Lite linux os

[jbaldwinroberts]

Hey,

I've been given an old Compaq Presario 1200 laptop and im trying to find an os that will run on it as the Windows ME that was installed had stopped working and Compaq want me to pay for a restore CD... so Linux it is. It has a P3 at 677MHz, 64mg of ram and a 5gb HD. I couldn't believe ME would run at those specs. Anyway, so far i have tried Damn Small Linux (http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/) and Puppy Linux (http://www.puppylinux.org/) as these are the only distros that will run on such an old system. On DSL the mouse pad doesn't work and i haven't figured out how to get the Ethernet card working on either distro.

The other problem i am having is that seeing as the laptop is Compaq they have somehow "locked" the HD. Basically i can reformat it but i cant partition it or get GRUB to work, it just says OS missing on boot. So i have to keep booting with the live CD.

Does anyone have any experience with either of these distros or any distro that would run on this laptop? I want to be able to browse the web and watch videos.

Does anyone know how to get rid of Compaq's stupid HD lock thing?

Does anyone know how to get a mouse pad working in DSL with no mouse or internet?

Many thanks

Joe

[OvRiDe]

There is also a distro called SLAX which is pretty small. Honestly you are not just stuck with those distros, I run Kubuntu on a similar setup, it doesn't run great but it runs ok. I would check into Xubuntu, it will most likely have the device support you are looking for with a lighter weight GUI. Also when installing you might not want a default install, but instead do a minimal install and then just add the packages that you really need later.

As for the Compaq HD locking, not sure about that.. sorry :( My only suggestion is maybe to dBAN it, and see if that fixes it. http://www.dban.org/

Good luck, hope this helps and let us know how it goes!

[jbaldwinroberts]

Thanks, im just downloading SLAX now and will try it out sometime tomorrow. Does Kubuntu use less resources than Xubuntu then? When i tried Xubuntu it wouldn't even boot as it needs 128mg of ram to install... more to get working live. I will try to dBAN tomorrow and see how that goes.


EDIT: i am going to try the Xubuntu alternate CD (http://www.xubuntu.org/get) as well because it only requires 64mg of ram.

Thanks for your help and i will keep you posted.

Joe

[OvRiDe]

Does Kubuntu use less resources than Xubuntu then?

Nope.. Kubuntu uses KDE as its front end, and I think that KDE uses more resource then any other Linux Window manager. I wasn't suggesting it, more just giving an example that some of these older systems can run it. Xubuntu is pretty light but still has ample device support. I figure you can give it a shot, and worse case.. you reload it with something else if it doesn't work out.

Good Luck!

[aintnothang]

what about Damn Small Linux

[OvRiDe]

what about Damn Small Linux

... from the first post ...


... so far i have tried Damn Small Linux (http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/) and Puppy Linux (http://www.puppylinux.org/) as these are the only distros that will run on such an old system. On DSL the mouse pad doesn't work and i haven't figured out how to get the Ethernet card working on either distro.

:D

[jbaldwinroberts]

hey,

I'm at work at the moment so i haven't had a chance to try anything yet. As you say OvRiDe, KDE is very resource heavy, im looking at using fluxbox (http://www.fluxbox.org/) as this seems to be the least resource intensive and it is what puppy Linux and DSL use.

Apparently the only way to get rid of the hidden partition that is "locking" the HD is to f disk it. The problem with this is that the partition also contains all the drivers for the laptop as well as either, a BIOS backup or the actual BIOS data (If this is the case when i delete the partition, i will no longer be able to access the BIOS). Different websites have told me different things on this. So somehow i need to access this partition and copy these across. Any ideas on how to do this when i cant see it in the BIOS, G Parted or in the partitioning program that comes when you install DSL will be much appreciated.
If i cant find a way to do it i will just f disk it anyway because it will be no more useless to me with no BIOS than it is now with no OS.


Thanks

Joe

[aintnothang]

Sry, I searched for DSL not Damn Small Linux, I am ashamed of myself now...

[OvRiDe]

Sry, I searched for DSL not Damn Small Linux, I am ashamed of myself now...

Moron...




:D Dude, I was totally yanking your chain... I don't know any of us that hasn't done something similar before.


As for the BIOS thing I do remember running across that same situation, but unfortunately I cannot remember for the life of me what we did to get around it. :( I really have no idea why they would even consider storing the BIOS on a freaking hardware failure that is an eventuality. My only suggestion now is maybe do a google search for something like Linux and the make and model of the laptop and see if there are any hits with some useful information.

Sorry.

[Xpirate]

I tried to get some kind of Linux on a Compaq desktop once and upgrade the RAM. I could not work around that dang hard drive problem that they infect the machines with.

I could not use any of the Compaq hardware on any other machine and I couldn't make anything else work correctly on the Compaq machine. I put the windows back on it and gave it away.

Not trying to discourage you, I'm just letting you know how difficult this might be.

[Luke122]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/01/07/forcing_linux_on_a_crap/

I think that pretty much says it all.

[jbaldwinroberts]

Yeah i saw that last nite, would the screen work in a sidepanel? How would i connect it? im thinking to a spare graphics card?

The laptop may be more useful as just a screen.

Thanks

[Xpirate]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/01/07/forcing_linux_on_a_crap/

I think that pretty much says it all.

The dude from the register got farther than I did. I could not get past the text based install program on about three different distros. That's when I gave it up. If I was younger and had more time on my hands, I might not have given up. I guess age brings the wisdom to see that the reward of making a light duty Linux OS work on that underpowered hardware was not worth the hard work to make it run.