[Jimmy2012]

Hello,
I would like to install Linux on my PC, but have a few questions before trying to install it. What version of Linux should I try? I am looking for one that is easy to install and easy to use for a new person just using Linux, also work on this older computer?
By the way I have never used any Linux before so sorry for any dumb questions.

Here are the basic system specs (if you need any other info please let me know).
Windows ME
Processor: Intel 666MHz
Memory 64MB RAM
And the hard drive is 20 GB, free space 17.4 GB

I will most likely clear out the Hard Drive and just install Linux on that, unless anyone would think it would be better to keep windows ME and dual boot it?

This is just a older computer I got so I thought I would give Linux a go and see how it is.

Thanks for any help

Edited by Jimmy2012, 29 June 2008 - 12:40 AM.

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you could try "Tinyme PClinux" but with 64MB of Ram it might be a bit slow.

AntiX Mepis might work better though the Flux box interface is not quite Windows but nice.

[silverbeard]

you could try "Tinyme PClinux" but with 64MB of Ram it might be a bit slow.

AntiX Mepis might work better though the Flux box interface is not quite Windows but nice.

[Kemasa]

Many people like Ubuntu, so you might check out the Live CD so that you can try it a bit without having to go through the process of loading it. I personally like Mandrake, but the new version is Mandriva and I have not tried that, so I can't say how it is. Unless you are willing to get support, I would say away from RedHat. Gentoo is nice, but I would avoid that for beginners. You can also try the Knoppix Live CD.

There are some programs which won't run on Linux, so it depends on what you want to do with it. You can use OpenOffice for documents and such, Firefox for a web browser, Gimp for image modification, etc. Is there anything which you do which you have not checked out if there is a program that does what you want on Linux?

[Jimmy2012]

Thank you 2 for the help, I will look in to the versions you have gave and will hopefully have one installed in the next few days.

About the live CD, I have read that it takes alot of RAM to run it. And since the PC I want to try this one only has 64MB RAM would that be enough to try out a live CD first?

Is there anything which you do which you have not checked out if there is a program that does what you want on Linux?

No, so far of what I have looked at all of the programs I want to use should be able to work on Linux.

Thanks again for the help

Edited by Jimmy2012, 29 June 2008 - 03:47 PM.

[Kemasa]

You can try the Live CD, it might be slow though. You can also try DSL Linux and that should work fine since the whole release is something like 50Mb.

[Jimmy2012]

Ok, I will go ahead and try a Live CD first and see if it works and how I like it.

**EDIT**
Got a question for ya if you don't mind before I download one, do you think that Ubuntu would work on this PC? I have read some topics that say it would work with 64MB RAM and some that say it won't.

Edited by Jimmy2012, 29 June 2008 - 11:29 PM.

[Kemasa]

I am not sure if it will work or not. I have a Compaq computer which it won't work at all with, which is faster and has more memory than your machine. It just won't boot. It boots Mandrake without any problems.

[Jimmy2012]

I am not sure if it will work or not. I have a Compaq computer which it won't work at all with, which is faster and has more memory than your machine. It just won't boot. It boots Mandrake without any problems.

Ok. Few more question before I go ahead and download one(hope last questions before downloading one ), if I download Ubuntu and it won't work on my windows ME computer, I would like to try it on the one I am using now(Windows XP) but have a question about using it on XP.
My XP has a C drive and a D drive on it, the C is the drive with Windows on it, and the D drive I believe is the recovery drive. When I boot up windows it gives the option to start XP or the recovery console.

So my question is, is it safe to try to install Ubuntu on it and still keep Windows XP and the recovery console? Would there be a big chance of messing something up doing it this way(not being able to boot up XP)? Or should I just go with a smaller version of Linux and keep it off XP?

I would also install it the way it shows on Ubuntu website about dual booting it.

Thanks again for all your help

Edited by Jimmy2012, 01 July 2008 - 12:17 AM.

[silverbeard]

AntiX is a Live CDand designed for older PC's. As suggested DSL is excellent for older hardware, I've ran it on older PII(300mhz) machines with 64mb of RAM and it make Win98 look like a slug performance wise. I've used Puppy Linux on the same machines with good results.

