Convert IBM R51 to Linux Mint

[pensee]

First, I am not very technical but am willing to try. I have an old IBM ThinkPad R51 1836BDU laptop that I'd like to convert to Linux Mint but unsure if possible. I tried to install Windows 7 and failed so that now the machine will not boot. It is useless and I've decided to use it to try Linux. I've never used LInux but thought it good time to explore and learn. However, am unsure if Linux Mint will run on the laptop. I'd appreciate some help to decide. These are my machine specs:

11b/g Wi-Fi Wirlesss US/CA
1.5GHz Intel Pentium M processor
70 GB hard drive (will readily change it if one better and suitable)
40GB HD 4200rpm R51
2GB DDR333B SODIMM Mem
15.OSXGA+TFT, M7 - 32, 10/100
56K v.90 Modem
Integrated 1Gb Ethernet
CDRW/DVD
Integr. Wirel. LAN

Thanks for the help.

[TheDynamicHamza21]

First, I am not very technical but am willing to try. I have an old IBM ThinkPad R51 1836BDU laptop that I'd like to convert to Linux Mint but unsure if possible. I tried to install Windows 7 and failed so that now the machine will not boot. It is useless and I've decided to use it to try Linux. I've never used LInux but thought it good time to explore and learn. However, am unsure if Linux Mint will run on the laptop. I'd appreciate some help to decide. These are my machine specs:

11b/g Wi-Fi Wirlesss US/CA
1.5GHz Intel Pentium M processor
70 GB hard drive (will readily change it if one better and suitable)
40GB HD 4200rpm R51
2GB DDR333B SODIMM Mem
15.OSXGA+TFT, M7 - 32, 10/100
56K v.90 Modem
Integrated 1Gb Ethernet
CDRW/DVD
Integr. Wirel. LAN

Thanks for the help.

If you have 1.5 ghz processor and over 1GB ram you should be able to run the XFCE edition and maybe the MATE edition of Mint.

I would recommend you download Mint 13 Maya,burn to a disk and try as live dvd. As rule, a live DVD runs slower and uses more resources than an actual installation thus if you can run a live DVD smoothly then your computer should be able to handle the OS once installed.

[furbearingmammal]

If the comptuer will boot from USB, a live USB install made from http://www.pendrivelinux.com/ might save you having to burn a DVD. Extra advantage to this method is it'll load and run faster than the DVD will. The site I linked you to also contains a program to burn multiple ISOs to the same USB drive (within space and some distro-specific limitations) so you can see if one flavor of Linux works better for you. If Mint is too heavy you should be able to get away with a really lightweight distro like Puppy (I recommend SlackoPuppy simply because the default icon sceme doesn't look hideous when you first boot).