Could Linux save me? Installation on old laptops

[jolulipa]

Hi all!

I have three IBM thinkPad 560, all have Intel Pentium at 133MHZ, 1.8GB HDD and 24 MB RAM, their external floppies are not working, so the only way I can introduce new things into their hard drive is through the ethernet connection to our LAN.

My problem is that will not have budget for laptops until late this year and I'm receiving complaints by users on how slow this laptops are. I think this is my chance to change laptops into Linux. So I want you guys who had dealt with this situation to help me. How can I install a small Linux on this laptops? which distribution is best? would I be able to run X on them?

Thanks in advance for you help....

 

[jstreich]

A slim (older) version of slackware should work fine, I've never used the net-install, but I have used small versions of Linux on an old think pad (I only had a floppy, so I didn't bother with XWin). You should be able to get xwin (but not only smaller window managers (KDE or GNOME would be sluggish with the amount of memory).

 

[jwenting]

Linux is generally slower than is Windows (unless you're sticking your users with a CLI only, but if you do that they'll be laying siege to your office with all the implements of medieval warfare).

Laptop support for Linux is also extremely limited.
I've been trying to get my laptop to work under Linux for several months now but it just wouldn't work well.
Reverted to Windows 2000 and had it up and running completely and flawlessly in under half an hour.

Non-functional floppies on company laptops are a good thing, they prevent your users from introducing virusses into the company network from well-meant documents taken over from unprotected home computers (I guess your email server has a virus checker?).
While no guarantee against virusses brought in through downloads off the internet, it's a step.

 

[mattjurado]

"Linux is generally slower than is Windows."

Perhaps you should clarify this "overgeneralization." Perhaps certain guis and certain apps might be slower or more RAM intense, but Windows as a whole is not faster.

Having said that, I wouldn't bother to reload these old bad boys. What can you do about speed? Look at the age of the hardware. Why would you want to make a change? Your excuse for their complaints is simple... Budgetary. If you take it upon yourself to start reloading OSes, then it will be you they point the finger to when something works slower, or not at all. And if these users have never used Linux before, do you really want them learning on this equipment? Have you considered the applications they use? Converting data? Backup? You're diving into a mess, in my opinion. Don't do it. And if you absolutely must, you better have a test laptop to play with yourself, and then do classes with your users, and get their feedback. Not to mention your time backing up data, reloading the os, researching device drivers, installing apps, migrating data, configuring the enviornment for each user.

Wouldn't you rather plan this for new equipment? And again, even then, is moving to Linux the right move for your users?

We'ld love to move users we service to Linux, but your average person won't migrate easily. We stick to samba servers and windows desktops. Makes things much easier.

Matt J.

 

[iolair]

I own several older laptops. I usually get Linux up and running fairly quickly - sort of. There are steps you can take to make the GUI run faster. Use a window manager that is light on resources, like twm, fvwm, IceWM, or possibly even WindowMaker. KDE and Gnome use lots of resources.

I have successfully installed RedHat 6.1, RedHat 7.1, and SuSE 9 on older laptops. I will say this - RedHat seems better at detecting weird hardware. However, I haven't had much success with things like configuring sound cards, and often times I find myself using video resolutions and color depth lower than the capabilities of the hardware. On desktops, however, I have no problems. Visit the Linux on Laptops page for more information.

http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/kharker/linux-laptop/

has lots of good information there, including laptop specific information.

Iolair MacWalter

 

[wybnormal]

I would argue the point that RH is better at detecting hardware, in my own experience with wireless on laptops, Mandrake and *Surprise!* Lindows (Debian) worked best.

Just for history, I was loading Slackware on Compaq Laptops back around 1995/96. That was a pain but it would load and general run better then Windows 95 (ugh!! now I feel old)

The netinstall of Linux works very well, doest take very much bandwidth. For example, a NFS load of RH9 uses UDP and less then 1 percent of a 10/100 link. Total load time was around 25 minutes. You will need to make two boot disks. One has the bootnet image and one will have the PCMCIA drivers.

I have to agree for some reason sound cards are the bane

An option is to use one of the many "live" CDs to test the laptop.. Morphix, STD, SUSE Live, Mandrake etc... Even lindows has a live CD to try. Boot the laptop off the CD and see what works. IF it did not work, go to the next disk.. CDRs are cheaper then your time

MikeS


Find me at

http://www.packetattack.com

"Take advantage of the enemy's unreadiness, make your way by unexpected routes, and attack unguarded spots."
Sun Tzu

 

[wybnormal]

Also, just as an FYI - I posted a new video clip we put together on installing Red Hat 9 via NFS. It's the 2nd part of a series we are doing and comments are always welcomed. As are suggestions to future topics. This particuler video came into being after reviewing CBT Nugget's own Red Hat RHCE CBT and finding it a bit light in a few areas. The network install was a weak area and the directions did not match up with RH9. We plan to have the complete series of video clips available shortly for the entire NFS installation of RH9 Server along with a software RAID configuration. Pretty basic but we hope can help folks.

You will find the clip on our main web page

http://www.packetattack.com

and look in the list of new site pages and updates. Again, let us know what your thoughts are.

MikeS


Find me at

http://www.packetattack.com

"Take advantage of the enemy's unreadiness, make your way by unexpected routes, and attack unguarded spots."
Sun Tzu