Quick update on the linux / old machine quest

Recap: I settled on Xubuntu for my old laptop. Things were good and it served the purpose quite nicely (casual web browsing primarily).

Then I broke it somehow. Had some good suggestions and did even finally manage to get to the console, but the log entries weren’t overly useful to me.

Meanwhile, I noticed that there was a newer release of Xubuntu/Ubuntu and figured I should just grab that. I really hadn’t invested a whole lot of time into setting up the laptop as it “just worked” after the install. I grabbed the first ISO I found which turns out to be a live CD with an installer option on the desktop once it is up and running. Not quite what I meant to grab, but oh well… I gave it a shot.

The live CD itself works great (granted, you have to be a bit patient to boot an old machine from a slow/old CD-Rom drive!). The installer starts great, but 3 out of 3 times has locked itself up at some point after formatting the disk and copying over files. /sigh Perhaps tonight I’ll grab the other iso option which is called the “alternate install” and see if things go a bit smoother.

[Update] Well huh… I guess that last install did indeed finish — the installer just forgot to tell me! On a whim, I rebooted and let it boot up as I was curious to see in what shape things were. Booted all the way to the login prompt and I’m now editing this post! Far out.

Possibly Related posts:

  1. The Linux for old stuff quest: Xubuntu
  2. Another Option for the Old Machine
  3. Linux Can Still Frustrate
  4. The Quest for Noise
  5. Another Run at Damn Small Linux


1 comment to Quick update on the linux / old machine quest

  • JBell

    Minor? glitches in X,K,& Ubuntu installs.
    I am an Ubuntu user since 4 Oct 05, with Breezy Badger and have loaded and ran many versions and upgrades. What happened to you has happened several times in the past.
    I run “Dapper” 6.06.1-upgraded to date and Edgy 6.10beta on 2 machines and a laptop.

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