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Ok I am sure this has been asked a million times by Newbies like me but I can't find an answer anywhere.
I decided to try out Linux so I have loaded Mandrake 10.1 onto my old 400 PII. Now it runs without incident for the most part but when I open certain programs I am having what I would assume to be memory issues (if I was running Windows 98). I am guessing it is a video card issue as I only have a 16M card in the old beast and everything today seems to need a 64+ card.
So what I would like to ask is… What are the system requirements for Mandrake 10.1?
Is there a version that would be better suited to a PII 400?
Of course, this site is overloaded with "slackers".
I can't get to the Mandrake site from work (stupid corporate firewall) so I can't tell you the requirements, but one thing you didn't tell us was the amount of RAM in your system - not on the video card, but system-wide RAM. Most distros will have trouble with less than 64MB. I think for a standard Mdk install, you really want 128 or more, but you *can* install it in a "leaner" fashion. Of course, if you want to run some programs that require more, then you're still stuck.
Some distros that I know run in smaller RAM footprints are Feather Linux, and Damn Small Linux.
I don't think your problem is to do with your video card, I used to use a 4Mb sis card on Mandrake 8.x and it worked fine. Now I am using a 32Mb TNT2 card on my Linux system I am not into games etc so it's sufficient for my needs. Just make sure you have lots of RAM if running any OS on a slow CPU.
Try what ever distro u like. You'll end up using slackware anyway...
I don't know masand personally, but he looks like a really nice person, who just wants you to save some time.
No really, slackware is not the most "newbie-friendly" distro in the planet, but is efficient and is ideal for users with older PC's. Most drstros try to fit everything in their releases and end up really bloated.
Remove the 32 MB RAM and see if your system works better. the 128 RAMs could be running underclocked, but using a 32 MB old Ram with newer rams, may cause some problems. If you don't see any difference, use it again.
Last edited by perfect_circle; 02-15-2005 at 04:38 PM.
Does Linux allocate ram better or worse than Windows 98 does.
win98 is really old. I think it can not utilize a RAM bigger than 512MB. Linux tries to make use of all the ram available. I had 256MB of RAM after upgrating my RAM to 1024 I did not see any difference in Windows XP, but linux runs faster. The increase in the performance you get when you plug more RAM in your system is bigger in LINUX than in Windows.
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