I was just over at a friend’s house and they have a really old computer
(I think around 2001). It is a desktop, used to have XP on it. They
wanted to see if we could install opensuse. I had a 32 bit live KDE cd
and also a 32 bit live KDE boot stick with opensuse 12.3 on it.
The problem was, I could not even get the bios to read the boot stick or
the cd. The cd rom was working (they said) and they had an old version
of ubuntu from 2007 that some other technician had put on it.
When I tried to boot from the cd or the boot stick it could not find the
system. I did check both the cd and the boot stick on another computer
and verified they both work.
The motherboard is an American Megatrends ( I was not able to get the
model number), and the CMOS was Amibios version 1.21.12. It also has a
3.5 inch floppydrive.
Any idea? I think thatI am not familiar with old systemsor if they can
read the iso image on a cdor a boot stick.
–
G.O.
Box #1: 12.3 | KDE 4.10 | AMD Phenom IIX4 | 64 | 16GB
Box #2: 12.2 | KDE 4.9.2 | AMD Athlon X3 | 64 | 4GB
Laptop: 12.3 | KDE 4.10 | Core i7-2620M | 64 | 8GB
learning openSUSE and loving it
On 05/06/2013 07:40 PM, golson765 wrote:
> I was just over at a friend’s house and they have a really old computer
> (I think around 2001). It is a desktop, used to have XP on it. They
> wanted to see if we could install opensuse. I had a 32 bit live KDE cd
> and also a 32 bit live KDE boot stick with opensuse 12.3 on it.
>
> The problem was, I could not even get the bios to read the boot stick or
> the cd. The cd rom was working (they said) and they had an old version
> of ubuntu from 2007 that some other technician had put on it.
>
> When I tried to boot from the cd or the boot stick it could not find the
> system. I did check both the cd and the boot stick on another computer
> and verified they both work.
>
> The motherboard is an American Megatrends ( I was not able to get the
> model number), and the CMOS was Amibios version 1.21.12. It also has a
> 3.5 inch floppydrive.
>
> Any idea? I think thatI am not familiar with old systemsor if they can
> read the iso image on a cdor a boot stick.
>
>
It does occur to me now that I had a dvd and the computer only had a cd
reader, not a dvd reader, so that would explain why it wouldn’t read the
live install dvd. I want to do a live kde test before trying to install
it, so is there a way to make an opensuse live kde cd that is only on a
cd and not on a dvd? Thelive kde dvd is only about 928 mb, and the gnome
is 862 mb, so if there is an image that is smaller, maybe with lxde
instead of kde, that might work, right? Does any such thing exist that
could be burned to a cd rom instead ofa dvd?
–
G.O.
Box #1: 12.3 | KDE 4.10 | AMD Phenom IIX4 | 64 | 16GB
Box #2: 12.2 | KDE 4.9.2 | AMD Athlon X3 | 64 | 4GB
Laptop: 12.3 | KDE 4.10 | Core i7-2620M | 64 | 8GB
learning openSUSE and loving it
On 05/06/2013 01:40 PM, golson765 wrote:
> around 2001
lots and lots of systems from back then couldn’t boot from USB…so,
check the BIOS setup and see if it offers to boot from hard drive,
floppy, CD/DVD drive and USB port…
if the BIOS does list the USB port then move it to be the first
source looked at, and try again…but, if the USB is not listed as a
boot source in the BIOS, it is impossible to use…
anyway, not many systems sold in 2001 had the power, RAM or graphics
setup to to run 12.3 impressively…like, the minimum RAM for 12.3
is 500 MB which was a LOT back then…
if they were unhappy with “ubuntu from 2007” because it was slow,
then i’d suggest they will probably be more unhappy with the five
years newer (and more resource hungry) openSUSE 12.3–but, load it up
with Puppy Linux and watch it FLY!!! (compared to XP or Ubuntu
2007)…but, do not expect whirling cubes, see through panels or
wobbly windows . . .
> is 862 mb, so if there is an image that is smaller, maybe with lxde
> instead of kde, that might work, right? Does any such thing exist that
> could be burned to a cd rom instead ofa dvd?
Yes, but not for 12.3.
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 12.1 x86_64 “Asparagus” at Telcontar)
The key issue will be RAM; I have an HP Brio from 2000 but the maximum RAM it can take is 256Mb. So I have installed Minino 486 (a Debian based distro) on it.
I have a laptop from 2004 which has 768Mb and which runs openSUSE reasonably well as long as you don’t use any bling or open memory hungry programs though I now use the LXDE desktop to give a little more headroom.
A would be surprised if the BIOS setup - often f2 but could be another function key - does not offer you the option to make the CD the first option because my 1991 BIOS had that to choose between floppy and hard drive.
If the BIOS does not support booting from USB, try Plop Boot Manager, from Plop - Boot Managers (2). It can run from a floppy disk or CD. It does not work on all systems (e.g. ThinkPads), but would be worth a try.
Regards,
Howard
On 05/06/2013 08:58 PM, Carlos E. R. wrote:
> On 2013-05-06 13:50, golson765 wrote:
>
>> is 862 mb, so if there is an image that is smaller, maybe with lxde
>> instead of kde, that might work, right? Does any such thing exist that
>> could be burned to a cd rom instead ofa dvd?
> Yes, but not for 12.3.
>
>
I found an image for 10.3 that I can run on a cd. Ok, now my question
is, if I run this and it works, then how do I get all the security
updates that were made for that version?
–
G.O.
