hey all, i am trying to install linux on my brothers laptop instead of having xp on it as it is a fairly low spec machine (1.1ghz, 256mb) and i have been told it runs a lot quicker than xp. I havent used or had any experience with it before and i am failing big time. I first tried Ubuntu but it just refused to work kept cominng up with an error during the install (but after formatting the disc so now i have no operating system) i have also tried xubuntu. I have tired both the live cd and alternate disc but neither seem to do anything. I got close with the xubuntu 7.10 live cd a desktop screen appeared and when i clicked install it crashed any idea what is wrong?
Linux on laptop instead of windows
- Thread starter llwayneio
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What model laptop is it? There may be some hardware it isn't liking like the display adapter (should be okay though if it's an older laptop)..
yeh the initial error message mentions something about the acpi but i have no idea how to turn it off. It is a toshiba sattelitte not sure of the exact model though. Can you actually install linux and use it just as you would windows then?
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We all seem to manage somehow. 
No you cant use it like windows, it is a usable, configurable operating system. They have their similarities and differences. Some Linux distros try to create a lot of similarities to windows for it's users, others don't.
It's purpose is not to offer people a free windows clone!
That being said there are a lot of general principles shared between both....
Keyboard and mouse for input, monitor for output etc.
As well as the no acpi error, 256 MB of RAM is low for Ubuntu, it reccomends 512 at least.
You could try something like DSL or arch or any distro that you can customize the DE/WM and that runs minimal services.
well yeh i know its not exactly windows i meant more in the way that it starts up and i can surf the web, chat... just like normal. I tried using Xubuntu cos apparantly that only needs 128mb but it still doesnt want to work. So now i have no OS at all. Basically my bro was annoyed at how slow xp was for him (all he uses the system for is web browsing, chat, music.. the basics) so i heard linux was fast and assumed it was similar to windows but a bit different. Anyone have any suggestions? thanks
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I think ubuntu is garbage, try suse out, they have just released version 11.
The installation is much more user friendly than any other Linux distro I have used.
The installation is much more user friendly than any other Linux distro I have used.
will that run okay on the system though? with 256mb ram? and which shall i use the live cd or the dvd?
the xubuntu 7.10 (i have tried the latest 8.04 and it didnt work either) managed to go into the live environment but it was stupidly slow and when i did manage to click the install button it crashed. Should i just go back to xp?
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Soldato
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I soley run Mint Linux 5 now after 2 years of dual booting between opensuse/ubuntu and windows
Why do you think Ubuntu is garbage? It might help the OP if you give reasons...
OpenSuSE (default install) is just as much a resource hog as Ubuntu (default install) - if not more.
It doesn't matter what distro you choose - you just need to customise it to suit the hardware (e.g. for low spec, no KDE or Gnome; try flux/xfce/etc instead)
There are two ways to go when choosing your first distro. The easiest way is one with a nice, shiny gui installer and gui config tools (SuSE, *ubuntu, et al). The other is jumping in at the deep end and going for something like Gentoo. I think a good median is something like Arch - which has a gui installer (ok - it's ncurses... but technically still a gui!), good documentation and a small, but friendly community. On the other hand, *ubuntu has a massive community - which I'm told, as a whole, is very helpful and also very friendly. SuSE also has a massive community (not as big as ubuntu) and has some excellent gui configuration tools - although a default install is generally "fatter" than most distros (which can easily be remedied).
As I said above, so long as you choose your window manager wisely*, you can have any distro you want on there - but only if you're prepared to do a spot of googling if/when you have a problem.
* you can trim it back even further with a bit of tweaking - I have Arch running on one of my laptops and it uses a whopping 82MB of ram with KDE running.
well i tried using the alternate discs as well and it still doesnt want to work
Im going to look at some of the other things mentioned
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Try Puppy Linux. It's supposed to be a really user-friendly lightweight system.
Soldato
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hell yeh, puppy on my Q6600, 4gb RAM, 8800GT is blistering quick, you really notice the diff over ubuntu. Correct me if im wrong but puupy is for really old computers or for installing onto usb stivks.
I would get familiar with linux using ubuntu/mint/opensuse then try arch, then once your a master gentoo.
If your not really interested in learning it, then I would say stay with a ubuntu LTS (long-Term support?) version and use GUI's.
Puppy isn't as light as DSL, but has substantially more in it. Also, if you're using that spec of hardware, I'm surprised you noticed any difference!!
with regards to the acpi=off comment - that's added to the kernel line in the boot loader. When the GRUB menu appears, press "e" and you can then edit the commands. add acpi=noacpi at the end of the kernel line.
with regards to the acpi=off comment - that's added to the kernel line in the boot loader. When the GRUB menu appears, press "e" and you can then edit the commands. add acpi=noacpi at the end of the kernel line.
Soldato
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also if you find that command fixes your problem to keep it added in all the time laucn terminal from the menu then type:
Code:
sudo gedit boot/grub/menu.lstand add acpi=off to the line that launches linux.