Re: Good Linux alternative for Windows 9x/ME era computers.
Greegor
microsoft.public.windowsme.general
Good Linux alternative for Windows 9x/ME era computers.
1 No Alternative May 4
2 Alias May 4
3 Auric__ May 4
4 Noel Paton May 4
5 No Alternative May 4
6 Alias May 5
7 webster72n May 5
> This is a version of linux called u-lite. It is based on ubuntu,
> so it is completely updatable, and uses the latest programs
> and browsers easily. It can use the latest youtube and
> other flash video sites, for instance, because it uses a
> recent version of adobe flashplayer with a modern gecko
> based browser, like firefox and kazehakase. Win9x won't
> do this without some major hacking.
>
> It uses the lxde desktop so it runs on very low resource
> computers. You just need about 32mb of ram, and
> anything over 486dx with some swap space. That's all.
>
> I dual booted Windows 98 with various linux for a long
> time, but I stuck with mainly Win98 for as long as
> possible, because many of the linuxes I used just
> operated too sluggishly. Unfortunately Win98 got
> hosed at some point. I couldn't reinstall it from my
> oem compaq restore disk because I had upgraded
> the hard drive and it would only install on the original
> owing to some copywrite protection code. I had to
> resort to linux. This caused me to hunt for lighter
> versions of linux. U-lite thus far is the best one
> I have used.
>
> Now some info about linux in general. Like alot of
> people who resort to old versons of windows, I don't
> have alot of money, and linux gives me access to
> thousands of good free opensource programs at
> the end of my fingertips through synaptic. There
> are equivalents to most of the programs I used on
> Win98, and when it isn't available I can generally
> run my old windows 98 programs through a program
> called wine. I use wine mostly for my old games.
> I am sure there are others. Anyone else had some
> good experiences recently with a version Linux?
Is there an active Linux usenet newsgroup?
I tried a few different Linux distros on various
of my older machines that run between 1 and 2 GHz.
The HARDWARE DETECT auto install stuff in most
Linux distros really impressed me.
Built in sound chips was the part I had trouble with
the most. I was dismayed to learn that even OLD
sound chips were not well supported because
they are considered OBSOLETE.
Disabling ESS or other on board sound chip
and adding in a genuine CREATIVE sound
card seems to be a helpful move.
Linux distros seem to favor Intel
processors and larger RAM than MS Windows.
I appreciated the u-lite info.
Certainly it is worthwhile to enable older
systems (Faster than 1 GHz) to continue
to function as media boxes for playing
DVD's CD's or YouTube .FLV videos
online or off line.
It just seems smart to recycle the computers
that aren't TOO slow! Call it "GREEN" if that helps!
Are there active Linux usenet newsgroups?
Or sites to help with Linux installs?
No Alternative
I am sorry I didn't see the stuff at the end of the post. Hope you're
still around.
>
> Is there an active Linux usenet newsgroup?
Yes. The best one for u-lite would be alt.os.linux.ubuntu . There are
three good general ones I use called alt.linux , alt.os.linux ,
comp.os.linux.misc. There are like hundreds of olthers. The best place
to search is google groups because it gives you some idea of how much
traffic the group gets.
> I tried a few different Linux distros on various of my older machines
> that run between 1 and 2 GHz.
>
> The HARDWARE DETECT auto install stuff in most Linux distros really
> impressed me.
> Built in sound chips was the part I had trouble with the most. I was
> dismayed to learn that even OLD sound chips were not well supported
> because they are considered OBSOLETE.
Yes, around 2002ish linux still had a problem with many old soundcards,
but this has largely been overcome. Now the problem is newish soundcards
and graphics cards.
>
> Disabling ESS or other on board sound chip and adding in a genuine
> CREATIVE sound card seems to be a helpful move.
I have an ess, on my present compaq 5184 k6-2 350mhz. There is no
problem.
> Linux distros seem to favor Intel
> processors and larger RAM than MS Windows.
u-lite is not as ram intensive as the others. All flavors of linux are
less processor and harddrive intensive than windows. Ram is a cheap
upgrade.
>
> I appreciated the u-lite info.
>
> Certainly it is worthwhile to enable older systems (Faster than 1 GHz)
> to continue to function as media boxes for playing DVD's CD's or YouTube
> .FLV videos
> online or off line.
u-lite operates on computers much less powerful than 1ghz. Mine is only
350mhz. I operate it on another that is on pentium mmx 266 mhz, and it is
a speed demon.
