Which version for old PC

[diabolikos]

Good morning for all
I'm new, and I use the Mint 18.3 on my notebook with great satisfaction.
I also own an old HP Compaq DC7100... What do you think is the best version of Mint for such an old PC?

This PC is for my daughter only for mail and internet. At the moment there is Lubuntu installed but I'm not satisfied.

[kukamuumuka]

LMDE Mate.
64-bit https://www.linuxmint.com/edition.php?id=235
32-bit https://www.linuxmint.com/edition.php?id=236

[BenTrabetere]

Good morning for all
I'm new, and I use the Mint 18.3 on my notebook with great satisfaction.
I also own an old HP Compaq DC7100... What do you think is the best version of Mint for such an old PC?

I have a similarly spec'ed Compaq laptop (P4, 512MB RAM), and I found that it is not a good candidate for any version of Linux Mint. LMDE was the best of the lot; if it has to be Linux Mint, this would be the one I would use. I found it was more than my laptop could handle.

I suggest a lighter distribution like AntiX or Bohdi Linux. I have AntiX on one ancient laptop and Bohdi on an even lower spec'ed laptop (PIII, 256MB RAM); both are functional machines. Browsing the web is slow, especially on over-active sites or with several tabs.

http://antix.mepis.org
http://www.bodhilinux.com/

Also, you might find the Lightweight distros for old computers to be helpful.

[JoeFootball]

HP Compaq DC7100... What do you think is the best version of Mint for such an old PC?

For that, I would try LM 18.3 Xfce.

Joe

[kc1di]

Hello diabolikos and Welcome to the Mint forums,

If that machine has the original amount of ram I'm not sure any version of mint will work well.
If you can get the ram up to say 2 gbs. it would help a lot then I would recommend XFCE version.
But as others have said another distro may be more appropriate if it only has 512 mb of ram.
This page may be of help to you in your search. https://fossbytes.com/best-lightweight-linux-distros/
good luck.

[Superannuated]

Read about Peppermint 8.
https://sites.google.com/site/easylinux ... peppermint

If you install it, tune it up.
https://sites.google.com/site/easylinux ... peppermint

I installed in on a USB stick and find it very satisfactory. By the way, the HP Compaq DC7100 RAM is upgradeable to 4GB according to HP (or 3GB according to CNET).

[jimallyn]

I would install Mint 18.3 XFCE on it IF it has more than the original 512MB of RAM. If not, I would upgrade the RAM and put Mint 18.3 XFCE on it. If for some reason I didn't want to do that, I'd use antiX, or Lubuntu, or LXLE, or another of the "Light weight" distros.

[Schultz]

If it could handle Mint Xfce, it should also be able to handle Mint Mate.

[diabolikos]

Thank you all, for your answers...

Apologise for the delay, but I didn't have time to format.
The machine in question has 2Gb RAM, so I opted for Mint18.3 XFCE.

I have another problem, however:
ISO function perfectly in LIVE so I've installed the S.O. without problem.

At the login screen, with apparently "good"screen, made however the black screen login in which you only see the mouse.
Same thing in guest mode.

If I open in terminal CTRL+ALT+F1 and loggo, the system does not work properly.
STARTX input that starts a working provisional session.

But here I stop because I don't want to "dirty" a clean installation.

[kukamuumuka]

If I open in terminal CTRL+ALT+F1 and loggo, the system does not work properly.
STARTX input that starts a working provisional session.

If the first X is still active, you need to open the next session using command startx -- :1

[kc1di]

open a terminal and type this command and post the output

Code: Select all

inxi -G

[diabolikos]

If the first X is still active, you need to open the next session using command

Code: Select all

startx -- :1

The problem is that it doesn't start the graphics session
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

open a terminal and type this command and post the output

Code: Select all

inxi -G

Here the output

Graphics Card: Intel 82915G/GV/910GL Integrated Graphics Controller
Display Server: X.org 1.18.4 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev, vesa)
tty size 180x56 Advanced Data: N/A out of X

[kc1di]

This page may suggest a fix https://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/842 With your video card I would try # 4 in the list of boot parameters. good luck.

[kukamuumuka]

If the first X is still active, you need to open the next session using command

Code: Select all

startx -- :1

The problem is that it doesn't start the graphics session

What session(s) are active?

Code: Select all

w

Code: Select all

ps axu | grep "X "

[diabolikos]

Thanks to both.

Nothing. I tried several times to edit the initial configuration file as proposed and also with

Code: Select all

nomodeset=VESA, nomodeset=VGA

unsuccessfully.

Edit: I wanted to check the ISO HASH and realized that it didn't match.

Download new ISO and new installation now all OK.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
But now I have a new problem.
To make the audio works I have to set the channels with ALSAMIXER, but these settings are lost each time I reboot

I tried to give

Code: Select all

alsacpl store 

saves the file but when restarting the settings are lost.

[diabolikos]

But now I have a new problem.
To make the audio works I have to set the channels with ALSAMIXER, but these settings are lost each time I reboot

I tried to give

Code: Select all

alsacpl store 

saves the file but when restarting the settings are lost.

I apologise. Maybe my tread seemed closed, but I still had a problem to solve....

[kukamuumuka]

But now I have a new problem.
To make the audio works I have to set the channels with ALSAMIXER, but these settings are lost each time I reboot

I tried to give

Code: Select all

alsacpl store 

saves the file but when restarting the settings are lost.

I apologise. Maybe my tread seemed closed, but I still had a problem to solve....

Install alsa-tools-gui and deactive the wrong channels.

Code: Select all

apt install alsa-tools-gui

Code: Select all

hdajackretask

https://puolanka.info/goto/how-to-deact ... es-output/

[diabolikos]

and deactive the wrong channels.

There aren't channels that doesn't work.
The problem is that ALSAMIXER does not remember the settings and after each system restart, to get audio I have to launch ALSAMIXER input M on the second channel and raise volume.
Every time.

[Rich J]

Would installing Pulseaudio not help? Available in Synaptic Package Manager. (If marked green, then it's already installed but you can ask it to re-install and see if that works)

I remember having audio issues with an earlier version of Mint and Pulseaudio solved the problem.

[kc1di]

If pulseaduio is installed you may want to install pulseaudio volume control it gives slightly more control options. you can install it via terminal with this command

Code: Select all

sudo apt install pavucontrol

or in synaptic by searching for pavucontrol. good luck.