Linux Mint Forums

My girlfriend has an old laptop,the specs are as follows :
Processor : Intel Celeron M 430 @ 1.73 Ghz
Video card : Intel 945 GMA
Memory : 256 MB DDR
Wireless : Broadcom 802.11 b/g
Network : Broadcom 440x 10/100 Mbps
HDD : 60 GB Fujitsu hard-disk

The questions are:
-does the wireless work on Mint out of the box?
-wich version should I install?will gnome run well enough or should I go with another edition?

Software she needs : Firefox,Skype,some music player and a Yahoo!Messenger client (probably Gaim or Kopete).
Until now she used windows xp,so she has no idea of what a terminal is and I will be away for a month or so.
Thanks!

terrorblader wrote:My girlfriend has an old laptop,the specs are as follows :
Processor : Intel Celeron M 430 @ 1.73 Ghz
Video card : Intel 945 GMA
Memory : 256 MB DDR
Wireless : Broadcom 802.11 b/g
Network : Broadcom 440x 10/100 Mbps
HDD : 60 GB Fujitsu hard-disk

The questions are:
-does the wireless work on Mint out of the box?
-wich version should I install?will gnome run well enough or should I go with another edition?

Software she needs : Firefox,Skype,some music player and a Yahoo!Messenger client (probably Gaim or Kopete).
Until now she used windows xp,so she has no idea of what a terminal is and I will be away for a month or so.
Thanks!

i will try to answer your questions as best as i can so here we go

-does the wireless work on Mint out of the box?

depends on the kernel try it if it doesnt work ask the forum and youll find someone to assist you

-wich version should I install?will gnome run well enough or should I go with another edition?

you mentioned its DDR so it is qualified for the minimum requirements for installation i suggest use mint 6 rc1 if you havent downloaded anything yet cause its really a good release already even its only a release candidate atm.

Software she needs : Firefox,Skype,some music player and a Yahoo!Messenger client (probably Gaim or Kopete).
Until now she used windows xp,so she has no idea of what a terminal is and I will be away for a month or so.
Thanks!

firefox,skype is already availble via sypnatics but just a warning in skype the video you can get from the one your talking with is only kinda small but it works well. music player try amarok. and for instant messenger i find pidgin as user friendly and looks good than kopete. regarding you being away if you know something about remote controling a computer even your not in front well there is many good programs like vnc, tight vnc, etc which you can help your gf when she needs some assistance. and dont worry too much about terminal its just a matter of copy paste and or using mint it doesnt require too much using the terminal because it is designed already for being user friendly for new and expert ones also

Thanks for the reply xnostradamusx , I had a Mint 5 XFCE edition iso on my laptop so I burned it , the thing is it does not start , crashes after X starts ... tried the disk on my laptop and it works fine.I will try Mint 6 (wich is already installed on my laptop) and hopefully it will work.
Thanks!

terrorblader,

There are two things I would suggest:

The first thing is when the Live CD is loading to click any key on your keyboard. This should bring up a screen with the option of "compatibility mode." Choose that, and see if X still crashes. I am having to do that on my main machine with Mint 6 right now. Odd, but hey, it works.

The second thing is that it is possible Mint is looking for a swap file. 256 MB is workable once installed, but can be syrup-slow on a Live CD. I have installed Mint 5 GNOME on a machine with similar specs. I had to use Mint 5 Xfce to partition and add a swap file. Mint 5 GNOME loaded with no problem after that.

I have seen GParted and other partitioning programs mentioned numerous times, but I have never used one of those CDs yet. That may be an option to consider to get your partitions set up. Good luck, and have fun.

@ terrorblader well it is suggestable to try also the mind fluxbox edition because it is the smallest footprint of them all.

and another thing when you are burning the cd pls do burn them on the slowest speed posible and dont use cdrw cause sometimes it causes errors also.

and when you boot the live cd when its starting to countdown press enter and choose the 2nd option which is booting on compatibility mode.

good luck

rivenought wrote:terrorblader,

There are two things I would suggest:

The first thing is when the Live CD is loading to click any key on your keyboard. This should bring up a screen with the option of "compatibility mode." Choose that, and see if X still crashes. I am having to do that on my main machine with Mint 6 right now. Odd, but hey, it works.

The second thing is that it is possible Mint is looking for a swap file. 256 MB is workable once installed, but can be syrup-slow on a Live CD. I have installed Mint 5 GNOME on a machine with similar specs. I had to use Mint 5 Xfce to partition and add a swap file. Mint 5 GNOME loaded with no problem after that.

I have seen GParted and other partitioning programs mentioned numerous times, but I have never used one of those CDs yet. That may be an option to consider to get your partitions set up. Good luck, and have fun.

hes using a 256 DDR which is equivalent to 512mb ram which is the minimum of mint gnome and can work around 256mb of ram only so im sure it will work but i guess its hes choce.