>
> It just seems smart to recycle the computers that aren't TOO slow! Call
> it "GREEN" if that helps!
>
> Are there active Linux usenet newsgroups?
>
> Or sites to help with Linux installs?
There are many usenet groups which I have listed and there are also many
websites. u-lite has an active forum, and there are others that can help,
like justlinux.org , linuxquestions.org, and ubuntuforums.org .
--
http://english-158465906205.spampoison.com
http://u-lite.org
Greegor
seems to be appropriate here, Harry.
What percentage of WinMe boxes out there
COULD be upgraded to Win XP and would
it be a rational move for somebody?
Aren't the WinME newsgroups dead enough to make it
reasonable to post upgrade path considerations?
Just as an example, I've got a Compaq
Presario 5000US sitting here that has
a really nifty "Designedf for ..WinME" sticker
on it but doesn't have the original Restore CD
and was before COA stickers were affixed
to the box as well.
It's questionable whether it's worth buying
the Restore CD ($30 or $40 online).
What would you as a Loyal WinME guy
suggest for this beautiful WinME computer?
Shane
makes any sense to types who choose/chose WinMe over, say, Windows 98 or
2000 - could be upgraded to XP. However there isn't a Linux distro that
isn't so full of bugs as to make Windows look finshed as opposed to beta
tested on the customer. They are for geeks or pseudo-geeks who one way or
another, but probably in one of the two camps that are Microsoft/non-geek
despisers or egotistical enough to need to appear in possession of arcane
knowledge about computers (just as men do about cars, motorbikes, business,
construction, the list as I'm sure you know goes on and on) and so overlook
glaring inadequacies - and particularly in Ubuntu! which is easy enough for
those guys who only pose as geeks to pretend expertise with (whereby punting
it with the assuredness they affect tacitly *implies* said expertise to all
with even less).
windowsme.general has never been notable for questions from users seeking to
upgrade, excepting occasionally to XP. One might suppose there are reasons
for that in a Microsoft-sponsored newsgroup and that alt.windows-me would be
the preferred forum for such discussions?
I would expect it to be quite easy to restore Win Me to that Compaq, if it
is unavailable, and either way to make a sufficient 'Restore' cd oneself.
Shane
"Greegor" <Gree...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:8b754e04-ecb2-483f...@k2g2000yql.googlegroups.com...
teebo
Yeah, IMHO only reason anyone running win9x/me would like to
install linux on their computer is that they are interested
trying linux, because it's new/different/opensource etc.
They will certainly find some linux-related newsgroup, webpage
or irc-channel (irc is quite popular support-channel among
the linux-distributions)
But I think that the reason people use win9x/me today is
either they really like it (like me), or really don't
need any change. Most win98x/me users don't read newsgroups
at all I guess, and when they do it is only to solve a specific
small problem with as little change in appearance and behavior
as possible.
yeah a reason to change would be that their computer died
and the new computer refuses to let them install win9x/me on it
(if they care much enough about OS to invest some time to remove
that ugly Windows Fista that is preinstalled on the new one)
but they wouldn't search here for linux then either
> What percentage of WinMe boxes out there
> COULD be upgraded to Win XP and would
> it be a rational move for somebody?
0% I guess? if they have wanted to then they had done it allready.
what I don't like is the word 'upgrade', replace it with 'change' :-)
And the same goes for modern big linux-distributions, they all
consume more memory than win9x/me - wich means they will be slower
> Just as an example, I've got a Compaq Presario 5000US sitting herethat has a really nifty "Designedf for ..WinME" sticker on itbut doesn't have the original Restore CD
if you don't have a original Restore CD or installation CD for your
computer then I would recomend that you make an image of your harddisk
with Norton Ghost or similar, as soon as possible.
If anything goes wrong then you can fast&easy restore it to
the state it have today. It is absolutely worth go buying a cakebox
of cd or dvds. (If your computer don't have a cd/dvd -burner then
you can perhaps buy an usb-memory and transfer to another computer)
Not that it is hard to download a winMe-cdimage from the net somewhere
to use for installing winME, but the important thing is to save
your files/bookmarks/etc and especially the drivers for your computer.
and save you from hard work if the bad thing happens.
