Not enough RAM on laptop

4 replies [Last post]
Thu, 07/30/2009 - 02:58
vrkalak
User offline. Last seen 26 weeks 2 days ago. Offline
Joined: 07/30/2009


I have an older Gateway laptop ... MX-3210
It only has a total of 256 of Ram and 35 Gb hard-drive.

My problem is that I have tried installing Ubunto 9.04. from a LiveCD. I ordered a CD with Ubuntu 9.04.02 from the Ubuntu website.
It says it has installed the files but then it freezes, when 'checking installation partition.' The battery gets so hot, it turns itself off. Has never gone any farther than that with Ubuntu.

I have, also, tried to install LinusMINT-7 ... the LiveCD (iso files) just sit there. I have double checked to make sure it will boot from CD. Nothing.

It does say that the install requires more RAM than I have available.
I know there must be another Linux Distro that will work with the smaller memory of an older laptop. Any suggestions?

I have looked at: Puppy Linux, Very Small Linux and eeeUbuntu. . . I don't know?
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I am currently running LinuxMINT-7 on my desktop PC. It's great, everything worked right out of the box.


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Thu, 07/30/2009 - 11:00
#1
arochester
User offline. Last seen 9 weeks 3 days ago. Offline
Joined: 11/07/2008

With only 256Mb of RAM memory you would be better with an Xfce distro like Xubuntu (based on Ubuntu), Sam Linux (based on PCLinuxOS), Zenwalk (based on Slackware) or Dreamlinux.

Gnome and KDE are just too heavy. Unless you can increase the amount of RAM memory?

With Ubuntu the Desktop disk (LiveCD) takes more memory than you have at present to install. With the *buntus it is better to go for the Alternate disk (straight install) with uses only about 64Mb to install.

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Wed, 08/26/2009 - 04:36
#2
vrkalak
User offline. Last seen 26 weeks 2 days ago. Offline
Joined: 07/30/2009

I tried the 'light-weight' distros mentioned above: Xubuntu (Ubuntu-Xfce), SamLinux (PSlinuxOS), Zenwalk (Slackware) and Anti-X (Mepis) . . . none have installed or opened up for viewing without "bogging down" the memory.

I did find a couple of the "installed totally in RAM" OSs that worked. A version of PuppyLinux and SliTaz.

The SliTaz OS only takes 59 Mb of RAM to open and it uses OpenBox as a desktop environment.

Both of the "install to RAM" OS are great, I really like them. I am working at modifying the SliTaz OS and being able to save my preferences and downloads to a USB (8 Gb flash-drive) along with the OS iso files.

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Thu, 11/19/2009 - 06:46
#3
u2mx3210
User offline. Last seen 36 weeks 2 days ago. Offline
Joined: 11/19/2009

vrkalak should you or any1 else decide not to add more ram and sell their 3210 I would be interested in it's purchase, I need spare parts, it's innyrds to be precise. working to replace a couple of broken connectors mine.

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Wed, 12/02/2009 - 19:32
#4
solarscooter
User offline. Last seen 29 weeks 15 hours ago. Offline
Joined: 12/02/2009

Damn Small Linux ran live and installed fine on an old Dell Latitude CPiD (PII, 266MHz) with a mere 128MB of RAM, 2MB video system and a 6GB disc.

I've just decided to leap into a Linux learning experience with both feet and had mail-ordered Ubuntu and Devian on DVD to check them out on a couple of different machines. I had basically no expectations for the CPi, and wasn't surprised that Ubuntu wouldn't run live and certainly wouldn't install. (Install goes AWOL somewhere along the way, as does Debian.)

I downloaded DSL as a last-ditch move before putting the machine back in the spare parts pile, burned a disc, and (once I figured out that I needed to use frame buffering for the video system - see post elsewhere in this forum) I've been in shock at how cool it is.

Caveat: I really am a TOTAL Linux newbie (only two days into it) so please take this FWIW. I had low expectations and I don't have any particular requirements for this machine other than basic functionality... but now I'm thinking it might actually be of some use other than being a learning platform.

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