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[Xikarita]

I'm thinking about installing some kind of Linux OS in my old PC. But the problem is, the components are kind of old and I don't know if I'll find all the device drivers I need. Here are the specs:

AMD Athlon 1.3 Ghz on a MSI m-660 lite mainboard
Hercules 3D Prophet II MX 32 MB graphics card
Pioneer 10x DVD-ROM
Samsung 32x CD recorder

Does any of you know where I can find drivers for these?

[Reup]

Check out some distro's. Most of them have a hardware compatibility list on their sites:

For example:
Suse Linux: Hardware Compaitibility Site

Choose a distro which suites you:
http://www.linuxiso.org/
http://www.linux.org/dist/

And check the following as well:
Linux Hardware Compatibility HOWTO

It's not important which brand your hardware has; the chipset it has has to be supported and the thing will work. As a guideline you can say that in Linux it's the OLDER hardware that's better supported then the newer, because there's been more time for someone to write a driver for it k:

[animae]

Has anyone any idea where i can get an video mpg decoder for the kaffeine?????Also i have the tv connected to the Pc but eventhough i can see clear when linux are loading when it in kde all i have is a blur picture

[chickenman]

Old, you call that old my computer is wayyy slower than yours and it runs fine on [ubuntu] Linux, Linux driver support is almost as good as microsofts, or better.

Just install it and see if it works.

[BeefontheBone]

Reup is right, you'll be much more likely to have problems with newer hardware than older, since the support has to be added by someone, and most manufacturers don't provide any unix drivers (ATi seem to be something of an exception in that regard, if memory serves). Unstable or testing versions of the distro will have some more support added, but as the name suggests they might not be as stable as the fully released ones. Still, my "unstable" Debian installation is more stable than my copy of Win XP has ever been.

[gorkur]

I use Knoppix on my secondary PC and it automatically detects every piece of hardware in the computer. I have Windows 98 installed on this same computer and that does not find my video/audio drivers or USB ports.

But then again I don't care about the Windows issue on that PC as I mostly use it for 64HDD anyway and that only requires a pure DOS enviroment, which Win98 provides

In short, I think you'll be safe

And I'd reccomend you to try Knoppix before you actually install a Linux distro on your computer since it boots directly of a CD and doesn't mess with your current setup. That way you can get a taste of Linux before you install it

Or better yet, you can use Partition Magic and make a seperate partition on you HD for a Linux installation but that might be a bit advanced.

[BeefontheBone]

You probably won't need partition magic, the installer will likely give you the choice of preserving existing partitions.

[Reup]

Originally posted by gorkur@Nov 2 2005, 03:25 AM
And I'd reccomend you to try Knoppix before you actually install a Linux distro on your computer since it boots directly of a CD and doesn't mess with your current setup. That way you can get a taste of Linux before you install it

There are many LiveCD's:

A little list of Linux Live CD's

So you can try out almost any distro without having to haul over your system, which is a good idea!

On the other hand, I guess this machine isn't your primary PC, so you can just go ahead and run a regular install without any risks! If it is you primary , a dual boot solution would work well (as mentioned before).

[Xikarita]

Hmmm...ok. I think I'll try a clean install, because this is not my primary computer. Thanks for the advice! k:

[Limetang]

One of the best bets for a Live CD is BeatrIX, which is only 200MB, for installation I recommend Ubuntu, which will fit on a 700MB CD-ROM, and is a generally awesome distrobution.