Box #1: 12.3 | KDE 4.10 | AMD Phenom IIX4 | 64 | 16GB
Box #2: 12.2 | KDE 4.9.2 | AMD Athlon X3 | 64 | 4GB
Laptop: 12.3 | KDE 4.10 | Core i7-2620M | 64 | 8GB
learning openSUSE and loving it
I think the OP agreed with you in the end. They noted their old PC has a CD device, and not a DVD reader. The latest openSUSE releases (with the exception of net install and the rescue CD) are on DVDs.
I note I have not been successful to get my ‘sandbox’ PC (an old athlon-1100 cpu on an MSI motherboard) to boot off of a USB memory stick, even though the BIOS suggests it might be possible. But I did not try all USB ports. Fortunately I have a few old DVD readers lying around our apartment, so I can boot this old PC off of a DVD drive.
IMHO using 10.3 is not an option. To update it to 12.3 is fraught with complications and difficulties.
IMHO it is better to attempt a 12.3 Net install (if you have the bandwidth). Or borrow an external USB DVD reader from someone and install off of that.
[HR][/HR]What graphics chip is in the old computer? If it is Savage (S3) openSuSE 12.3 will give boot problems after installation. There are workarounds for Savage graphics. I’ll post links to them if that is what the machine has.
Howard
On 05/07/2013 07:06 AM, oldcpu wrote:
> golson765;2554436 Wrote:
>> I found an image for 10.3 that I can run on a cd. Ok, now my question
>> is, if I run this and it works, then how do I get all the security
>> updates that were made for that version?
>>
> IMHO using 10.3 is not an option. To update it to 12.3 is fraught with
> complications and difficulties.
Well, my idea here was just to install 10.3, and all the security
updates that were ultimately completed for 10.3, but not to try and
upgrade it to 12.3 from 10.3. I was thinking of just leaving it at 10.3,
as long as there were security updates that were still floating around
on the net somewhere that I could grab for finishing out those updates.
But perhaps the idea of just leaving it at 10.3 is not really a good
idea in the first place, even with the machine being really old?
>
> IMHO it is better to attempt a 12.3 Net install (if you have the
> bandwidth). Or borrow an external USB DVD reader from someone and
> install off of that.
>
Ok, I can look at using an external USB DVD reader. Doesn’t look like
they have the bandwidth - in fact they don’t have any internet
connection yet, so the USB DVD reader seems like the best option. The
BIOS does indicate that it can boot from USB, but when I tried, it could
not find the OS I had installed on the live USB stick.
–
G.O.
Box #1: 12.3 | KDE 4.10 | AMD Phenom IIX4 | 64 | 16GB
Box #2: 12.2 | KDE 4.9.2 | AMD Athlon X3 | 64 | 4GB
Laptop: 12.3 | KDE 4.10 | Core i7-2620M | 64 | 8GB
learning openSUSE and loving it
On 05/07/2013 01:36 PM, crmrhm wrote:
> What graphics chip is in the old computer? If it is Savage (S3)
> openSuSE 12.3 will give boot problems after installation. There are
> workarounds for Savage graphics. I’ll post links to them if that is what
> the machine has.
> Howard
>
>
Ok, thanks. I will check back onthe graphics when I get a chance to try
the installation again.
–
G.O.
Box #1: 12.3 | KDE 4.10 | AMD Phenom IIX4 | 64 | 16GB
Box #2: 12.2 | KDE 4.9.2 | AMD Athlon X3 | 64 | 4GB
Laptop: 12.3 | KDE 4.10 | Core i7-2620M | 64 | 8GB
learning openSUSE and loving it
On 05/07/2013 04:56 AM, john hudson wrote:
> The key issue will be RAM; I have an HP Brio from 2000 but the maximum
> RAM it can take is 256Mb. So I have installed Minino 486 (a Debian based
> distro) on it.
>
> I have a laptop from 2004 which has 768Mb and which runs openSUSE
> reasonably well as long as you don’t use any bling or open memory hungry
> programs though I now use the LXDE desktop to give a little more
> headroom.
>
> A would be surprised if the BIOS setup - often f2 but could be another
> function key - does not offer you the option to make the CD the first
> option because my 1991 BIOS had that to choose between floppy and hard
> drive.
>
>
I found this link to a CD image for 12.3 with only lightweight desktops
and only a few apps:
It is 699mb - hopefully I can get that to burn to a CD and then I will
be able to try and use that to test and install the OS, so that I don’t
have to borrow a USB DVD drive.
–
G.O.
Box #1: 12.3 | KDE 4.10 | AMD Phenom IIX4 | 64 | 16GB
Box #2: 12.2 | KDE 4.9.2 | AMD Athlon X3 | 64 | 4GB
Laptop: 12.3 | KDE 4.10 | Core i7-2620M | 64 | 8GB
learning openSUSE and loving it
It might work. Neither the xfce nor lxde desktops will offer the full range of features as gnome and kde, BUT xfce/lxde will offer superior performance wrt desktop behaviour. The two (lxde/xfce) are very different from one and another wrt look/feel.
Note the comment:
The Live-Installer-Icon is missing on the desktop, but the Live-Installer is available from the “Miscellaneous” section in Yast, even in text mode.
Further to my own post … I downloaded that .iso file, burned it successfully to a nominal -R blank CD, and booted to it on my sandbox PC (which is an ancient athon-1100 CPU w/2GB RAM, and an old nvidia FX5200 graphic card).
There is a known bug in the 3.7.x kernel with the nouveau graphic driver for ALL GNU/Linux distributions, with a fix available. The liveCD .iso file, as expected, would not have the fix initially, as it is based on the nominal 3.7.x kernel. Initially the boot to the liveCD gave me this display (due to my hardware’s FX5200 nvidia graphics) : http://thumbnails108.imagebam.com/25351/abf401253509052.jpg](http://www.imagebam.com/image/abf401253509052)
