[SOLVED] Distro for old laptop

[mml]

I have been using linux for a while now on my desktop and have decided to change my laptop to use linux. My laptop is an old IBM thinkpad x31. The latest version of Ubuntu doesn't install prperly saying a device is missing. Fedora takes up to much of my systems resources. When I used Mandrive I had problems with the interface. Opensuse installs and runs fine but won't install Wine properly which I need for my laptop.
I need a distro which runs wine, has good media play back and doesn't use up alot of resources. Preferably GNOME desktop environment.
Any suggestions
thx.

[arochester]

How much RAM do you have?

[reed9]

What are the specs of the machine?

The biggest stumbling block will be GNOME. It's a bloater. Same with KDE. Depending on your specs a good alternative might be something with an XFCE desktop. Plain old window manager or LXDE might be better.

Some possibilities
Crunchbang Linux
TinyMe
(Coming along nice but still in Beta. Looks like it will be quite good when finished.)
Antix

Fedora has a LXDE and XFCE community spin that might work for you.
Fedora Spins

[coopstah13]

if you are confident arch might be a good way to go

I recommend icewm for a lightweight WM these days, it takes up like 2 mb more memory than blackbox/fluxbox/openbox and the interface is way more "familiar"

[mml]

512 mb ram
pentium M processor
internal graphics

[devils casper]

512 mb ram
pentium M processor
internal graphics

The latest version of Ubuntu doesn't install prperly saying a device is missing.

Ubuntu should run fine on those specs. Could post exact error message here? Which device was missing? wine works fine in Ubuntu.

[mml]

Error: device D7f68f7f-7078-4978-91c2-b4fb123ed94q not found.

This is during Grub loader for Ubuntu and won't boot operating system.
Also Mint installer won't boot. I think the laptop is slightly broken.

[irlandes]

That looks sort of like UUID problems. UUID is a system of identifying HD partitions by a number other then /dev/sd?? and is used, I think, for hot plugging HD in assemblies such as RAID, about which I know absolutely nothing. But, later distros of Ubuntu/Mint use that system.

I don't like to play the "favorite distro" game, but in a case like this try Puppy Linux. It should work by loading entirely into RAM, not even touch the HD. Then, you remove the live CD and the cd drive is available for use. There are people who use only live Puppy. It does give you the choice to create a small file in Windows for persistent use, but you need not if you prefer.

I have not had good luck with HD install on Puppy, but it has special super light apps for almost everything you want to do, and you can load them in, then, remaster your own live Cd using the built-in remaster utility, with the apps already installed as you load them.