I have this old laptop that I want to use for a media project (pics)

[MrJohnson]

I have this pretty old Compaq Presario 1810 Laptop. The specs are as follows.

Processor: 300Mhz Intel Pentium II w/ 512KB L2 cache
Memmory: 160MB SD-66 (32MB onboard)
Hard Drive: 30GB 5400rpm Hitachi Travelstar
CD-ROM: 8X Fujitsu DVD-ROM
Monitor: 13.3" 1024x768 LCD


This laptop has been sitting in my room pretty much unused since december and I've recently decided I want to be productive for me.

Starting Yesterday I opened the whold baby up and cleaned out the inside. I removed the old Lucent Winmodem as it was obstructing the fan, I didn't need it, and there are only drivers for it in windows 98. I also dusted the inside and removed the keyboard and cleaned out all the hair/chip crumbs under the keys.

This device is to slow for many of today's common task (e.g. playing video & DVD's) and the battery is so worn down that it won't hold more than a 2-3 minutes of a charge. This would lead many to throw this device away, but not me. I want to use this device as an Audio Controller, something that I can listen to my MP3's on and listen to internet radio, as well as watching streaming C-SPAN video and maybe playing some emulated games.

So my question to you guys is this. What operating system should I use for this? What applications should I consider to achieve these goals?

The only requirement that I have for Operating systems is if it's a *nix distro it needs to be easily installable and I need to be able to find a pressed CD of it.

Here are the pics of the top.

http://x004.uploaderx.net/x/IMG_0001.jpg
http://x004.uploaderx.net/x/IMG_0003.jpg
http://x004.uploaderx.net/x/IMG_0019.jpg

[OldMX]

Damn Small Linux

[MrJohnson]

I forgot to add this small bit.

If I use Linux it has to use the 2.6 Kernel because I need to be able to read NTFS formatted devices.

Also, DSL doesn't run properly on my laptop.

[Mr. Baz]

Ubuntu? Make Kubuntu if you would rather the KDE instead of GNOME?

[MorfiusX]

When you say "DSL doesn't run", what exactly do you mean?

With only a 300mhz processor, the less you run the better. So, DSL would be the first choice. But, you could scale down pretty much any distro. Gentoo can be installed as a very minimal distro. You could use binary packages to save time.

You could also use Debian or Ubuntu. I would remove half the stuff they start up though to help with performance. You don't really need things like a MTA for what you are looking at.

As far as software goes, you could set up X with a lightwight window manager like FluxBox. Then use the normal Linux apps for web browsing and streaming media.

When you say you need to read NTFS partitions, are you dual booting? If you are connecting to a network server via Samba or FTP, the file system of that server will not matter. But, I would still try to stick to the 2.6 kernel.

[safter]

If you're using it for playing media and the battery is shot you can get replacement batteries for your presario to make it more portable. I think I saw a NiMH battery for 1800 series for $52 and a Li-Ion one for $62 online. You can probably find them even cheaper than that.

Safter.

[MrJohnson]

When you say "DSL doesn't run", what exactly do you mean?

With only a 300mhz processor, the less you run the better. So, DSL would be the first choice. But, you could scale down pretty much any distro. Gentoo can be installed as a very minimal distro. You could use binary packages to save time.

You could also use Debian or Ubuntu. I would remove half the stuff they start up though to help with performance. You don't really need things like a MTA for what you are looking at.

As far as software goes, you could set up X with a lightwight window manager like FluxBox. Then use the normal Linux apps for web browsing and streaming media.

When you say you need to read NTFS partitions, are you dual booting? If you are connecting to a network server via Samba or FTP, the file system of that server will not matter. But, I would still try to stick to the 2.6 kernel.


For some reason the laptop will not boot from burned CDs anymore. They have to be pressed. Plus I have had a very difficult time with DSL trying to get it to recongnize my wireless card.

I'm not hooking up to any fileserver or FTP, I'm connecting to a shared hard drive.

I was kind of hoping for a nice looking GUI for media applications- something like media portal.

[Langford]

I agree with Mr Baz, Ubuntu or Kubuntu would probably be nice. It's basically Debian with cleaner default menus, and a better installer. It doesn't cost anything to try. You've got above the recomended amount of RAM, so it should run fine.
I think 128MB was the recomended minimum. I tried it on a machine with 64MB once, and it technically ran, but wasn't too quick. Every now and then I put it on a machine whos video card is unrecognized or the network card isn't recognized, but on laptops it seems to have great success.
If I'm not mistaken, the Ubuntu folks will mail you a CD for free if you don't want to burn it yourself.

[ameoba]

I forgot to add this small bit.

If I use Linux it has to use the 2.6 Kernel because I need to be able to read NTFS formatted devices.

Also, DSL doesn't run properly on my laptop.

WTF do you need to read NTFS formatted drives? The local HDD should be in a native Linux FS and, once you pull something across the network, the FS of network shares becomes irrelevant - the only important thing is being able to speak the network protocol.

[Tekara]

Gentoo might not be a bad idea, more in that you can avoid installing uneeded software. Depending on what your looking for though, installation may take some time; because of that, don't be afraid to use procompiled binaries for the larger packages if you do try it out though.

[ThreeDee]

I have a compaq lappie w/700mhz celery and 128megs ram and 10gb hdd that I am going to try and do the same thing with .. I have KUbuntu running on it right now and it was only distro that picked up my Belkin wireless card and I tried DSL , Vector, Fedora, Suse,Puppy, and a few others that I cant remember name of ..

http://www.hardfolding.com/ftag1.php/mem/533.png (http://www.hardfolding.com?go=38&id=533&tm=33)

[djnes]

What were it's specs before you put the Nos sticker on it? :D

[upriverpaddler]

http://cgi.ebay.com/MS-Microsoft-Windows-98-SE-Second-Edition-Full-Install_W0QQitemZ7232510592QQcategoryZ41884QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewI tem

+

http://www.litepc.com/98lite.html

[Amanda]

Ubuntu and a few others have live CD's. You can try them on the laptop and see how they work. They are quite a bit slower than actually installing it, but you can get a feel of it.

BTW: I have a similar laptop, upgraded to a K6/2 300 from a P166MMX and 162MB RAM. Running Ubuntu. Slow sometimes, but better than 2000 or XP.

Good luck!

Amanda ;)

[ktwebb]

Or knoppix if you just want to see how the laptop runs on linux.

For the CD just burn at very slow speeds. If you burn at 4 or even 2X the drive should read them fine.

[LoStMaTt]

Use Windows 2000.