BongoBob Posted January 1, 2006 Share Posted January 1, 2006 Hey everyone, I was wondering something. I got the idea of fixing my old computer, but I can't find the windows 98 disk, so I was wondering if there was a good linux distrobution that has a good GUI and can run on old computers. If you want to see the laughable specs of my computer, click here. I know, el horible. But no money for a new one means I wait for my parents to get rid of this one, and get me a new one (probably summer). Thanks in advance to anyone that helps me. *goes off to do more research* EDIT: What's i486 CPU? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Knight of Keno Posted January 1, 2006 Share Posted January 1, 2006 http://www.ubuntulinux.org/ There's one that's very easy to use and it looks great. It doesn't require much juice from your computer. You should try that out at first. Of course Debian is another one that you could try but the spec requirements there are a bit higher and it doesn't look as great. KDE is of course another option too. I myself like to use KDE when using Linux computers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BongoBob Posted January 1, 2006 Author Share Posted January 1, 2006 Allright, downloading ubuntu right now. It seems like it will work. I'm too tired to do it tonight, but I'll try installing it tomarrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nerd_Annhilator Posted January 1, 2006 Share Posted January 1, 2006 Also, take a look at Vector Linux. Its a small distro for old computers like that. i486 is a really old intel processor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Sitherino Posted January 1, 2006 Share Posted January 1, 2006 Ubuntu is a good bet. Runs great on my old pentiumII, use the FluxBox windows manager and you'll run even better. Vector is good too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BongoBob Posted January 1, 2006 Author Share Posted January 1, 2006 ERG! I can't get my old PC to boot up. It goes to the compaq screen, and then stops. Nothing. I can't access the bios or anything. *goes tinkering* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kjølen Posted January 1, 2006 Share Posted January 1, 2006 I'm running Ubuntu on my laptop. Sorta. ATi's drivers sort of fuggled up my graphical interface, and I know hell about getting my way around the OS using the terminal commands. I'm probably just going to reinstall Ubuntu itself, just becaue it's so damn easy. Then we'll see about the ATi drivers. Though, running UT2004 on it wasn't so great on notebook graphics anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Posted January 2, 2006 Share Posted January 2, 2006 I use Ubuntu, it's very user-friendly and has many programs that are mirrors to windows programs so I can almost stop using windows, I only use Windows when I need to use photoshop or play games now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BongoBob Posted January 2, 2006 Author Share Posted January 2, 2006 Well, I've decided my comp is fried, so now I just wait until my parents either A)Get a new computer and give me this one, or B) Flat out get me a new computer (or the money to build my own). Thanks for the help guys. I made an ubuntu live cd that I was gonna use to check it out. EDIT: I'm runnin the ubuntu live cd right now, and I have to say, it's quite nice. Very simple and sleek. Still checkin some stuff out. I'm gonna ask my mom if when we redo the computer next week if I can make a 20 gig partition just for ubuntu. EDIT2: Can you have a screen resolution bigger than 1024X768 on regular ubuntu? All it let's me use on this is 1024X768. I can't remember, but on windows I think it runs at 1280X1024. EDIT3: I was wondering if it would be possible to set up a second hard drive specifically for ubuntu. I found some cheap 20 gig hard drives on eBay, and was hoping that I would be able to use one for linux. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Posted January 2, 2006 Share Posted January 2, 2006 EDIT3: I was wondering if it would be possible to set up a second hard drive specifically for ubuntu. I found some cheap 20 gig hard drives on eBay, and was hoping that I would be able to use one for linux. Yeah, when you install ubuntu, it will give you the option to partition your hard drives, and you can either partition parts of them or the whole thing. What I did was took my smaller drive and deleted a ton of useless stuff and put the rest of it on my dad's server hard drive, and then partitioned that hard drive and by doing that it wipes everything on it clean and you can only use it for Ubuntu. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Sitherino Posted January 2, 2006 Share Posted January 2, 2006 EDIT2: Can you have a screen resolution bigger than 1024X768 on regular ubuntu? All it let's me use on this is 1024X768. I can't remember, but on windows I think it runs at 1280X1024. Yeah, you can do it through the xorg config. You'll get to a screen and it'll ask you what resolutions you want to allow X to use, hightlight 1280x1024 and hit space, it'll toggle it, then just hit enter to go through the rest of it. If you have any questions you can find several answers for it on the official ubuntu forums. I no longer use windows, and wine's getting pretty good to run games, though UT2k4 and doom3 can run natively on linux, and they actually seem to run smoother. So gaming on Linux is getting better, cutting down on that standard reason of "I like to game". I also suggest getting the automatix program, it's like synaptic but it's not clogged up with a ****load of packages, just stuff you need/want and will work properly with ubuntu. Anyway, if you have any other questions you can ask here or sign up at the ubuntu forums and ask there. Everyone is really friendly, even the diehard ubuntu elitists. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BongoBob Posted January 2, 2006 Author Share Posted January 2, 2006 Cool. Thanks for all the info guys. For now I'll just stick with messing around in the live cd version, since I will most likely not have any money (just put a bid up on ebay for a cheap wired router, here's to hoping I get it). How many gigs does the ubuntu OS use, and also would I be able to access files on the windows drive from ubuntu? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Posted January 2, 2006 Share Posted January 2, 2006 Ubuntu barely takes up any room on your hard drive. I don't know the exact numbers, but I know it only uses 1 CD to install so it can't be much. As for accessing files on windows through ubuntu, I know you can do it because I have a windows folder than has all the stuff on my windows drive, but I don't know how to do it because I had my dad do that part since I didn't know how. