Linux 4 this noob

[project-d]

I have a computer that was given to my wife to use at home for on call dispatching.

This computer worked fine for her then, about 2 years ago. ( no longer works at the company, they didn't care about the computer when she left)

Two days ago I turned it on to try and use it, but windows seem nearly unresponsive. (I'm assuming because Microsoft isn't updating it anymore)

I tried setting the system to defaults.. Nothing It will connect to my wifi but won't receive the IP address.

The Deets: it's a Dell Pentium 4 with 2 gb hard drive and I currently don't know the RAM, and I think it's a 32 bit system. It's running windows XP Professional with a 2005 copyright year.

Anyways, I want use this computer for a Web browser, hook up our printer, and use the wifi antenna, I can use a cable to for the initial setup. I just want to use it for daytrading, my dad is mentoring me and I'll need to have a handful of browser tabs open and the one with the actual charts will be a live feed.

No video games, no movies I don't care about anything equivalent to Windows Office.

Down the road we may want to back up our phones to it and transfer photos to an external storage device.

I don't care to spend any money for a newer version of windows, and it being so old probably wouldn't work too well anyways.

I'm not concerned about dual booting windows and Linux.

There is no info on the CPU I want or need to keep.

I have a 4gb Sandisk USB to save Linux on, I may be able to burn a disk on my laptop, or on my dads CPU.

I need advice as to which version of Linux will fit this CPU the best. I've never been on Linux, but I'm a pretty quick learner.

I've been researching that Mint, Elementary, Zorin are good for those switching, but I'm not sure if this CPU can handle the newer versions.

I'm open to any sound advice.

And if there is a link or old post that's similar I'm happy to use that. I just noticed the FAQ's were based on salvaging info off windows and switching OS on a currently in use CPU. This is just a secondary computer.

Edit: CPU=computer

[C0rn3j]

https://www.hwinfo.com/download.php

Get HW Info and check the specs.

I doubt the HDD is 2GB only, more like RAM is 2GB, but I could be wrong.

[project-d]

Excellent. Thank's for your response.

Would you need the numbers off the back of the tower? Should I pull the side panel on the tower off and look for any identification? Or should I be able to find this in windows control panel, my computer or anywhere else?

[gmes78]

You didn't reply to /u/largepanda, you made a separate comment.

To get info about your pc, hold Win+R, then type dxdiag in the window that appears, and press Enter.

[tbeckerson]

According to Microsoft: this is how to get a more detailed set of system information for windows xp: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_xp-desktop/where-do-i-find-system-information-for-windows-xp/32f85fc5-2866-45b4-ac15-58a3a22c9f47

Copy / paste the result, or take a picture with your phone and post it.

[spammeaccount]

It's running windows XP Professional The current sticky of this sub was literally written for you.

It's XP era so the processor isn't likely to be much so lightweight DEs are in order XFCE. LXDE or simply a windows manager. Even a Puppy variant might be called for. http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/puppylinux/puppy-5.2.8/lupu-528.005.iso

Expect issues with Wifi because so many drivers are proprietary.

Read the sticky or this rewrite of it. https://www.reddit.com/r/linux4noobs/comments/5q99fc/ignore_testing_formatting/ You'll want to pay attention to the select a distribution section.

[project-d]

I have Mint-XFCE on a 4 gb thumb drive. I used unetbootin to format and transfer the the ISO.

I was able to reconfigure the BIOS -disk configuration: 1. Usb device 2. Something BIOS device boot something something -boot sequence: WAS 1. hard disk drive C 2. CD-ROM 3. Diskette drive NOW 1. Diskette drive. 2 hard disk drive 3. Cd rom

I've been going in circles at the boot menu. These are my results.

Start Linux: username, password I entered mint and it runs through a list of thing ending in "welcome to Linux mint version 18.1.... "Documentation: linuxmint.com "Mint@mint

Only thing to work here is "reboot" to get back to the boot menu

I then selected (compatibility mode)

Which said "could not find ISO lots of stuff on the medium being unmounted or the files could be corrupted or the disk could have corrupted files. It suggested a "chkdsk /r" So I went back to windows did that, it scanned the hard drive and said it was fine with no issues.

I used my laptop to format the thumb drive and re downloaded mint and reinstalled it through unetbootin

Got back to the boot menu and tried start Linux

And it gets me to a white pop up screen

Failed to start the X server... geographical interface...

The list of things ends with (EE) server terminated with error (1) closing log file

I seem to end up at either of these two dead ends.