My XP has a C drive and a D drive on it,

I personally don't care for Ubuntu or most of the Distros based on it, but it is good for beginners and it has some of the best forums. but if you want to try it and leave XP intact you should take a look at Wubi. peterm has been giving it a test drive and might have some insights. I haven't had a reason to give it a try but Wubi looks like it could be useful for some.

[Jimmy2012]

After looking at Puppy Linux website you gave, I think I will go ahead and try that one on my windows ME.

As for Ubuntu, I just seen how big that file is to download and with my internet service it would take all day to download(if it would download ). So if I try out Ubuntu I will have to go ahead and get the CD mailed to me.

I think I will go ahead and give Puppy Linux a try today(if it won't work I will give DSL Linux a try). Thanks for the info and the links.

Edited by Jimmy2012, 01 July 2008 - 12:29 PM.

[Jimmy2012]

I have downloaded Puppy Linux and got it to work on windows ME(using the Live CD), played around with it for a little while and like it. So I was going to go ahead and install it but when I was opening Gparted partition manager it would just freeze up, I could not move the mouse or nothing. The only way to get anything working was to turn the power off on the PC and restart it that way. I tryed that 3 times and same result each time.

I was looking on google to try to find the answer and found a site that said downloading Gparted by itself and partition the hard drive that way and then boot up the Linux CD might work. But before I try that I just wanted to ask you, do you think that would fix the problem or do I need to do something else?

By the way just to let you know, I am using the instructions on the website you gave on Puppy Linux to install it.

Edited by Jimmy2012, 02 July 2008 - 12:29 AM.

[silverbeard]

I personally prefer Parted Magic. It seems to run better on older equipment. gparted should handle the job but it can have some issues with hardware.

[Jimmy2012]

Hello,

I ran into another problem. I downloaded Parted Magic got it to boot up on windows ME no problem. But when I run the program to partition the hard drive I can only get 5 MB to move/resize( I have not partitioned it yet). Just in case you don't know what I am talking about, it is on the website you gave on Puppy Linux when they show you how to partition your hard drive. When you first start the program, clearing some of the windows hard drive.

Also I don't know if this has anything to do with it or not, but where it shows the name of hard drive on the far left on the program, it has a yellow box with a "!" in it on the right side of the name.

I have been looking on google with no luck so far. Any ideas on how to get this working?

**EDIT**
I was looking more at the program and right clicked the hard drive for more info, and got a new window that popped up. It has some info on it, here is the info it says.

Filesystem: fat32
Size: 19.08 GiB
Flags: boot,lba

Path: /dev/hda1
Status Not mounted

First Sector 63
Last Sector 40007519
Total Sectors 4007457

Then at the bottom of that screen it says.

Warning:
Unable to read the contents of this filesystem!
Because of this some operations may be unavailable.

Edited by Jimmy2012, 03 July 2008 - 02:42 PM.

[Jimmy2012]

Hello,
I have decided to go ahead and remove Windows ME and just install Puppy Linux on the hard drive if that will work, but before I try this I have a few quick questions.

Can I use Parted Magic to clear the hard drive? And if so what option do I use to clear it(since I saw a few different ones), the delete option or wipe partition?

Now for installing Puppy Linux, after I take the Parted Magic CD out do I just put in the Puppy Linux CD and go from there, or do I need to do something else to get that to work?

Thanks

[Jimmy2012]

Hello again,

Don't mind my last post I found a site that answered my questions, that I could delete the Hard Drive with Parted Magic using the delete option and then install Puppy Linux.

How ever I am having a bit of trouble with Puppy, I got it to install got Grub bootloader installed(went thru the instructions on Puppy Linux website). But when I reboot the PC and take out the CD I have a black screen that says "Operating system not found".

Do you have any ideas on how to fix this? Did I do something wrong or just missing a setting or something? Just to let you know I can still boot up Puppy on the CD.

Edited by Jimmy2012, 04 July 2008 - 09:04 PM.