Omnimaga
General Discussion => Technology and Development => Computer Usage and Setup Help => Topic started by: Eeems on October 20, 2010, 09:24:52 pm
-
Ok, so I'm getting my families old Pentium II machine to play around with :D I'm thinking about just making it a slave machine or something, probably load some lightweight linux system on it, something simple and command line based, with SSH support. I'd have to access it with a cable because we want to upgrade our web password to WPA2 instead of WEP, and it's what is holding us back. So, which version of linux would you guys recommend for a Pentium II?
-
Kmandla's blog has lots of lovely console-based stuff on it: http://kmandla.wordpress.com/
He uses Crux, I think.
-
Ok, is Crux best for a Pentium II though? it's a pretty slow processor...also, I don't know if it has a full GB of RAM...can't remember
-
Apparently Kmandla has once run (and used) Crux on a Pentium I :)
-
If you had installed Windows on this I would have said install Starcraft right away ;D
-
I had a Pentium II with Windows XP on it... It was laggy as hell. Then I installed Ubuntu, then Xubuntu... For having tested them, these three are not the best thing to put on it. BTW I had 256MB of RAM on it.
-
If you had installed Windows on this I would have said install Starcraft right away ;D
Wine with DirectX installed! ;)
Try Lubuntu. It uses half the ram that Ububtu uses I believe.
-
Thanks guys for the tips :) ill do a little research myself too on what you recommended :)
-
If you had installed Windows on this I would have said install Starcraft right away ;D
Wine with DirectX installed! ;)
Try Lubuntu. It uses half the ram that Ububtu uses I believe.
Would Wine run fast on such old comp? Also battle.net doesn't work in Wine, from what I remember. He would need to use iCCup, if that even works at all either.
-
I still regularly use a P3+256Mb RAM+Fedora 10. In fact, it's my standard working PC. :D
RedHat should work fine if you strip it down a bit. It's what we use on our home server here (waaayyy older still than my computer, and runs fine with RH9 enterprise)
-
Wow, is that your most recent comp? O.O
-
I would recommend arch or gentoo if you plan to actually use it regularly, or if you just want to play around you could try LFS. That's always fun and helps you learn more about how stuff works. By the way I'm pretty sure running an application in wine is no different than running it on actual windows- it doesn't use any extra power (however, if, for example, your linux graphics card driver is worse than the windows equivalent, it would perform worse- not wine's fault though). Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
-
Well im not going to be using anything graphical, im going to just stick to console based. I've already got a fast enough computer for that kind of thing :p
-
Ah ok :D
What are you planning to do with this PC, btw? Is it mostly to store some files?
-
Well, it will have extra storage space for me, but i also want to use it for messing around wirh *nix but doibg stuff i dont want to try on my computer
-
It's less about the distro than it is about what window environmet (Gnome, XFCE, KDE, etc.) that determines how fast it will run. If it's just going to be command-line like you say, you could run just about anything, but distros like ubuntu with easy install always come with a Desktop. My recommendation? #$%* Small linux, as it can run pretty much any computer decently. I had it running on a 200 Mhz PC once, and it didn't lag at all, even with a desktop environment running. You also don't need to use any hard drive space if you have at least 128 MB of RAM, boot off USB, copy OS to ram, remove USB drive and you're running a standalone, driveless desktop!
-
Hmm, thanks I'll look into that.
-
It's less about the distro than it is about what window environmet (Gnome, XFCE, KDE, etc.) that determines how fast it will run. If it's just going to be command-line like you say, you could run just about anything, but distros like ubuntu with easy install always come with a Desktop. My recommendation? #$%* Small linux, as it can run pretty much any computer decently. I had it running on a 200 Mhz PC once, and it didn't lag at all, even with a desktop environment running. You also don't need to use any hard drive space if you have at least 128 MB of RAM, boot off USB, copy OS to ram, remove USB drive and you're running a standalone, driveless desktop!
I used to use this off my flash! It's simple but I actually used it instead of Windows at school!
-
How much diskspace does it have btw? I remember having a P2 that had a 20 GB hard drive a while ago, but it was an upgrade I think, as back then most computers had 4-6 GB harddrives.
-
Lol, this one is at most 30GB. I havent checked yet. It runs win XP atm, so it takes forever to do anything x.x
-
Ouch, I had XP on my old P2 for a while too x.x
-
I'm still running Windows XP on a Pentium II 233MHZ laptop with 256MB of RAM.
Now... it doesn't like playing along with current web browsers and websites with lots of active content.
-
Wow how long does it take to boot? O.o
-
90 seconds if I recall correctly.
