHich is probably not the only explanation for all the problems.

I also oticed that 64 bits distros with desktop froze during ooting most of the time, but not - in the case of some specifics like Proteus, BunsenLabs 64, MX-Linux - whe they were booted after the computer was off for a couple hours (usually over night). Then the desktop would come up. But sooner or later it would freeze.

Thanks hazel and mrmazda also for your posts, they certainly helped me to a better understanding of the puzzle I am trying to solve.

I will go after some memory immediately after the holydays.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL !!!

Hmmm.

8G of swap on HD sounds like more than enough swap - personally, I wouldn't bother with the usb swap, which sounds like a dreadful idea. It's error prone and very slow. You'll want to be keeping the load light anyhow because of the limitations of your box. I have 6G of ram, 6G of swap, and have gone months without accessing any swap, because the box keeps crapping out restarting from hibernate and restoring some ancient months-old image. I'll have to fix that…

In the BIOS there's usually a build date or an issue date, which gives an idea how old the box is. I'd get the swap out (swapoff command as root), run memtest, and if it fails, you need ram. Try Ebay if you can't source it in the usual places - You might be lucky. People put all sorts of stuff up for sale - antiques, fossils, old pc parts, etc.

Use 'free -h' in a terminal to tell your memory usage at any stage.