[SOLVED] Ubuntu on Compaq Presario 700 - problems

[ni_boy]

Hi,

My sister is now the proud owner of a "refurbished" Compaq Presario 700 (mobile AMD Athlon 4 1500+ processor & 256MB RAM). It's currently loaded with a dodgy copy of Windows (WGA Nag) so I want to get rid of this and have two questions :

1. Will ubuntu run OK on such a low spec system?

2. How the hell do I get Ubuntu to install on this peice of junk?

Actually question 2 is the issue but the answer to 1 will tell me if I should pursue this or not.

Basically the system will not boot from the Ubuntu CD. It will boot from a windows boot disk and the Ubuntu Cd boots when I stick it in my PC, so it should be OK (I've tried two disks).

The laptop also reads the Ubuntu disk OK & I've tried installing the boot helper that comes with Ubuntu for systems that can't boot from CD, but that crashes each time I try to install.

I've also upgraded the BIOS but it still doesn't boot.

Any assistance or pointers appreciated.

Stu

[MikeTbob]

I don't think Ubuntu will run on 256 MB RAM, nor will Mint and a host of others. See this link for distros that work well on older hardware.
http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/cof...re-2010-a.html

[devils casper]

Hi and Welcome !

256MB RAM is not enough for Ubuntu. You should consider a bit light-weight distro. Check this Poll.

[ni_boy]

Well that's a start (thanks).

I won't pursue Ubuntu, but any insight to how to get this system to boot off CD would be appreciated as now I'm trying Slitaz & it won't boot either. And of course the floppy drive looks like it's stuffed so I can't write a bootable floppy....

methinks me sista may have a lemon....

[twoHats]

Try xubuntu - I have it on some pretty raggedy gear and it works. If you can upgrade the ram it will work even better.

[hatebreed]

go here DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD.. go through the list and try the ones that are meant to run on older hardware. like dam small linux, slitax, unity, dreamlinux, etc. these are all basic distros though, meaning they don't come with alot of software preinstalled. try this program out to boot from cd or usb for that matter. Boot from USB/CD even if your BIOS doesn't support it. - ZeroSec Forums

[ni_boy]

Thanx HateBreed,

plop was the ticket, gives me an option to force boot off CD (or USB) & away I go.

Now to try out some distro's (thanks for the input from everyone on this).

Cheers
Stu

[ichfaisal]

I am running ubuntu on preserio v 2000 (AMD 3000+ and 512 mb ram) and its very slow on my Laptop as even some time i start to think that i should remove ubuntu.i dont think ubuntu is good for these specs.

[hatebreed]

ich, it's your memory. 512 is just barely enough, if you open a terminal and type top you will probably see that you are using swap. try disabling some of the start up apps and see if this helps things out. The notification apps take up alot of ram.

[devils casper]

I am running ubuntu on preserio v 2000 (AMD 3000+ and 512 mb ram) and its very slow on my Laptop as even some time i start to think that i should remove ubuntu.i dont think ubuntu is good for these specs.

I have 512MB RAM in my test machine and there isn't any performance lag. Ubuntu and CentOS are running fine.
Less swap space could be a problem.
Post the output of free command here.