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Topic: Not For Profit Needs Help!, DSL on older machines

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clivesay

Group: Guests
Posts: 935
Joined: Dec. 2003

Posted: Dec. 31 2003,21:02

All -
I am a beginner to Linux. I am considered a power user but no very little about development except for some VBA in Excel.

I am starting a NFP in my area to donate computers to needy children in the community. Many of the computers donated to date have been 486 and Pentium I machines. If anyone thinks there are still not many out there, I have accumulated nearly 30 of them in a matter of weeks!

I have been doing a lot of research on Linux and think it is the real answer for my organization from a cost and compatability standpoint when it comes to older machines.

I really like what I have seen from DSL and Morphix. I easily ran the live CD verion of DSL on a PI 133 with 64 meg of ram.

My question is if I install DSL on PC's, can I easily configure the desktop to look and feel very similar to Windows? Has anyone used XPde as a front end for DSL?

For the little kids, I think that the PC will have to look very similar to their PC's at school to truly be effective.

I am a little intimidated by all of the command writing that seems to be necessary with Linux. I am a command prompt novice.

I am really excited with what I have seen but I feel like I have a huge learning curve ahead of me.

Can anyone give me any direction for what I am wanting to accomplish? I really want to use these older machines to help kids.

Thanks alot!

CappyCaffeine
Unregistered

Posted: Jan. 01 2004,03:09

I think that it is wonderful you are taking an active part in helping children less fortunate than others.

Linux is a great way to help accomplish this: cost effective and malleable for young minds to find interesting, but hopefully not overwhelming.

I am running DSL on a Pentium 233 with 64meg EDO-RAM, circa 1997, and it runs great! Most of it configures itself after you do the hd-install listed in the FAQ section of the website.

You probably want to get a few additional programs installed on your systems such as word processing and some modem support. Modem support may be dicey, specifics about the modems would help us help you.

an excellent program to help install additional software is synaptic which does work with DSL. There is a warning about some programs breaking the X-server, but so far, so good.

all you need to do is type "apt-get install synaptic" from one of the command lines after the hd-install and doing it as the root user, and then type "synaptic" at the command prompt.

You will then be presented with a multitude of additional programs that can be installed through a graphical window.

You could install bonsai linux that is a 'true' debian derived distribution that is compatible with all of the packages listed by apt-get and synaptic. This is another way to get Linux on those old machines.

Good luck!

Cappy

clivesay

Group: Guests
Posts: 935
Joined: Dec. 2003

Posted: Jan. 01 2004,16:12

Cappy -

Thank you for the support and the information. I think I will take the time to really develop (I use that term loosely!) DSL for my old computers.
I will have a TON of true beginner questions so I hope you will all be patient with me! I have evarything from a 386 to a P3 450mhz machine.

Thanks!

Chris

davide

Group: Members
Posts: 265
Joined: Sep. 2003

Posted: Jan. 01 2004,18:22

Hey Chris,
congrats for your idea. May I give you some suggests?
using Linux is a good way to give new birth to older machines.
Still, older machines are..old :

so keep in mind that what's true for WinBlow, say..newer applications don't run on older pc, is valid for linux as well.
In general, we can say that for almost all newer applications, linux has a text-only version working from consolle that can be used on older pc and get the job done. But that's not usefull for kids, who want to have a pc that looks like other people's one. Else they would be disappointed and perhaps feel frustrated.
So, as for instance, XPde it could be a good choice, (I don't know if there's a debian package to download through sinaptic, hope so) but it is not as light as fluxbox. Fluxbox is the lightest (or among the lightest) desktop manager in linux.
So you probably have to start thinking of different "settings" for different hardware.
On 486 fluxbox is probably the best choice.On a P200 or P266 XPde can work well.
Wordprocessing: On 486 I would recommend an older version of Abiword. Others MSword-like programs are heavier (openoffice, kwrite).
It's like WinBlows: if you have win95 on a 486, you hardly can get a Win98 working on it... If I were you, I obviously would try to get some old ram banks of memory to add to the pcs. That would help a lot. I suppose some trashware shop could give them for free to you, if you ask as a NFP.
Another reason for choosing dsl is: it boots up recognizing hardware like no other distro: once you have your hardware working, you can install. And you're sure that it will work. It's not like that with other linux distributions.

A hint: there are some NGO's working on similar projects internationally. They may give you an advise on what to install on older pc, how to tune them to the best, and so on...
Here is one EWB-ISF
Keep up the good work

to Cappy: just curious (I'm not an expert). Isn't dpkg -restore a needed step in dsl before apt-getting synaptic?

--------------
Davide

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cbagger01

Group: Members
Posts: 4264
Joined: Oct. 2003

Posted: Jan. 01 2004,20:52

If you want to use a Window Manager that works well on older computers AND is easy to use for people who are familiar with Microsoft Windows™, try using ICEWM window manager.

It is a small, fast window manager and it has characteristics that are similar to Windoze: A "Start" menu button, a taskbar at the bottom of the screen, and the same kind of window title bar buttons (IE: Minimize, Maximize, Close).

I recommend using the "Brushed Metal" style theme to give the desktop an unmistakeable Linux appearance, but with all of the familiar MSWindows-like trinkets mentioned above.

If you want the computer to look like even more an MSWindows clone, you can always install one of the Fake95, Windows95, Silver XP, XP, or XP New themes.

Check out the Freshmeat.net themes website for more details and screenshots:

http://themes.freshmeat.net/browse/925/?topic_id=925

22 replies since Dec. 31 2003,21:02

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