-
Wow that's faster than my 2.93 GHz computer x.x
My computer is really filled with junk and most likely viruses I swear x.x
-
Well... to me 90 seconds is unsatisfactory when compared to my 27 year old Commodore SX-64 that boots up instantaneously.
Why won't they burn the bulk of the OS to a memory mapped EEPROM chip giving it the ability to boot up within a few seconds? I realize some stuff will need to be loaded from some type of drive. But I think today's PCs could learn a lot from computers of the past.
Back on topic... Have you ever heard of Corel Linux? It is 9 years old but it was quite nice and runs on Pentium II CPUs nicely.
-
Yeah true it's insane how new OSes are demanding. Just compare a TI-89 Titanium with a TI-Nspire. The Nspire takes about 20 seconds to boot.
As for Corel Linux I haven't heard about it I think, since I never really got into the Linux scene.
-
Ok, I've decided to just use Arch because it is something I know, and I'm also going to use SLiM as my display manager and LXDE for my desktop environment, so very simple :) I was wondering if anybody knew how to connect two computers via wifi without a wifi router. Of course I need to get my wifi card working on the PII first...
-
Ah cool to hear. I hope the old hardware supports wi-fi stuff, though. X.x
-
It will, if I get the right drivers. This card worked on Windows XP, but It's a non-standard card I think so getting the drivers might be a problem.
-
Ah ok, I was more worried about the motherboard support for it. Is it just a matter of having the right connectors (PCI-Express, right?) then all you need are the drivers? My Intel Celeron computer didn't even have a PCI-E/AGP slot, just PCI, so I was limited in the range of cards I could use, especially video cards.
-
I can't remember what it is exactly, I think it is a PCI/PCI-E and the card worked on XP, so yes all I need is the drivers, and if I could get my hands on the windows driver then I could use nciwrapper (I think it's called this) and I should be good :)
-
Ah good to hear, then. Good luck finding drivers. :)
-
Too bad that I am a little late with this but I have one very old computer with a unknown brand of processor, motherboard, crappy integrated graphics and I think about 128-64MB of RAM and it runs Ulite prety well. Since your computer is likely to be better then the machine I am talking about I guess Ulite is a pretty good choice, it comes with some useful utilities...only thing I didn't get to work was to install firefox, ooh well it works 100x faster then with XP on it, I really just can't understand why any normal human being would put XP on such crappy machines I mean...that is just so stupid...
Help us Steve Jobs!!
-
Help us Steve Jobs!!
No, just no
Hmm, well we installed XP a long while back because that was the best computer we had.
Thanks for recommending, I'm so use to Arch though that I don't really want to make another switch :P
Thanks @DJ
-
Ok, so with the help of Jonimus and a little from Tari I've gotten my wifi card somewhat working :D I can play around with wlan0, but I haven't been able to get it to connect yet, but there is signal to my wifi because it sees it when I scan :D so I might get Internet and be able to install stuff with ease!
-
Cool to hear! :D
-
Well I'm still running into errors, my wifi seems to be working all except for the fact that I can't associate, and iwconfig wlan0 is suppose to list the current settings, but instead it just starts outputting all my wifi driver does and my keyboard stops responding :(
-
Ah sorry to hear. :( Hopefully you can get it fixed soon or get help to do so.
-
I've resorted to trying ndiswrapper, so hopefully that works. Got all the drivers and stuff, just haven't installed it yet.
-
Ah ok, hopefully it works well.
-
I hope so too :(
Ok, gave up on it, but I decided to use something easier to install stuff with (SLAX) so I put PLoP on a Floppy, and I'm going to install SLAX on the drive with my USB and then run from there :) SLAX is really easy to install with so I don't have to worry as much as with ARCH x.x and I'll already have a user interface :) I'm also going to switch from the standard KDE desktop to LXDE for even faster booting. wish me luck!
-
Of course I get more computer trouble :( took my laptop to school and now power isn't getting to it :( I think it was too cold for it, so hopefully after it heats up for a while it will work.
-
Ouch, I hope it didn't break or something...
-
No it worked when I got home, but I think the cold is too much for it, so I'm just going to use the school computers for now on...:(
-
Ah ok, yeah where you live I think it's like 2x colder than where I live. Even over here I would be scared of waiting the bus with my laptop during Winter. X.x
-
Yeah :( stupid weather...
