trubleshooting a laptop

[Colin Law]

On 27 March 2013 19:49, Amichai Rotman <amichai at iglu.org.il> wrote:
> This is what I would do:
>
> 1. Check the memory. If it's 1Gb or less - find out if you can add memory,
> at least 2Gb.

1GB is plenty for running Ubuntu provided you don't try and open too
many windows/apps at once or have dozens of tabs in firefox.  2GB
would be good but is not essential.  I assume that Xubuntu will not
need significantly more memory than standard Ubuntu.

> 2. Check the hard drive. If it's small (less than 320Gb) try to replace it
> with the bigest supported by the motherboard and BIOS.

Again there is no need for anything like that much unless you want to
store lots of videos or whatever.  Ubuntu will run in 8GB, though then
space will be tight.  40GB is plenty for normal use (whatever that is)
and additional disk space will not make it run faster.

>
> Those two components are key to increasing the speed of the computer.

Additional RAM will make it go faster, but disk will not.

For testing Ubuntu, if the machine will boot from USB then it will
load and open apps much quicker than CD.

I suggest sticking to 12.04, particularly if using standard Ubuntu as
later versions do not support some old graphics hardware well.

Colin