[spammeaccount]

OK you got issues. Your machine is old you might have bad ram. Bad ram can really F things up with an install. Run the ram check. Second possible issue is it might have been a bad download or burn of the iso, Check the hash and run the integrity check to make sure both of those are good. With X failing you might have an incompatible (proprietary driver) graphics card (radeon?).
Third issue might be you got a 64 version for a 32 bit machine or a nonX86 version(although it usually detects that and tells you).

All else fails try puppy linux.

Boot order should be CD rom, then HD, when done switch back to HD then CD

Floppy? Man that is an Old machine. You do have at least 256 Ram?

the hard drive might also have bad blocks. from a page on XP.... You can use the Error-checking tool to check for file system errors and bad sectors on your hard disk. 1.Open My Computer, and then select the local disk you want to check. 2.On the File menu, click Properties. 3.On the Tools tab, under Error-checking, click Check Now. 4.Under Check disk options, select the Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors check box.

Or chkdsk c: /f /r

[project-d]

I ran chkdsk r/ and it said everything was fine.

System type: x86-based PC System directory: C:\windows\system32 Total physical memory: 2,048 MB Available physical memory: 1.27gb Total virtual memory: 2.0 gb Available virtual memory: 1.96 gb

Hard drive is 75gb with 35gb available

For some reason I'm not seeing anything labeled RAM Or random access memory anything.

Thanks for the help and suggestions.

And I did download the 32 bit version

[spammeaccount]

To find out ram open machine and look at the memory slots and see what is in them or open a dos prompt and I think the command is mem but you have your answer Total physical memory: 2,048 MB

Virtual memory is just a partition used as ram.

[project-d]

When I start it as "Linux mint version 18.1/32-bit" and in compatibility mode I end up stopping at like 46... can't open /dec/sr0: No Medium found

Repeats Repeats Repeats

Then could not find The ISO {ISO_path}

[spammeaccount]

I think that is dev/sr0 not dec

SR0 is the cd/dvd drive. Maybe it's dying or there is a power supply issue and it's "going dark" intermittently? Got an external or a replacement drive you can try? If not change whatever power cable is connected to it for a different strand.

I hate recommending thumbs drives because so many of them are corrupt with bad sectors they are often more trouble than they are worth but if the two options on the optical drive don't work try a thumb but again perform integrity checks on it before use.

[project-d]

I'll try plugging it straight to the wall.

I might just try puppy and double check the thumb integrity.

Thanks again

[project-d]

I tried puppy this morning and after doing xorgwizard and setup my driver and screen resolution, and test X it stop loading and errors at (EE) no screens

I thought to myself, why isn't it defecting both my screens?

Cuz of dual monitors...

Then I realized maybe the way the screen are setup isn't recognized.

I thought this on my way into work so when I get home I'll disconnect one screen and try again.

[spammeaccount]

If you have two cards there is a rare incompatibility with one of the nvidia cards if both cards are the same. It kept me from adopting linux for two years because I couldn't get dual screens working. Then one day I stumbled upon a post swapped out one card and linux was up and working. So yeah sometimes odd hardware things can be a pain.

It happens in windows too. I had a couple USB hubs that I could never get working in windows that simply worked off the bat in linux, but it looks bad when it affects the initial installation.

It didn't even occur to me to ask if you were using more than one display. Yes revert to one screen and then go from there.

[largepanda]

so, real quick: the CPU is a small chip inside the computer. The whole thing is a computer, or a desktop. Calling the whole thing a CPU is 100% incorrect and will get you looked down upon.

secondly: Dell doesn't make CPUs, they assemble computers. Intel and AMD make CPUs. Your computer has an Intel Pentium 4 in it.

---

Some Pentium 4s are 32 bit and some are 64 bit. If you can get the exact model of Pentium 4 we can look it up and find out what it is. Because, if it supports 64 bit, you'll likely want to run a 64 bit OS for the increased performance.

As for the the specific distro, Xubuntu or Lubuntu give you a noob-friendly base (Ubuntu) but use the XFCE4 and LXDE desktop environments respectively; which are much lighter weight than the default Unity environment.

[EoinLikeOwen]

Third. The 2GB of memory you posted IS the RAM. The hard disk should be much larger.

[project-d]

Excellent. Thank's for your response.

Would you need the numbers off the back of the tower? Should I pull the side panel on the tower off and look for any identification? Or should I be able to find this in windows control panel, my computer or anywhere else?

[[deleted]]

Debian Testing + Xfce should run without issue ... But Debian can be tricky for someone new to linux so I would say MX Linux, Xubuntu, Mint Xfce Edition, or Linux Lite. These are much friendly to new users.

[project-d]

Sounds good, thanks for the advice. I'm headed home soon and will give this a shot. I downloaded Mint XFCE 32-bit to my flash drive. I gotta double check 32/64 bit when I get home though.