Ubuntu on old machine

[NoOp]

On 08/31/2008 08:13 AM, Doug Pollard wrote:
> Hi all, 
>     I have something I want to try later Probably in the spring and am 
> looking for a couple of opinions.  I would like to put EMC  on an old 
> computer I have. Right now I am busy with doing video and trying to get 
> some knowhow with the terminal.  This whole thing is now in the thinking 
> about stage.   I have a little shop with a lathe and milling machine 
> that would be fun to run as CNC on Emc.
>     The box is a  E-machine  266 MHZ   and 250  megabits of Random 
> access memory. It has a 4o gig and 60 gig hard drives.  It will boot 
> from cd.   Will Ubuntu 8.04  install and run on such a machine?  Would I 
> be better off to try something like Xubuntu or Puppy Linux.  The machine 
> will be totally dedicated  to EMC.  All other Ubuntu work will be done 
> on the machine I am presently using.
>     I am also keeping my eyes open for a free or really cheap box with a 
> little more oomff  :-)  the question may be mute.
>                                         Thanks for any advice,     Doug 
> 

It will install fine if you use the alternate CD. Running on such a slow
machine with limited memory can be like watching paint dry. I'd
recommend that you save the drives and check at your local recycle
center for a faster machine. Just be aware that memory sticks for old
machines are considerably more expensive than they are for new machines,
so be prepared to pay a few bucks for added memory. I've got 8 machines
running Ubuntu from 350Mhz/128Mb, 600Mhz/256, 800Mhz/384, 1.7Ghz/ etc.,
to 2.4Ghz/1GB and memory rules. All but two are from the recycle bins
(350Mhz laptop and 800Mhz laptops); most throw them out because they
can't run Vista with 256MB. I've 3 2.4Ghz machines that are perfectly
good that were tossed for that reason; I added a some memory (512, 768,
1G) and they zip right along.