Installing an OS on an old pc

Le 3eme oeil

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I'm getting an old computer from my dad that he had laying around his office. Its not his but a friend of him said he doesn't want it anymore so I said i would take it, just to mess around and take it apart and put it back together to make sure I can before i do my first build.

If this computer comes with an old version of Windows on it, could i just totally erase the HDD and put on Linux?

Also, what free Linux distribution is the best out there?
 
Yes you can it has been done. HOW? I do not know.

If you have absolutely nothing to contribute, don't post.

To answer your question, Ubuntu is a popular distro at the moment among Linux users. If you want to try something a little different, and don't mind shelling out 50 bucks, check out Suse by Novell. I'm not sure whether or not it'll run with your system, but some say it's the most polished version of Linux available.
 
Yes you can it has been done. HOW? I do not know.
Cmon Bob we gave you a compliment the other day about how you have improved. Those are the sort of posts you used to be in trouble for.


Linux is well known for running faster than windows on older hardware. Although I have always found through my personal experience that the older the hardware the harder it is to get drivers running for it.
 
If you have absolutely nothing to contribute, don't post.

To answer your question, Ubuntu is a popular distro at the moment among Linux users. If you want to try something a little different, and don't mind shelling out 50 bucks, check out Suse by Novell. I'm not sure whether or not it'll run with your system, but some say it's the most polished version of Linux available.

Make sure that if you want to use SUSE, like Jon said, don't confuse it with OpenSUSE. It's really bad. Well, most of the application I tred on wouldn't load because a package was not found...even though it was installed and healthy.
 
Most of the distros will be freem but depending on the age of the hardware I'm not sure I would recommend Ubuntu or Suse. An older version of another distro might be better suited for older hardware.
Check into using a version with a 2.4.x series kernel. Those support older hardware much better. Two quick and small versions to try out would be VectorLinux or Damn Small Linux.
DSL will boot off of the cd and you can check it out. It's a Debian based system and can be installed on the HD if you think it will work out for you.

As for older hardware driver support, I've found that the older your hardware in Linux, the better chance it will be fully supported, so go ahead and try it out, you might have a much easier time trying some flavor of GNU/Linux.
 
I haven't gotten it yet, but i think it has windows 98 on it...Its possible that this computer is only about 6 years old though, i just don't really know.

I think ill try a live cd version of Linux before doing anything drastic and then if i decide on one ill try clearing the HDD and putting something on. I think my friend told me he could burn me a copy of Ubuntu.
 
there is a linux installation guide on this site, go to technical, oeprating systems and it should be there.
 
hamid,

This thread is 5 months old. Need to look at the dates before padding your post count with frivolous or old threads.
 
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