Calling all Linux users :)

Celtic

Celtic

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Aug 8, 2009
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Ok Sooooo. I have an old laptop that I'll be using for mostly music, videos, surfing the interwebs, etc while I'm at work. I got it from a friend who didn't need it and didn't know why it was having problems. So I swiped it and reinstalled XP that came with the laptop. Well it, sadly all the drivers I need were missing, and the ones i found wouldn't install properly. I decided to try Linux. So I made my USB drive into a bootable Ubuntu drive. I installed it on this thing. And it runs like a slug. Soo I was wondering if any one had any suggestions on which Linux I should try :) I have a feeling you guys will suggest a netbook version. It doesn't have to be real pretty but I rather it not be bland!

I may or may not pick up different/more ram for this. If it would help any.

The beastly specs:
-AMD Turion 64 Mobile Processor MT-32, Operating at 1.8 Ghz with a 512KB L2 -Cache
-512 MB PC2700 DDR Ram
-80GB 4500RPM Hard Drive
-ATI 200m (express 300 equivalent)
 
I tryed a few linux os mint,fedora,redhat,ubuntu and my fav was ubuntu its great and works like a charm its also easy for people new with linux cuz linux can be quite a hassle to play with.

So get ubuntu thats wha id suggest.Make all your updates once installed. If it doesent work try gOS or linux mint altho if ubuntu doesent work i dont think the other will work better since most linux os are based off ubuntu.
 
http://www.ubuntu.com/netbook

You can also try a cloud ive never did but i heard it was quite good and you get your stuff stored free.

http://www.ubuntu.com/cloud

and if you ever go back to xp make sure its a 32 bit version takes less cpu and better for old pcs

Google will release a linux based distro but the source code is available so its close to being done but not out yet
 
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^_^ I know for a fact that it's a XP Home Premium 32-bit. But I won't be going back to it since I had so many issues with it. Mainly because for this particular laptop the drivers didn't work like they were suppose to. I have a feeling all the proper drivers were installed on a separate partition on this thing. This isn't the first time it was reformatted either. So I don't know if that's true or not.

Anyways I installed Ubuntu 32 Bit on Monday. So I've been test running it. I figured the thing could run it. But it runs like a Mac. Lots of spinning beach balls of doooooom. But I'm going to give the netbook version a try.

This laptop is just for messing around on mainly so I can uninstall, install w/e on it. But I'm going to try the netbook version. See if it's any better!

I'm open to other suggestions too!
 
ubuntu is best bets for beginners with linux but still provides the power for more advance users. its easy to get to grips with and looks slick
 
Not quite a beginner. But I would admit I'm a noob with it? If that makes sense. But I'm just looking to see if anyone knows a good linux that's up to date but can run on low specs pretty much. I know of tiny linux. But I don't want that :P As of right now it's installing Ubuntu Netbook Remix. It's kinda just sitting at a point. But just running plain Ubuntu on this was a pain for it's slowness..
 
As of right now, it's working pretty good on the netbook Ubuntu. Tonight, possibly the next 3 nights I'll be testing it out at work. Since I work 11pm to 6-7am, you can imagine why I want this to work :P I've worked here almost a year and all I do is watch tv if I'm not busy.

If you have any programs I could get to mess around with you could suggest those too! :)
 
If its sluggish, try xubuntu since it uses the xfce desktop, which is low on resources. Works similar to GNOME though.
 
Well Ubuntu 10 vs Ubuntu 10 Netbook Remix= win on this thing. So far it's been really smooth. Much faster. Probably should find a graphics driver. I'm also having problems with getting sound to work on this thing. Which is irritating but I'm sure I'll be able to find a way to get it to work? Any suggestions on where to look? :P oo this keyboard is so smooth too <3 laptop keyboards.

-Typed with the laptop :p
 
If it doesent work try updating you bios might help on my old p3 i couldent boot and linux distro because of my outdated bios
 
xubuntu 10.04 also uses ext4 as the filesystem. Much faster than old ext3
 
I got a little app to tell me some of my system information and it's lead me to believe I'm just lacking some sort of a sound driver! BLEH! Gotta dig around.
 
well does anyone know of a program that will turn a regular windows driver into a linux driver. Or usable by linux?
 
Celtic said:
I got a little app to tell me some of my system information and it's lead me to believe I'm just lacking some sort of a sound driver! BLEH! Gotta dig around.
Click to expand...


Do you hear sound coming out of your PC?

If you do, you dont need drivers
 
Well it's a laptop so I'm not sure the exact model of the sound card. But on the manufacture website the drivers are from a conexant vendor? The model of the laptop is Emachine W4620. It's old, it's free, It's just to mess around with :P nothing fancy.
 
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