Linux On Laptop? Small Laptop with slow'ish CPU

Rameses

Rameses

Rameses

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
8,453
Hiya Guys

I once owned a Sony Vaio TR1MP , this was an ultra small and light laptop. I sold to it a friend at work about 2 years ago.

Now though, I've been really interested in this forthcoming Asus Eee running a form of Linux.

Then I thought, what if I get this laptop back, wipe crappy windows and install a decent feature full Linux version on it?

Its not superfast, Intel 900mhz but has 1GB of ram?

The main use for this would be to play videos/movies etc, surfing and also to interact with my digi camera and transfer files to it.

I'm sure I can get it back at a cheap rate, but wondered if it would worth it?

Wil I be able to get better performance from it rather than running Windows XP Pro?

Thanks.
 
Aha, i loved those Vaio models thought they looked the biz.

Anyway, not so long ago I sold a laptop (PIII 800MHz, 512MB RAM, 10GB HDD) with a full install of Ubuntu Feisty 7.04 and it ran very nicely.

You might want to check some of the compatibility of the hardware in it but I'm sure it will work very nicely.

Edit: On the other hand, like with my laptop, I've dualbooted it with Ubuntu Feisty and XP Pro which I've disabled a lot of the services on (boots with 16 processes running). This could also be a good option.
 
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You could try Xubuntu instead. It uses the Xfce Desktop environment which is very light on resources. Looks nice too.

Assuming Xubuntu supports your hardware [or you are able to make it work] then it should run like a good'un. Certainly better than XP.
 
Arch Linux:

  • Runs faster (much faster then Ubuntu, as Arch is optimised for i686)
  • Lightweight
  • Simple (kinda, everything is done via the command line instead of GUI)
  • Advanced
  • Freedom of choice (you chose the packages you want, not what some guy chose for you.

I run it on my Dell Latitude LS, PIII 500MHz, 128MB SDRAM, 2.5MB NeoMagic256AV etc..
 
Gnome will easily run on that (KDE probably will as well but i have not used it in a long time). so just pick any distro that best suits you :)
 
PROCESSOR
Ultra Low Voltage Intel® Pentium® Centrino processor 900 MHz-M* supports enhanced Intel® SpeedStep® Technology
* CPU SPEED WILL BE REDUCED UNDER CERTAIN OPERATING CONDITIONS.
CACHE MEMORY 1 MB

HARD DISK DRIVE
30 GB hard disk drive
(Ultra ATA/100)

STANDARD MEMORY
256 MB DDR SDRAM (DDR266)
MAXIMUM RAM 1 GB DDR SDRAM

LCD SCREEN
10.6" wide (1280x768) TFT screen with 3D hardware acceleration

GRAPHICS
Intel® 855GM Integrated graphics chip with 3D hardware acceleration and up to 64 MB of memory

SOUND CAPABILITIES
16-bit CD-quality stereo sound

OPTICAL DRIVE
CD-RW/DVD-ROM drive:

COMMUNICATION CAPABILITIES
Ethernet network (10BASE-T/100BASE-TX) (RJ-45);
PSTN: built-in V.92/V.90 data/fax modem (RJ-11);
Wireless LAN 802.11b, Bluetooth™

PC CARD (PCMCIA) SLOTS
1 x PC Card type I or II and CardBus support

MOTION EYE BUILT-IN CAMERA
1/5.5" VGA CMOS 370K pixels (square pixels) - f=2.8 mm lens - Auto/3200K/5800K white balance - electric shutter - captured frame: 15 fps

BUILT-IN CAPABILITIES
Stereo speakers, touchpad, microphone

INTERFACES ON NOTEBOOK
• 1 x i.LINK™ (IEEE1394) S400 with power supply
• 2 x USB ports 2.0 (High-speed/Full-speed/Low-speed) Type A connector
• monitor (VGA)
• external speakers or headphone
• microphone connector
• DC In (AC adapter)
• MagicGate Memory Stick™ slot

SPECIAL BUTTONS
Bluetooth™/Wireless LAN switch, Capture button, volume buttons, magnify button

WIRELESS LAN
• IEEE802.11b standard (IBSS Ad hoc mode support)
• Frequency band: 2.4 GHz ISM
• Speed: max. 11 Mbps (1)


BLUETOOTH
• Bluetooth™ standard version 1.1

That's the spec of the laptop, but I dont know how to check for any issues?

Is this a good idea? I mean I was interested in getting a Asus Eee which uses pretty old spec, but using ubuntu can give it another life in the instance of using this laptop?

I do need a GUI, because I'm completely new to linux in general, not even used it yet.

I loved the laptop, and it managed very well with XP! having 1GB I think helped.

So using a lighter OS with some multimedia apps would be great to give it a fresh life :p

I just need to convince the girl I sold it to sell it back to me haha.
 
Great find Lizard, Thank You!!!

The command bit scares me slightly? I'm not used to typing commands etc?

Although I hope, with using the latest version (as that document is pretty old) will be easier for me to use?.

Just trying to contact the girl now to see if I can buy it back

*Excited!* :p
 
I'm unsure now if I can get the laptop :( although she will think about it.

Guess I will have to wait then for the Asus EEE to be released!

:o
 
She has agreed to sell, agreed to sell!!!!!!!!!!!!

So do I do this or what? Great laptop, but I dont want windows!

Will it give the lappy a new lease of life? and succeed in my requirements? Surfing, Email, Divx watching, instant messanger and video editing? (Any such item in ubuntu for video edit?)

:cool:
 
PAC2007 said:
She has agreed to sell, agreed to sell!!!!!!!!!!!!

So do I do this or what? Great laptop, but I dont want windows!

Will it give the lappy a new lease of life? and succeed in my requirements? Surfing, Email, Divx watching, instant messanger and video editing? (Any such item in ubuntu for video edit?)

:cool:
Click to expand...
Oh yes, you'll be able to do all that using a laptop with the specs you listed earlier.

You might find this post over at Linux Questions helpful if you're looking for Linux equivalents of Windows apps...

http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/Linux_software_equivalent_to_Windows_software
 
Well I did it!!!!

Got Laptop this morning, and quickly proceeded with install Ubuntu.

Installation was easy, followed the steps and before long I had completed it.

Three issues I'm experiencing, one is the resolution is not wide enough, and doesnt have an option to go beyond 1024x768. Not being able to connect to router? Downgraded my router security to just WEP but to no avail.

Finally I'm currently experience problems logging in, seems to crash and revert to the Login Screen?

Might have to start again? Wonder if I need anything else?

So in all a good start, but now I'm developing issues :(
 
It rarely goes 100% smoothly.

For the screen resolution you'll need to edit your xorg.conf file

sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Read a guide first though because you can proper mess up your display settings.
 
Re-Installing Ubuntu now, to see if it repairs anything?

I wasn't as concerned about the resolution or the wireless, its this random restart back to the log in screen after I enter the password?

It does say a error, but I cannot remember...

Will report back when its finished.

Edit: What do I edit to get 1280x768 ?

Edit2: After installing again, programs fail to load on startup like NetworkManager, and even opening such programs like firefox crash and disappear?

Not going well at all...:'(
 
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a) Do you know whether the version you downloaded was the correct version for your hardware?
b) Do you know whether you are using the flashiest newest version (whihc obviously isn't as stable as say, Feisty)
c) It could be a hardware issue. I'd run a memtest on it, which is an issue on bootup.
 
7.04 Ubuntu

I'm out of my league at the moment, so I'm installing XP to see it everything is ok with the machine, I instantly wiped it when installed Ubuntu.

Will need to check it out, althouh I have seen a post which recommends Diebian?

:confused:
 
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