-
That said, even during Spring/Fall when it's not cold you can have surprises with weather, though X.x
-
wow x.x reminds me of tornado weather in the south, just more snow :P
-
Yeah, I can't imagine how bad the above would have been if there was an actual tornado. I think there was one in New York a few weeks ago. X.x
-
Ok, so my brother hooked me up with a new motherboard/cpu/graphics card. My dad has some extra RAM that might work as well :) So it's now possibly faster then my laptop (as soon as I get the ram in :P). I might also get a wifi card that will work and I have an ethernet card so if I have to I can go and set it up downstairs. I'll get some more stats later.
-
Lol nice XD. It still runs Linux, right? You should post the specs when ready.
-
Ok currently, specs are 1GB of ram (motherboard can handle 3 GB (3 slots 1GB each) but I only have 4 256MB cards and 1 512MB card so I'm stuck with 1GB (512+256+256) for now). AMD Athlon processor, motherboard comes with built in overclocking, and there is an abundance of fans/heatsinks on it (3 of each if I remember correctly). I'm going to be installing XP on it as well as Linux mint, currently I have mint installed, but I'm going to have to do a re-install later when I get XP installed. The computer has an ethernet card, old US robotics Wifi (no drivers that work on linux anymore and I'm going to switch it out with another, better card when I get the chance, so when we find it, and at earliest this weekend). Two CD drives (32x speed) one disconnected (read only) the other connected (4x4x32) read/write. Old floppy drive, 2 built in USB ports (motherboard) and two more on a USB card. Disconnected backup drive thingamagig (really old and useless). I have an old monitor, old erganomic keyboard, oldish wireless keyboard, P/2 (or whatever that port is called) laser mouse. I've also got a usb splitter now for my laptop (4 ports) so I can plug in multiple stuff at once :P
So when I'm done, this thing is going to be faster then my laptop, but only half the RAM, so they will be around equal. I'm also hoping to get a new monitor so I can have it on my desk without fear of breaking my desk :P That way I can work with both my laptop and my desktop, so I can develop for both windows and linux at once if I use a SVN or just directly access one of my devices.
Oh and my desktop has 168.2GB of harddrive space or something like that (I'm confused about the number too). So it's a nice size compared to my 60GB HD that my laptop has, which I've partitioned to ~30GB for each OS (although windows got a few extra and linux has a few less due to 4GB swap space).
The desktop's fans are noisier then my laptop, which is not too loud, and not too quiet either. The fans are quieter then my dad's too so, it's quite bearable to be in a room with it on and not have to adjust to the noise level much.
I'm not sure if the BIOS supports booting from USB but I have a solution for that on a floppy, so I'm all set for if I want to boot from, floppy, CD, USB or HD, not network yet, although I might have to move it downstairs if we can't get wifi working at all. The CD drive is dated enough that it doesn't work with DVD's though, so I have to use my laptop for any DVD work, which I don't mind.
All in all, I'm really happy with this :) (Oh yeah I also have an oldish gamepad and joystick for gaming if I ever get the urge :P)
-
That's nice, I guess the only bad part will be CPU speed, but if you plan to play some older Windows games, sometimes CPU speed doesn't matter as much as RAM and video memory. I remember some 450 MHz min requirments games ran fine on my 350 Mhz P2.
-
And since my CPU is faster then my laptops, and I can overclock pretty easy it shouldn't be that bad, as long as the games aren't too new.
EDIT: I'm currently using my computer now :) Although I'm hardwired in, only for updating stuff atm, the wifi card doesn't seem to play well with linux, no matter if I use the official linux drivers or the XP drivers with ndiswrapper (I can connect with the ndiswrapper ones, just can't do anything other then connect :/)
-
I heard it was a major PITA to get Wi-Fi to work under Linux. O.O
-
Well, on this one it wasn't (at least, with Linux mint) but we totally forgot the Mac address was blocked so we thought it wasn't working x.x
-
Why is it blocked? Did your parents block plenty of stuff to prevent you from going on certain sites like SirCmpwn? ??? Or does it just block some games. I'm illiterate about that stuff, so...
-
No, when it was my older sisters computer (and still a pentium II) my parent's blocked the internet entirely for her, just not the local network. They did this because back then they didn't want us getting on the internet where they couldn't see us, now they don't care so much.
-
I heard it was a major PITA to get Wi-Fi to work under Linux. O.O
Most Wi-Fi cards works out of the box, making them easy to configure them. Unless you want to configure it in command line. Others cards need special drivers without any open-source equivalents.
-
Yeah, both my laptop's wireless card, and my desktop's card needed special drivers, luckily my laptops linux drivers worked correctly, but the desktops linux driver for the chipset cause kernel panics whenever I try to use it (And guess who made the chipset and driver, TI x.x) but luckily, when I got the windows driver for it and used ndiswrapper the wifi card worked.