Alternative OS to MS OS's.

[michael diemer]

I may check Pixel out. I have an old Gateway desktop with Win 98, never been online. Is sooo slow. would be interesting to see if Pixel could work well on it, and if I could access old documents and such from it. Or if not Pixel, some other tiny Linux.

 

[mrjimphelps]

My theory is, I don't think you can get any tinier than a Raspberry Pi, so I am guessing that Pixel should do a decent job on an old computer. We'll see...

 

[michael diemer]

Keep us posted!

 

[mrjimphelps]

I've been running Pixel Linux on my eMachines W5243 computer (2 GB RAM, AMD64 processor). I run it as Linux Live from a USB2 flash drive, because they don't yet have it set up to install to the hard drive.

It runs very FAST on that machine. And it has a solid stable feel throughout. But I did find some issues:
* Sometimes the system crashes.
* Quite often the mouse quits working. (The keyboard always works.)

There are a few other minor issues, but nothing I can't live with, mainly that I don't know how to configure some things, like the clock.

The one Linux distro I have found that not only runs well on my eMachines computer, but also is basically bug-free, is Elementary OS, and I've tested quite a few distros on that computer.

 

[michael diemer]

Anybody know how to download Puppy Linux? The process looks incredibly complicated, with pages of various versions. I just want the latest 32 bit little bugger. Can anyone steer me in the right direction? I could join their forum, but I'm on way too many forums already.

Thanks,

Mike

Edit: I found Puppy Linux Xenial (2017) on softpedia and am testing it now. Looks pretty cool. I'm about to try it on my old Gateway Pentium 2 with 96MB ram. The specs say it should tun on that. We'll see.

 

[michael diemer]

I can't get the Puppy Linux disc to boot on my old Gateway. I went in to setup and bumped the CD-rom drive to the top, so it would be the default boot drive, but it won't boot. It tries; you can hear it working, and after awhile it gives up and boots Windows 98 (yeah, that old). It seems not to recognize PL as an OS. I did test the CD on my other Gateway and it worked fine. Not sure how to proceed. I would love to get PL running on that computer as it would make accessing files on Windows so much faster.

 

[Snick]

How did you format CD? If NTFS, Win98 can't read it, use FAT32 and it should boot.
Also, I noticed in your system specs you posted AV M$ Security Essentials (MSE), I'd consider BitDefender Free, top ratings from AV Comparatives, and other test sites, MSE, bottom of barrel and used as baseline, also consider Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit free, & Malwarebytes Anti-malware free.

Nic

 

[michael diemer]

How did you format CD? If NTFS, Win98 can't read it, use FAT32 and it should boot.
Also, I noticed in your system specs you posted AV M$ Security Essentials (MSE), I'd consider BitDefender Free, top ratings from AV Comparatives, and other test sites, MSE, bottom of barrel and used as baseline, also consider Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit free, & Malwarebytes Anti-malware free.

Nic

Thanks for the tips on AV, Snick. My situation is that I'm on Windows very infrequently, so I figure MSE is sufficient. I have three machines. The W98 one has never been online so needs nothing. The one you referenced I am on about once a month, to update it. Occasionally for something else. The third is my music computer and it stays offline by default, so again MSE is (hopefully) sufficient. I have used Bitdefender free as well as Malwarebytes. I installed Malwarebytes paid version on my wife's laptop. She is online much more than me.

I'll try formatting a CD with fat 32 and hopefully it will work. I'll let you know.

 

[townsbg]

By a license rule, ALL Linux distros must be free. Companies, like Red Hat, charges for services, never for the software

@Megahertz07 Linux distributors can't charge for the linux core but they can charge for their customization to linux, apps that they own and put on it, and for their support.

 

[Snick]

townsbg, exactly the scenario with Red Hat!

michael diemer, FYI, on win95 I had to format CD to ISO-9660 for it to read and load Panasonic KX-P2130 printer driver. FAT32 is an improved version of the File Allocation Table (FAT) file system. FAT32 originally appeared in Windows 95 OEM Service Release (OSR) 2. FAT32 uses smaller clusters than FAT16 drives do, thus using space more efficiently on larger disks (disks larger than 1GB in size). You can also use FAT32 to format disks larger than 2GB as a single drive.
Malwarebytes premium incorporates anti-exploit and anti-malware within.

