Use or scrap?

[Les.]

Boris, thanks for looking. I MAY try getting some off Ebay, but as Ed asks, what will I use it for? Actually, I may just pass it on to pal, so it would need to be pretty secure.

Last night I concluded DSL was a bit too basic, but I later downloaded “Linux lite”, so may try that later.

I did also look at Puppy, so we shall see how LL goes first.

Of course, by implication I suspect, Ed is saying “Scrap it”. That may be the answer.

Bob, is it a 2-1/2″ drive? If so, I may say “Yes please”, but not until I have a satisfactory distro, as I would not want to scrap your drive as well if that is the final solution.

Cheers all, Les.

[Richard]

oops some missing words in my message it should have read:  ‘it very good at the roles I needed and for its time.

[Ed P]

Not necessarily ready for the scrap heap – if someone was only going to use it for office programs then an old Linux would be fine. I’d even allow browsing provided it was completely stand-alone, but many web sites will now barf at really old browsers.

If you try Live Mint you may get into the frustrating situation where Live will run but absolutely refuse to install due to GPU restrictions!

[Dave Rice]

In the end even XP wouldn’t run properly on 512mb ram.

[Wheels-Of-Fire]

Yep even XP  would like 1MB of ram. W7 requites it and at least DX 9c graphics.

[Wheels-Of-Fire]

Oops again 1GB of ram

[Les.]

Well, Linux Lite would not load. CPU does not have POE (I think POE). Next I downloaded Bohdi LEGACY version. That loaded OK, but in spite of  the info on networking, I could find nothing related. I will try to (find out how to) install it tomorrow, time permitting. My pal said he would use it, so I will try to get it running with WiFi if that is possible.I can see a few google (duckduckgo actually) searches on the agenda.

I know there is absolutely no chance of a Mint install. Ubuntu 8.4 and 10.4 would probably run, but no support.

Les.

[Les.]

The problem mentioned previously is no PAE, not POE.

So far I have run DSL and Bodhi, with Linux lite, Puppy and a couple of others all failing with l;ack of PAE generally cited as cause.

So, today I tried  Ubuntu 10.04, which was my favourite until DDan pointed out that there was no support about 5 years ago.

The other two distros which did load, DSL and Bodhi could not get online with either NW cable or WiFi. Neither the on-board WiFi card, nor a selection of USB WiFis, (one of which gas never failed before without needing driver install), would work.

The question therefore is, how safe (or unsafe) is Ubuntu 10.04, compared with the recent XP-3 that was on it.

Les.

[The VFM Addict]

Puppy 5.6 will run on your laptop for sure.   You need the non-pae iso.    You can get it here.

There’s a picture and more info here.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

During the Covid-19 Epidemic I will be wearing a mask and goggles while posting so that if I become infected I won't spread it to you.

[Les.]

VFM, thanks, I will give it a try. Downloading right now.

Cheers, Les.

[Les.]

Yesterday I decided to scrap the Lenovo T61 (no real alternative), and also a Samsung that came to me that has the “probably graphics chip needs reflowing” problem. Can’t be a**ed trying that, though I OUGHT to be able to do it after over 65 years of all sorts of soldering! I then spotted this one again, so thought  “try Ubuntu 10.04”. It would not load. OK, try 8.04. That loaded and installed OK, even flagging a couple of updates needed. It had found my WiFi, so I tried, but was informed that they did not have the right permissions (or something like that). google would offer a load of choices for any search, but would not actually connect to any WWW that it happened to cite. Sometimes an error 404 may be present, but always it refused to load due to permissions. I decided to try 10.04 again, and this time the downloading to install went further (65% not 24% like the first time.

Then I thought maybe it is my CD disc that is the problem. I downloaded from an archive, burned the iso, and tried again. Some of the preliminary steps seemed slightly different, but I loaded to desktop (still in RAM of course). then connected to my WiFi. OK. Now try the install icon. But it again crashed, this time BEFORE the actual file loading began.

Is there a hardware fault (overheating maybe). The way the mouses “pointer” just locks up, with no other indication makes me think it is overheating. Yet it did load the 8.04 last bnight, and was left running (idle) for an hour or more, with everything looking happy. I will try again in the (cooler?) morning (or Thursday) and see if I get progress.

Before writing this, I re-read everything, and saw VFM’s comments on Puppy 5.6. I have a re-writeable DVD which I load stuff on, but whilst it mentioned the “Bhodi” iso, nothing about Puppy, so I think I must have got sidetracked and did not try it. Maybe have a try with that.

Les.

[Dave Rice]

Older versions of Puppy are great on older stuff. It’s got it’s own quirks mind you.

[Ed P]

Or try Damn Small Linux this runs on most really old kit but is even more quirky!

DSL is one of those distros where RTFM is a must, otherwise you will not even be able to see an options menu. (right click on screen from memory)

[Wheels-Of-Fire]

I never had much interest in Physical Address Extensions (PAE) because I went from a 32 bit PIII that didn’t support them straight to a 64 bit Core i7. I just did a bit of reading about them though.

PAE is only useful on 32 bit systems because it adds an extra level of memory pageing tables so that a 32 bit virtual address can be translated into up to 64 GB of physical memory. 64 Bit Windows currently has enough page tables to translate a 54 bit address which is an enormous amount (still not 64 bits though).

If your old 32 bit CPU supports the no execute bit extensions then Windows will load the PAE kernel because it uses the last bit of the translated address as a flag to mark a page as no execute. If you don’t have a server version of 32 bit Windows though the extended addressing capability will not be enabled, in spite of loading the PAE kernel, something to do with consumer level drivers assuming a fixed memory assignment below 4GB.

[Les.]

I have been meaning to return to this with a final report. We tried many times with numerous linux versions, from Ubuntu 8.04 onwards. We found NONE that would work properly with the old laptop, generally the internet being the no-go area, which basically makes it pretty pointless. It would mostly have been used off line to display stuff downloaded to a ‘phone, but sometimes it could have been online. Hey Ho!

I have also scrapped the T61 Lenovo, but managed to buy a Lenovo L512 in excellent condition for just £70 delivered!

Cheers all. Les.

[Bob Williams]

Don’t know if this will help Les, an acquaintance has a similar model and I looked into helping him get into Win 10 with it. Then he scrapped it, maybe a relief!

https://tinyurl.com/qrtkptz

Then there’s this:   https://tinyurl.com/rzgg3zc

Whatever the specs fit yours, it may be a candidate for an SSD, if it works OK.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Ed P]

If you use DSL etc., then you normally MUST use their in-built browser with all its many quirks and lack of extensions.

If you are up to dismantling and fiddling around then old laptop screens can sometimes be repurposed as ‘magic mirrors‘ for a Raspberry Pi. If you have a local school who have a strong STEM group then they may appreciate a donation. Unfortunately this route depends far too much on having a young enthusiast teacher.

[Author]

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