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BongoBob Posted January 2, 2006 Author Share Posted January 2, 2006 as long as I know that it can be done, then I'm happy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Sitherino Posted January 2, 2006 Share Posted January 2, 2006 You can access drives with the disk administrator. Basically you can mount it to a remote directory (just make a new folder in /home), hit browse, you can them symlink it to a directory if you want, so you can browse any time as long as the drive is mounted. You'll need to change permissions for it though, so you can access it through the symlink. When you hit browse in disk admin highlight all the **** you want, right click-properties->permissions->owner: read,write,execute; group: read,write,execute Now you're good to go. I also suggest if you do eventually install it, open your backports. sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list it'll bring up a little text document, leaving only the #deb cdrom:[ubuntu 5.10 _Breezy Badger_ - Release blah blah blah blah blah Replace the text under with the following. ## Uncomment the following two lines to fetch updated software from the network deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu breezy main restricted deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu breezy main restricted ## Uncomment the following two lines to fetch major bug fix updates produced ## after the final release of the distribution. deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu breezy-updates main restricted deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu breezy-updates main restricted ## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from the 'universe' ## repository. ## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu ## team, and may not be under a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to ## your rights to use the software. Also, please note that software in ## universe WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the Ubuntu security ## team. deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu breezy universe deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu breezy universe deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu breezy-security main restricted deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu breezy-security main restricted deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu breezy-security universe deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu breezy-security universe deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu breezy multiverse deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu breezy multiverse Hit save and close. now type sudo apt-get update There ya go. You'll also probably want to read this thread just to get some stuff down, you don't have to read it all, but just a little bit of it goes a long way with beginners. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BongoBob Posted January 2, 2006 Author Share Posted January 2, 2006 Thanks everyone. I really like the live cd ubuntu, and will most likely continue to use it until I save up 30 bucks for a cheap 20 gig hard drive. Anybody have a spare they're looking to get rid of Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Sitherino Posted January 2, 2006 Share Posted January 2, 2006 I have about 5 HD's just sitting around, but as soon as I have money, I'll be converting them to usb2.0 external drives. CompUSA is supposed to be having a clearance sale on certain drives this week. At least, that's what they told me, then again they're evil bastards from time to time... so who knows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BongoBob Posted January 2, 2006 Author Share Posted January 2, 2006 Nice. Anyhow, CompUSA is the bastard child of satan in my experiences. The only thing that I go there for is Bawls and Bawls mints >.> <.< Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BongoBob Posted January 3, 2006 Author Share Posted January 3, 2006 Does anyone have an old hard drive layin around they're lookin to get rid of? Mods, if this is against the rules in any way please let me know and I'll delete this post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Det. Bart Lasiter Posted January 3, 2006 Share Posted January 3, 2006 As for accessing files on windows through ubuntu, I know you can do it because I have a windows folder than has all the stuff on my windows drive, but I don't know how to do it because I had my dad do that part since I didn't know how. Type this at a console, just ignore the comment lines(I forget if you need root permissions, though probably not): #you can change /cdrom to whatever you want mkdir /cdrom #/cdrom is whatever directory you created previously #/dev/hda is the HD the Windows files are on, you can add a number after /dev/hda to specify the partition #/dev/hda is the primary IDE channel, where /dev/hdb is the secondary, SATA HD's usually start at the 5th, 7th, or 8th channel mount -t ntfs /dev/hda /cdrom #if you don't know the file system on the HD, most distributions support the following: mount -t auto /dev/hda /cdrom #if you want to change the directory... cd /cdrom You can now navigate /cdrom or whatever your new directory is like a Windows directory (if you have a GUI). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BongoBob Posted January 6, 2006 Author Share Posted January 6, 2006 Well i figured out what was wrong wuth my comp, the keyboard was causing all the problems, so I'm gonna go get a new keyboard. Then I can finally install linux on it, and now I have a router, so I can get net in my room now I'll post when I get home and see if it will work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoxStar Posted January 6, 2006 Share Posted January 6, 2006 Anybody have a spare they're looking to get rid of Yes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BongoBob Posted January 7, 2006 Author Share Posted January 7, 2006 Well I fixed my keyboard, and I'm now installing Ubuntu on my old comp. I'll post again when it's finished (hopefully from my ubuntu machine) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BongoBob Posted January 7, 2006 Author Share Posted January 7, 2006 DEAR F***ING CHRIST! I think I've had 3 unsucsesful instals, the first time I messed up the partitions, the second time the disk messed up, the third time, the cd drive just stopped (install was at 6 percent for an hour, I finally turned the damn thing off) I switched to a drive that works, and it seems like this time might be the charm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Posted January 7, 2006 Share Posted January 7, 2006 Yeah, for being 'Linux for human beings," Ubunu is a bitch to get installed. I probably had 10-12 install attempts, trying different things each time till I got it to work. Good Luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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