[mdlug] Completely replacing Windows 98se with Linux!

[Jeff Hanson]

I wouldn't waste time on that system.  I've had systems recycled that were
much better than that.  I currently won't reuse a system unless it has at
least a 2GHz CPU, 1GB RAM, and a 3D graphics card that can at least handle
some OpenGL games and Flash.  My standards are high not because I was picky
or can't get them working, but because I'm often overloaded with obsolete
systems and need an excuse to get rid of them.  If I wasn't 200 miles away
I could give you a half-dozen to play with.  I'm probably going to start
dumping them on eBay.


On Wed, Jul 30, 2014 at 4:16 PM, rstaff <rstaff at sprynet.com> wrote:

> New project.  Goal to completely replace Windows 98 second edition with
> Linux!
>
> Target PC is a very old CBW Diplomat PC.
> CBW = Computer Builders Warehouse.  The PC was purchased at their West
> Bloomfield store on Orchard Lake Road.  I don't think the store exists
> anymore.
>
> This PC also has two drives.  Drive #1 has 14 Gb, while drive #2 has 28
> Gb.  It has about 524 Mb of memory RAM.  The CPU is an Intel Pentium III
> 598 MHz.  Drive #1 currently houses Win 98se, while drive #2 has Simply
> MEPIS Linux (version 6 I think).
>
> I tried seven supposedly light weight Linux Live CD/DVD distros.  Six of
> those Live CD/DVD distros experienced a kernel panic during the boot
> process.  One Live CD booted into a usable desktop.
>
> The six that failed were as follows:
>      four Ubuntu based ==> Xubuntu 14.04, Lubuntu 14.04, LXLE 12.04, Puppy
> Linux.
>      one Debian based ===> Point Linux 2.3 Mate
>      one Slackware based => Porteus 3.0 LXDE
>
> The one that booted into a usable desktop was SliTaz 4.0.  An apparently
> custom build.
> SliTaz 4 is a mini distribution and live CD designed to run speedily on
> hardware with 256 MB of RAM.  The SliTaz ISO image fits on a less than 30
> MB media and takes just 80 MB of hard disk space.  (Source DistroWatch)
>
> On this very old PC, in SliTaz Linux, I was able to play Midi and mp3
> music files.
> In Xterm, it took CLI commands as expected.
> SliTaz recognized a 4 port USB hub, along with my USB stick of music and
> USB WiFi stick.  I was able to connect to a neighbor's WiFi network as a
> guest, sorry Norm.  ;-)  However, the connection was very slow; EarthLink's
> home page eventually loaded; I gave up on waiting for Google's home page.
>
> So...  Can anybody suggest some other light weight distros to experiment
> with?
> Thanks,
> Rick Staff
> P.S.  In my web searches, I came across "Non-pae kernel option".  What is
> that?
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