I am trying to use linux, any linux, on an old laptop. I've managed to install RedHat, kernal 2.4.?, but don't want to have to pay business prices for support and upgrades. Though RedHat isn't fully working yet, I've problems mounting some USB devices, I expect that they can be resolved. I've tried to fire up ubuntu 8.10, and fedora 10, neither will load at all. ubuntu just stops, fedora reports something missing in the CPU. I suspect that I'm going to need an 'older' version, can anyone suggest something that will load?

How much RAM does your laptop have? If less than 128 MB, I would try Slitaz or Damn Small Linux; at around 128 MB, you could try Puppy Linux, Antix, or TinyMe.

[quote=mwaj]I am trying to use linux, any linux, on an old laptop. I've managed to install RedHat, kernal 2.4.?, but don't want to have to pay business prices for support and upgrades. Though RedHat isn't fully working yet, I've problems mounting some USB devices, I expect that they can be resolved. I've tried to fire up ubuntu 8.10, and fedora 10, neither will load at all. ubuntu just stops, fedora reports something missing in the CPU. I suspect that I'm going to need an 'older' version, can anyone suggest something that will load?[/quote] Try posting specs about the laptop

OK, here's the bad news. It's a Pico model 98, with 64mb memory and a 4Gb disk! [Modified by: mwaj on March 03, 2009 04:08 PM]

http://www.puppylinux.org/ I just went through this. If the computer has a CD ROM drive you can use puppy live. Jim

Puppy recommends at least 128 MB ram. You were able to run it off a live CD with just 64 MB? I would recommend Slitaz, Vector Linux Lite, or Damn Small Linux.

This guy, Kmandla, has an excellent blog with some experiments in running distros in some very old machines http://kmandla.wordpress.com This thread may be interesting too: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=575456 [Modified by: wuy on March 03, 2009 07:02 PM]

Will wine work with puppy. I have an old ibm laptop for my daughter. It has 256 ram, and a linksys usb wireless. It is running windows xp pro - extreamly slow. I have been looking for a win98 disk for her, but this puppy might work. The question I have is, will wine work on this? She uses it for writing, internet(not so much because of speed) and playing kids games. Also will there be issues with the wireless? I think the cd has linux software on it.

I am an extream nube with linux. Haven't crashed enough yet. I kind of get it, but still having troubles figuring things out. I am just sick of the bulkyness of windows, and all the fragmented files everywhere. Kevin

Yes, Wine works with puppy, and with any other linux distribution, here is a link how to install and use it on puppy: http://www.puppylinux.org/wiki/applications/various/wine . And 256mb of ram for puppy will be more than enough. And for wireless, I think linksys provide drivers for linux, but I can't find a link to download them on their official site nor on cisco's website (as linksys is now a division of cisco systems).

Binary Snake is right. Wine works fine with puppy linux and there should be no problem, as in my experience of using puppy for the last 6 monnths, it has not crashed even once. http://linuxpuppy.wordpress.com/ is one of the puppy linux blogs that provides a detailed guide to getting puppy and installing it on the computer. good luck.

唉,内存只有64M,那么你的CPU应该是P233的档次了! 这样的笔记本其实可以用Slax、Hiweed或者Knoppix等轻量级的系统. ---上面是汉语,下面是英语--==--Upstare is Hanyu,follows are English--- Ah,You computer has only 64M ram, and your CPU should be P233 less or more! As there are poor resource on your laptop, You can try to use Slax 、Hiweed or Knoppix or other lightweight system.

a mate of mine used Xandros or something like that on his little ibm thinkpad, it had 96 ram and 366mhz proccessor, he said it went great

very interesting, I'll try it on a old notebook with 300mhz processor an 128MB RAM in a view days when I've got time enough.