Nic

 

[mrjimphelps]

I can't get the Puppy Linux disc to boot on my old Gateway. I went in to setup and bumped the CD-rom drive to the top, so it would be the default boot drive, but it won't boot. It tries; you can hear it working, and after awhile it gives up and boots Windows 98 (yeah, that old). It seems not to recognize PL as an OS. I did test the CD on my other Gateway and it worked fine. Not sure how to proceed. I would love to get PL running on that computer as it would make accessing files on Windows so much faster.

Try another CD. The CD you are using might be bad.

 

[Snick]

mrjimphelps, OP stated CD boots on his other newer machine running win7. Win98 will not recognize NTFS, exFat, or any other format later than Fat32. It will recognize Fat32, Fat16, & ISO-9660 however, I don't believe you can use Windows 7 to format to Fat16, you would have to use 3rd party software such as ImgBurn. Not sure if Lill, X-Boot, Yumi, etc. are capable.

FAT16 is the original file system used in DOS and Windows 3.x, and was originally only designed for use on relatively small partitions. ... NTFS, which was introduced with Windows NT, is much more secure and robust than FAT16 or FAT32, and offers better recovery from errors.

Nic

 

[michael diemer]

Well, I've been hammering away trying to get that Puppy to boot. (What a weird sentence). To format, I've been right-clicking on the CD drive, which lets you choose options like 1.5, 2.0 etc. 2.0 is default. Also, my first download was for uefi, I wasn't paying close enough attention. (I was so excited to finally find a way to download it that I just clicked on the link. The PL folks really need to make it easier to find and download their software). Anyway, it looks like I need to find some software to format it to 32 or 9660. I checked Linux's Gparted, but it seems to only format hard drives. I'll do some research and find something that will allow me to do this. It's now become one of those problems I Have to solve, since I've already wasted several hours on it. Thanks for the great help, I'm sure I'll get there soon.

 

[mrjimphelps]

mrjimphelps, OP stated CD boots on his other newer machine running win7.

The reason I suggested that he try another CD is because (1) it is possible that this is the problem, and (2) CDs are cheap. He just might get lucky by trying another CD.

Or maybe the CD drive on that computer is bad. That could explain why it works on other computers, but not this computer.

 

[michael diemer]

And it's always good advice to think about the media one is using. In fact, I did try several different CD's, but at this point it really looks to be the formatting thing. I'm about to go looking for a way to do that now, as my house-repair work for the day is done. Not looking forward to the next few days. Even tho I'm in Maine, we're expecting 90's. Stay cool everyone.

 

[Snick]

If CD, not DVD is not formatted to Fat16 or Fat32, or ISO-9660 Win98 cannot read the sectors. No sector read, no boot. Your system will time out and boot to the next device in BIOS. I use ImgBurn it's freeware and awesome!
Nic

 

[michael diemer]

I did in fact install image burn, and burned an iso with it of Puppy Linux (Tahr), but it still won't boot. It tries to; you can hear it; but as you say, it eventually times out and boots W98. It's weird, it should boot. I have it set to boot from the CD drive. I used Imag Burn, which uses iso-9600 by default. PL is supposed to run on a system with these stats.

I'm wondering if it's some weird setting in my computer, or if I need to find an older version of PL? This computer is very old, from the late 90's, but with 96MB ram and a Pent 2 300mhz CPU, it is within the parameters. I my try an older version, or some other very light Linux.

 

[Snick]

Just a thought, how is your CD drive connected to your Win98 machine? If it's via USB that is the issue. BIOS is too old and does not support USB Boot. You can install from it, copy, etc.
Here's a link on puppy and win 98 Installing Puppy Linux, Not USB bootable

I'll download XenialPup 7.5, burn a cd and see if I can get it to boot on my Win95 machine tomorrow and do more research too.

Nic

 

[michael diemer]

Thanks Snick, that sounds like what is going on. No matter what I do, it won't boot, which strongly suggests something is not right, probably due to computer's age.

I looked at the Ubuntu thread you provided. Interesting. I'll wait to see what you come up with tomorrow, if you have the time and inclination to pursue this further.

 

[Snick]

Haven't had a chance to dl and try puppy on win95. Father is having health issue presently and that takes priority. Not life threatening!