Old Computer

[rokytnji]

I do wish it had a 64-bit flavour though.

 inxi
CPU~Dual core Intel Pentium Dual CPU E2160 (-MCP-) clocked at 1200.000 Mhz Kernel~3.6.0-antix.1-amd64-smp x86_64 Up~1:23 Mem~389.3/1982.1MB HDD~80.0GB(-) Procs~87 Client~Shell inxi~1.8.19

antiX-Linux - Browse /Testing at SourceForge.net

We are getting there eventually. I am bug finding it at present.

[resthavener]

I don't know a lot but - if you have a cd cutter available download Ubuntu (12.04 32 bit desktop, not 12.10) and boot the machine from the CD (you may need to go into the Bios after switching on and make the CD first boot device - google this if you need to but not too difficult). When Ubuntu eventually appears you can choose to install it and replace Windows (or leave everything exactly as it was).

As to machine's spec - if you can beat the Chinese problem and download a little program called cpu-z it will tell all. Over 512mb ram memory and 20gb drive will run ubuntu and allow basic browsing, word processing.

[MonthOLDpickle]

Its a Celeron! 2GHZ. I think only 500mb of ram though.

[resthavener]

Good - it will run Linux (though more memory would be a nice to have - check the type from cpu-z or Linux equivalent, probably DDR or DDR2, not the SODiMM which is for laptops, and whether the mother board has a spare slot; Google and youtube if you feel brave enough to open the the case and fit).
I suggested Ubuntu because it's well known and often people's first step into Linux. Other flavours like Mint will probably do just as well. Just avoid anything which emphasises flexibility, configuration options. It's like a car with a crash gearbox - great for the expert, nightmare for the beginner.

In case you're wondering it will probably just find the usb wifi and maybe even manage to configure itself. If not, not much different from the answers windows needs (mainly the wifi password).

[MonthOLDpickle]

Yeah I am prob going to try Ubuntu even most recent or one step back.

[Pacopag]

Good choice. And if you find Ubuntu a bit slow or unresponsive, try Lubuntu next. It's much "lighter", but still Ubuntu.

[velikij]

You may have success running Debian 6 on such a system. Also Slackware 14 (the latest). Slackware generally requires a bit more understanding of Linux, though. I am running one of each on 2 basically identical VIA cpus that run at 800 mhz and are i586 class - the kernels are i486 kernels. Video drivers seem to work lots better on Debian. I chose an XFCE desktop on the Slackware system, Gnome on the Debian system. Everything else I have, still fairly old but more modern, runs Ubuntu or Xubuntu 12.04,

Also, try running a live CD of 1 or (preferably) more distros: Knoppix, Slax, Puppy, and more. The /proc directory contains some files which will give you information about your system, like /proc/cpuinfo for example.

[CaptainDangeax]

It seems you only have 512MB of Ram, with 128 of it for shared video mem. It's really short. A light flavor (using xfce or lxde) should do it, but you also should lower the shared memory size to its minimum in your PC bios. However, with this setup, you won't do 3D, so why loose ram space ? A memory stick isn't very expensive, push your PC up to 2GB if you can, and any flavor of Linux will run smooth.

[MonthOLDpickle]

Lubuntu wont' even boot. So I just installed puppy lol

[rossrogue]

if you dont mind starting libre office and firefox from the command line in sacrifice of snappy performance, slackware. or you can just "startx" or "startxfce4" to get a snappy gui.