Re: More mileage from an ancient machine

NoOp wrote:
On 06/29/2007 04:45 PM, Peter N Spotts wrote:

Folks,

A friend of mine is turning over to a friend of hers a 1998 Dell
Inspiron 3200 with an XGA color monitor and MMX "technology" -- my
friend wasn't sure whether the processor was 166, 200, or 233 Mhz.
How well might Ubuntu Feisty Fawn run on this, assuming the machine is
otherwise in operating order? The recipient of this antique is
interested in web browsing and email at the moment -- maybe some work
with Open Office when she discovers it...

Your best bet for that machine is Knoppix/DamnSmallLinux/Win95.
<quote>
The Dell Inspiron 3200 uses 66MHz type memory and has 2 bank(s) of 1
socket(s) each for a total of 2 memory socket(s) . The Dell Inspiron
3200 comes standard with 32MB of RAM and supports up to 144MB of RAM
with 16MB of that in Fixed RAM. Choose from the memory modules listed
above for guaranteed compatible upgrades for your Dell Inspiron 3200.
</quote>
Ref: http://www.edgetechcorp.com/memory/upgrade.asp?cid=17666

Don't even bother attempting to install Ubuntu, Xubuntu, etc., on the
machine. Your best best is to buy an old copy of Win95 and MSOffice97
and run that. You can experiment with Knoppix & DSL, but if you really
want to maintain a useful machine (albeit with a poor OS) that can
reasonably run an office suite stick to Win95/MSO97 on the machine.
Don't even try Win2K or Win2KP. Sorry, but IMO that is your best bet.



I actually have that laptop. I've maxed it out with 144mb of RAM and it
has a 6gb drive. Xubuntu works great on it however be warned that you
will likely never get the soundcard to work on it under Ubuntu. I've
run Dapper, Edgy and Feisty on it, all worked fine. Maybe it is just me
but I feel Feisty runs fastest.

Sounds like your friend is not much of a power user - that's good.
OpenOffice takes a lot of RAM and that is really where this machine is
lacking. :) As long as they are happy using one app at a time they
should be fine. I also run Xubuntu on an IBM Thinkpad E390 with 256mb
of RAM and it runs quite a bit better than the Dell.

If you want some more tips on setting up Xubuntu on that laptop msg me
offlist and I'll see what I can dig up from my notes. BTW my Dell is a
P2-266.

Regards,

-d


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