> What would you as a Loyal WinME guy
> suggest for this beautiful WinME computer?
if you weren't quite that WinME-loyal, then I would suggest
trying the combined win98se-ME -thing "98SE2ME" mentioned
at mdgx.com/spx - that is only for people interested in
optimising their os of course. and do a backup before...
Joan Archer
--
Joan Archer
http://www.freewebs.com/crossstitcher
http://lachsoft.com/photogallery
"teebo" <n...@mail.no> wrote in message news:op.uve3i9f4br8ivg@300pl...
>
> yeah a reason to change would be that their computer died
> and the new computer refuses to let them install win9x/me on it
> (if they care much enough about OS to invest some time to remove
> that ugly Windows Fista that is preinstalled on the new one)
> but they wouldn't search here for linux then either
>
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webster72n
"Joan Archer" <joana...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:eiPXPK56...@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> I've never heard of Windows Fista what's that like ?
A breath of fresh air, Joan, the Windows Vista. <H>.
webster72n
"Greegor" <Gree...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:8b754e04-ecb2-483f...@k2g2000yql.googlegroups.com...
Shane and teebo already answered that question for me, thank you. I stick
with my statement. <H>.
teebo
> I've never heard of Windows Fista what's that like ?
the urbandictionary have a nice description :-)
too bad "windows7" is just the same shit with a different name
same drm....
Joan Archer
"webster72n" <webst...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:#AOoFh56...@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
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>
> The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.
>
> http://www.eset.com
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>
>
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webster72n
Hopefully no one noticed. <H>.
"Joan Archer" <joana...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:OE3AEnB7...@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
No Alternative
u-lite linux is perfect for a computer of that vintage.
Won't cost you a thing, and it now comes in a live cd.
Jim Dell
have it setup to dual boot to Windows ME or PCLinuxOS. Download the
livecd and boot from it to see how it works on your hardware.
Jim
webster72n
"Jim Dell" <James...@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
news:w%6Zl.31932$yr3....@nlpi068.nbdc.sbc.com...
Why is it that none of you 'linux-people' tell us about the fact,
any of their praised systems require at least broadband to connect to the
internet (no dial-up) and a heap of printers have no available drivers?
I went through a lot of trouble to get the latest version of ubuntu
installed and, when I finally reached that point, ran into the above
obstacle.
Thanks a million.
Harry.
No Alternative
because you can setup dialup pretty easy in ubuntu, so I don't know what
you are talking about.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/DialupModemHowto
and a heap of printers have no available drivers?
Never had this problem.
teebo
> I went through a lot of trouble to get the latest version of ubuntu
> installed and, when I finally reached that point, ran into the above
> obstacle.
I had the opposite problem when I installed Ubuntu at
a friends home, too many printer drivers :-) or printer system
or whatever... that was some year ago though so I hope that is
fixed since then(?)
He have a standard HP Laserjet 4 (there must be billions of them
and they last forever), but still I had to choose between in
a list of impossible-to-know things because if you selected
the default or the one at the top or so....
...your prints was written to the little display on the printer
instead of the paper! (a one line display with 16 chars)
:-D
Now that I read here that there are ubuntu-derivates that isn't
so extreemly memory hungry, why can't they fix so Ubuntu itself
work that way when starting on a computer with less memory?
You can't even start the standard Ubuntu liveCD with 128MB
(and not the "small" Xubuntu either)
but that isn't what this newsgroups is about I guess.
btw, I just saw that this thread is crossposted to
alt.microsoft-me too, is that newsgroup any different
from m.p.windowsme.general?
webster72n
"No Alternative" <noalte...@REMOVETHISSTUFFoperamail.com> wrote in
message news:h148rj$57u$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
It most certainly isn't easy in my case, if possible at all.
My version of ubuntu is 8.10 and there is no 'Networking', only 'Network
Tools', which doesn't include the given options, mentioned in the link you
provided.
It might be noteworthy to mention that my IPS doesn't support Linux
(Ubuntu).
>
> https://help.ubuntu.com/community/DialupModemHowto
>
> and a heap of printers have no available drivers?
>
> Never had this problem.
My printer model is a Lexmark X2600, being recognized but not activated.
Don't know whether this has anything to do with the fact that I'm running it
on a virtual machine hosted by Vista, but it shouldn't, really.
In case you would have any other suggestions, it may be better to continue
this conversation via email, if acceptable to you.
Thank you for your interest.
Harry.