Hi,
I'm kinda new to linux so forgive me for putting this thread in wrong section or for 'bad language'.

Just a few weeks ago my laptop's harddisk was getting rather filled up.
So I needed some space. I had a 80GB disk that was lying around useless, so I wanted to make a NAS out of it. But that costs money, and that I don't really have.
So I thougt of putting it in my very old PC (specs further down), I also had a wifi-pci-card which I could put into that PC, but windows 95 couldn't recognize it. I wanted to install XP on the machine, but that failed since I had no legal code.

When I started surfing the net I came to Linux. That could really solve my problem, my guesses were that Linux would recognize my card, that it would install without codes and stuff, and most important it's free!
So I started to look around for a good Linux distribution.
I came to Ubuntu. Downloaded the newest distro and burned it on a disc.
put it in my computer and set the BIOS for booting from CDROM.
It booted, but I never came far. After it said 'uncompressing linux............' the system shutdown and rebooted.
I thought it was the cd, so I tried 6.06 Dapper Drake version.
But.... same problem. I then tried the alternate CD, but again no success.
I figured it was the machine that wasn't allowing installing OS's or something.
So I ripped out the hard drive and put it into a newer PC and tried installing Ubuntu 6.06 with the alternate CD on that machine. it worked fine, it installs and booted fine.
I then put the hard drive back to the old pc and flipped the on-switch. But all the work didn't pay off, the machine wouldn't start, it just rebooted on some point (I can't desribe where because the lines of text move too fast).

I can't figure it out, the CD's are fine, the hard drive isn't thebad thing either, so it must be the machine.
But since there are no real system requirements for any distro that can't be it either.
I really want it to work, but I can't solve it myself.
so can anyone help me?

Old PC specs:
AMD K6 processor (not more than 200 MHz)
Maxtor Diamond Plus 9 80GB Hard Drive
Standard CD-ROM drive
Graphics Card that came with PC (not an high-end card to say the least)
I have no idea on what kind of MoBo is in there.

That's about it. Need anymore? just ask.

thank you very much in advance!
Paul

Maybe you could try Damn Small Linux, or something like that. Your computer (to be exact, processor) maybe too old to run some of modern distributions. So you would like to check if distribution is 486 (or even 386, though there was too small difference) compatible. DSL claims to be. It is http://damnsmalllinux.org .

I have an older box k6 300mhz 128mb ram. I installed slackware 10.2 no problem. Slackware uses the older 24 kernel while ubuntu is the 26 kernel. The 26 kernel is "the latest and greatest" and doesn't work well with older hardware. Pretty much any computer from 1995 and on should work with linux. Try a distro with the 24 kernel.

I tried DSL just now and again no succes
when I just hit enter it says loading minirt24 and then sowing a black screen and right after that the system reboots...
when I type in an install/boot option it says more things, I get 'uncompressing Linux.... Ok, booting the kernel'
then there are some lines of text and right after those lines the system reboots...
I still can't figure out what there seems to be wrong. Maybe it's something with the video-card-thing?
I'm now seriously reconsidering putting XP on the machine and getting a legal code from a friend of mine...
It's a shame, but I'm getting close in seeing no other option...

how much RAM does the computer have? may be a problem there. Fing out what video card you have it may just be a bad driver thats holding you back, there are smaller distros you can try dl the slack ware or something similar that boots to a console. Or if your reluctant have a shot with puppy i hear good things......

I have 64 MB standard, and I added 128 MB or so... I'm sure that should be enough...
I can't find out what kind of video-card I have installed...

Maybe some slackware will do? It claims to run even on K5. Note that if you manage to see first screen of installation process, it is a big progress - you'll have a compiled kernel that boots on your machine OK.

But there can be a problem with wi-fi card.. What is its name?

slackware is a no too, I have also tried that one...
i'm first trying to get the OS on the computer, after that is the wifi-card, first things first
I'm guessing it's a problem with the video-card, but I don't know the specs and if I did, I wouldn't know what to do about it...

Did you try to say slackware to go to text-mode installation?

I tried to install Ubuntu in text-mode, it didn't work, I guess that will be the same if I try Slackware..

Ubuntu is Debian-based and is about easy install. So it can be compiled with optimization for pentium+ (or k7+) processors. And Slackware promises to work on k5. On hardware like your computer graphics was the greatest problem to get right, so text-mode install can succeed and after install it will be relatively easy to make "vesa" driver work. WiFi can be really hard..

ok, I learned some more
but how do I get Slackware to run in textmode then? I really am a newbie you see

Slackware doesn't have a graphical installer. So it will start in textmode.

I've been advising people to check out Beafanatix, but have to admit I haven't tried it myself.

For a NAS, I'll recommend http://www.freenas.org/. It has a web based administration system and is -very- light on system resources.