Installing Linux 18.3 onto Windows XP computer

[larish]

I'm trying to replace Windows XP with Linux Mint 18.3 Cinnamon 32bit on my old computer but I have been unsuccessful so far. I tried to install it through various live Linux Bootable USB creators but my old laptop is not responding. The only thing I got so far is a Linux Mint logo and frozen screen with no error messages after booting. My laptop is quite old but I'm sure there must be a way of fixing this.

Am I missing something during the USB bootup process? If not is there a Linux Mint installer available for Windows XP?

Specs: HP Compaq nx7010 Intel Pentium M Processor 1600MHz, 2MB RAM, 40GB Disk

[michael louwe]

@ larish, .......

...

.
Please refer to this link ... viewtopic.php?t=162675

[Pjotr]

On that old machine: forget about flagship Cinnamon. Much too heavy.

Try the lightweight Xfce edition of Linux Mint 18.3 instead:
http://mintmirror.math.washington.edu/l ... -32bit.iso

And boot the DVD with forced PAE support:
https://sites.google.com/site/easylinux ... E-support-
(item 5, left column)

[jimallyn]

Welcome to the Mint forums, larish! Have you tried booting in Compatibility Mode? That option should appear when you boot from the USB stick. However ... that's a rather puny machine for running Cinnamon, and you'd probably better off using a different desktop environment. I would recommend using XFCE.

[Pjotr]

In this case I think the "force PAE" boot option is the best.... Pentium M and Celeron M need that.

[larish]

Thank you all who responded [promptly]. After testing several Linux environments such as LinuxMint Xfce, LXLE, Bodhi, TinyCoreLinux, Q4OS, AntiX, Xubuntu, LinuxLite and Peppermint for my old computer I decided to go with AntiX. This is due to for two reasons: 1) Performance+Speed 2) Not requiring PAE to be forced which took long time during booting. Although I'm a newbie in Linux, my experience so far is that Ubuntu based distros are not "light" for old computers. I may be wrong

[prestonR]

Ubuntu based distros are not "light" for old computers

Ubuntu's target audience are users that want an 'win-like' contemporary, fully featured desktop. Many of the features that are not strictly necessary, like transparencies, fades and animations, are 'on' after install. Forum member Pjotr has a great site '10 things to do to speed up your Mint 18.3 Install' that should give you pointers.

The lowest ram usage after boot I've managed is 70MB on an Mint Lxde respin and with very little effort you can get the regular Mate 18.3 down to 135-150MB from around 270MB after install. Remove taskbar icons/processes like time, network, updater, sound and so on (about 20-40 MB each, can all be accessed via the menu) and have the useful info they provide combined in a conky, then 'tune' the conky to refresh only every 10 secs and it will use around 0.2% of a weak cpu and about 8-12MB ram. Install conky-manager right at the beginning of any tuning; it really helps to spot resource hungry or unnecessary processes and the impact your tuning efforts have.

It would be a nifty feature if during install on weak hardware (or as an app on the running system), we could have an 'old hardware detected - gruff off?' button to achieve that in a single click, though...

[RobertService]

One of the lightest distributions around is an Ubuntu derivative which continually gets great reviews for resurrecting older hardware: Lubuntu--has a download size of around 900 MB, and LXLE desktop.
You've got a good machine with a lot of life left in it, with the right OS (speaking of which--look at the 32-bit version of MX-16/MX-17 Xfce; one of the best distros around--period--, and 1200 MB download)
*******************************************************
"...Am I missing something...?" No...well, yes. But it's not your fault. What you're missing is the fact that us people with older hardware are being left in the dust by almost all OS builders, and we just have to get used to the fact that the newer leading-edge OSs won't run on older hardware. We've just got to work hard(er) to find OSs compatible with what we've got. You're a good example of this "new normal"-- you've got a great older machine, but you just cannot assume, as you once could, that you can install any Linux distro on it any more.

[BaltyRaven]

One of the lightest distributions around is an Ubuntu derivative which continually gets great reviews for resurrecting older hardware: Lubuntu--has a download size of around 900 MB, and LXLE desktop.
You've got a good machine with a lot of life left in it, with the right OS (speaking of which--look at the 32-bit version of MX-16/MX-17 Xfce; one of the best distros around--period--, and 1200 MB download)
*******************************************************
"...Am I missing something...?" No...well, yes. But it's not your fault. What you're missing is the fact that us people with older hardware are being left in the dust by almost all OS builders, and we just have to get used to the fact that the newer leading-edge OSs won't run on older hardware. We've just got to work hard(er) to find OSs compatible with what we've got. You're a good example of this "new normal"-- you've got a great older machine, but you just cannot assume, as you once could, that you can install any Linux distro on it any more.

With most Windows and Mac operating systems being made for a specific era of computer hardware, Linux is a good alternative if you can't afford another computer that's needed for business/home purposes. At least for most of them. You basically need a computer that has a 2.5GHz or higher processor that would run very good for today's operating systems. The least you could have is a computer made from the very late 2000s that could run well with no problems (that is for Windows, since Macintosh just discontinue their current OSes in a few years).

[whm1974]

One of the lightest distributions around is an Ubuntu derivative which continually gets great reviews for resurrecting older hardware: Lubuntu--has a download size of around 900 MB, and LXLE desktop.
You've got a good machine with a lot of life left in it, with the right OS (speaking of which--look at the 32-bit version of MX-16/MX-17 Xfce; one of the best distros around--period--, and 1200 MB download)
*******************************************************
"...Am I missing something...?" No...well, yes. But it's not your fault. What you're missing is the fact that us people with older hardware are being left in the dust by almost all OS builders, and we just have to get used to the fact that the newer leading-edge OSs won't run on older hardware. We've just got to work hard(er) to find OSs compatible with what we've got. You're a good example of this "new normal"-- you've got a great older machine, but you just cannot assume, as you once could, that you can install any Linux distro on it any more.

Due to this, maybe the OP should just get a not too old refurbished computer with decent specs. I've seen some really nice ones at newegg.com for fairly cheap. I brought a Thinkpad T430 notebook last year for $170, and it is running Mint just fine.