IonicWind Software

IWBasic for Linux => General IWLP Discussion => Topic started by: Bruce Peaslee on February 11, 2007, 09:32:27 AM

Title: Where to start
Post by: Bruce Peaslee on February 11, 2007, 09:32:27 AM
I know very little about Linux but would like to participate. I have an old laptop with "Pentium III" and "Designed for Windows 98" stickers. I was going to sell it off, but I think now I could install Linux on it instead.

What's the easiest (or best) way to do this?
Title: Re: Where to start
Post by: Ionic Wind Support Team on February 11, 2007, 09:33:41 AM
What kind of laptop?  Does it have a CDROM drive?
Title: Re: Where to start
Post by: Bruce Peaslee on February 11, 2007, 09:44:12 AM
Quote from: Paul Turley on February 11, 2007, 09:33:41 AM
What kind of laptop?  Does it have a CDROM drive?

Compag Presario 1800 with CDROM, but it doesn't burn CDs. My desktop can. It's own internal hard drive is small, only 5 gigs.
Title: Re: Where to start
Post by: Ionic Wind Support Team on February 11, 2007, 10:03:00 AM
5 gigs isn't a lot of space but it is doable.  I run Ubuntu on a 6.4GB drive here.

If you don't want to waste time burning CD's you can request free Ubuntu CD's from here:

https://shipit.ubuntu.com/

The CD's contain the 6.06LTS version, which is easily upgradable to 6.10 once you have it installed.
Title: Re: Where to start
Post by: Bruce Peaslee on February 11, 2007, 10:53:33 AM
I can try burning a CD. Shouldn't be much harder than CDs I burn for my car stereo system  ;)

The download is long so I'll let it go while I take my shower (yes, it's late, but I'm retired!).
Title: Re: Where to start
Post by: Jerry Muelver on February 11, 2007, 12:19:06 PM
Bruce, be sure to get the Unofficial Guide:
http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu_Edgy

While it has its critics, I found it invaluable.
Title: Re: Where to start
Post by: Brice Manuel on February 11, 2007, 04:33:49 PM
Bruce:  Amazon has several books on Ubuntu.  I bought all I could find, and I think I ended up with something like seven of them.  Some were aimed at beginners, some intermediate and some advanced.  I figured by getting all of them, I should keep myself covered as my skills grow.
Title: Re: Where to start
Post by: Bruce Peaslee on February 14, 2007, 09:45:26 AM
I burned the CD. It will run from the CD, but takes forever. I would like to replace XP on the laptop with Linux, but it won't install - it just hangs.
Title: Re: Where to start
Post by: Rock Ridge Farm (Larry) on February 14, 2007, 09:57:39 AM
Some laptops have issues with interupts and PCI/PCMCIA.
There should be options at the boot screen for such things.
I will look later for the options.
Title: Re: Where to start
Post by: Sbleck on February 14, 2007, 12:22:31 PM
Hi,

You could try CenOS (http://www.centos.org/), also.  It is based 100% on (sources of) Red Hat but without references (logos) to Red Hat.  It is VERY stable and reliable, and could be used to install Oracle databases too, because Oracle approved only Red Hat and Suse distros...

I installed a single server in one 2Gb Hard disk.  CentOS have all the ISOs you need.  You effort in only download what you need, build the CDs and install...

Sven
Title: Re: Where to start
Post by: Rock Ridge Farm (Larry) on February 15, 2007, 05:43:37 AM
IRQPOLL NOAIPC NOLAIPC ACPI=OFF PCI=NOACPI NOACPI
That's the one - it turns off PCI interrupts.
Title: Re: Where to start
Post by: Bruce Peaslee on February 15, 2007, 12:49:05 PM
Thanks, guys, we'll give it a go!
Title: Re: Where to start
Post by: Jerry Muelver on February 15, 2007, 02:15:54 PM
Bruce, I had a problem installing the Server version of Ubuntu on my laptop to upgrade from Dapper Drake to Edgy Eft, so I tried with the Alternate version, and it went through without a hitch. It's another option....
Title: Re: Where to start
Post by: Rock Ridge Farm (Larry) on February 15, 2007, 10:58:02 PM
You will also need to modify the boot script to include the same option.
Another thing to turn off is hotplug - it hangs on HP laptops.