Which Puppy for an older computer?

Booting, installing, newbie
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circularL7
Posts: 112
Joined: Sat 02 Feb 2013, 07:26

#21 Post by circularL7 »

Thank you all for the help. I didn't accomplish what I had intended, but I've gained enough confidence through the experience to investigate newer computers.

Thank you.

Dewbie

#22 Post by Dewbie »

circularL7 wrote:
Thank you all for the help. I didn't accomplish what I had intended, but I've gained enough confidence through the experience to investigate newer computers.

OK, this might be easier to follow, instead of the manual.
For the most part, it refers to a full installation.
(Don't forget to test the Puppy for compatibility before installing.)

However, when you get to step 19, install the grub4dos .pet (linked earlier in thread) and use it instead.
(Try GRUB if you'd like...but it can be very picky...)
Also, grub4dos is built-in to some Puppies, but not 4.3.1.

Dewbie

#23 Post by Dewbie »

jakfish wrote:
4.31 is a good puppy for your specs. I use it on P1 133 computer with 114mb RAM. It runs better than its original OS (W2K).

Just for the record...are you running regular 4.3.1, or one of the retros?
(and if so, which kernel?)

circularL7
Posts: 112
Joined: Sat 02 Feb 2013, 07:26

#24 Post by circularL7 »

Dewbie wrote:circularL7 wrote:
Thank you all for the help. I didn't accomplish what I had intended, but I've gained enough confidence through the experience to investigate newer computers.

OK, this might be easier to follow, instead of the manual.
For the most part, it refers to a full installation.
(Don't forget to test the Puppy for compatibility before installing.)

However, when you get to step 19, install the grub4dos .pet (linked earlier in thread) and use it instead.
(Try GRUB if you'd like...but it can be very picky...)
Also, grub4dos is built-in to some Puppies, but not 4.3.1.
Hi, Dewbie.

Now that I've finally played with this and am getting a (slippery) grip on these machines, do you think that there's anything that I can use this thing for if I do finally get it over to a Puppy? For me, the machine is strictly for learning and experimenting, but I now wonder if it's even worth that.

What do you think?

Dewbie

#25 Post by Dewbie »

circularL7 wrote:
do you think that there's anything that I can use this thing for if I do finally get it over to a Puppy? For me, the machine is strictly for learning and experimenting, but I now wonder if it's even worth that.
You're still referring to this one, right?:
late 90's HP Intel Celeron; 266Mhz; Win 98; 112MB RAM; maybe 5GB.
If so, there are two obvious limitations:
1. YouTube or anything involving Flash video will be out of the question; processor is too slow.
(Also, you'll probably need Flashblock to conserve CPU/RAM when visiting websites.)

2. Newer browsers will likely be a problem; each release gets progressively heavier.

For full-featured browser I use SeaMonkey 1.x series.
It's relatively light and meets most of my needs.

I also use a lightweight browser called Dillo.
It's very fast, but doesn't support Flash, Java, cookies, history, etc...so you can't do e-mail or visit certain websites with it.

That box would be an interesting test case.
If nothing else you could try various Puppies and post the results here.
(provided you have the time, of course...)

circularL7
Posts: 112
Joined: Sat 02 Feb 2013, 07:26

#26 Post by circularL7 »

Dewbie wrote:If so, there are two obvious limitations:
1. YouTube or anything involving Flash video will be out of the question; processor is too slow.
(Also, you'll probably need Flashblock to conserve CPU/RAM when visiting websites.)

2. Newer browsers will likely be a problem; each release gets progressively heavier.

For full-featured browser I use SeaMonkey 1.x series.
It's relatively light and meets most of my needs.

I also use a lightweight browser called Dillo.
It's very fast, but doesn't support Flash, Java, cookies, history, etc...so you can't do e-mail or visit certain websites with it.

That box would be an interesting test case.
If nothing else you could try various Puppies and post the results here.
(provided you have the time, of course...)
That's the one, the '98 special. (It was manufactured in '98.)

I might do that.

What about using it to learn about programming and computers in general? Is there an old compiler that I could download (for free) that would help me get a feel for coding?

Dewbie

#27 Post by Dewbie »

circularL7 wrote:
What about using it to learn about programming and computers in general? Is there an old compiler that I could download (for free) that would help me get a feel for coding?
Don't know the answer to that one; you'll likely get more replies if you start a separate thread.

jakfish
Posts: 762
Joined: Fri 18 Jul 2008, 19:09

#28 Post by jakfish »

@Dewbie: No, I'm running puppy 4.32, in fact; ttuuxx's updated apps but with the regular kernel. Seamonkey not so good, but Links/Sylpheed does just fine. As does Softmaker 2008.

J

Dewbie

#29 Post by Dewbie »

@jakfish:
Wow, that's strange...RetroTechGuy said his 333MHz box will only run the 4.3.1 retro kernels.
I'm running puppy 4.32...Seamonkey not so good
With 4.3.2, ttuuxxx changed to SeaMonkey 2.x series, which is noticeably slower.
Try FirePup.
It's a bit dated, but runs like a bat out of hell.

circularL7
Posts: 112
Joined: Sat 02 Feb 2013, 07:26

#30 Post by circularL7 »

Dewbie wrote:Don't know the answer to that one; you'll likely get more replies if you start a separate thread.
I will. Thanks.

jakfish
Posts: 762
Joined: Fri 18 Jul 2008, 19:09

#31 Post by jakfish »

@Dewbie: I run 4.32 on an ancient Sony Vaio Picturebook, one of those with the Crusoe processor. The processor may have something to do with it, though on my equally-ancient IBM Thinkpad 570 (PII-300Mhz), 4.32 works as well, and much faster.

I will try that firepup, thanks for the tip.

Jake

tommy
Posts: 133
Joined: Tue 04 Oct 2005, 20:21
Location: Italy

#32 Post by tommy »

I suggest to use a barebones version of Puppy. I'm at this very moment writing this post on a acer 355 featuring Pentium non-mmx 133MHz, no L2 cache and 40MB ram. I run puppy barebones 2.01r2 on it. Your PC is faster than mine. You can add old Firefox 1.5 or Opera 9 to it, download at http://dotpups.de on puppy 1 and 2 section (dig into it to find other puppy 2.x stuff). Memory footprint is very little, but a swapfile is required, though! I use this old junk to connect remotely from home to work PC, using rdesktop and VNC through a ssh tunnel.

You can also try out Turbopup extreme, Akita (beta13 at present), 2.14R.
Good luck!

starhawk
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#33 Post by starhawk »

Heads-up -- TurboPup breaks when you try to change how it works or improve it. It works fine until you try to modify it, and then it makes a real mess on the carpet. (I've tried this.) Also, there is only one wallpaper setup that will ever work, and that's basic black.

Also, while ClassicPup will run, it's going to be incredibly slow because it's full of flashy special effects that bog down any processor.

FWIW, check out the "pUPnGO 2012 Plus Extras" thread in Puppy Projects here on the forum. I've got the FreeOffice version running on an old laptop with a 300MHz Pentium II CPU and 128MB RAM. Works great. Since Celeron's didn't come out until the Pentium II era anyways, you'll be OK (I can't guarantee that it'll run on a Pentium I or a K6-II or anything like that!).

circularL7
Posts: 112
Joined: Sat 02 Feb 2013, 07:26

#34 Post by circularL7 »

Haha. You guys/gals are great. I finally have an excuse to buy all the old computer stuff that I thought were junk. Now that the '98 is running smoothly for all kinds of things that it has never done before, I'll have my eyes peeled for experiments.

I need an old printer, so I can print e-books. :D

Dewbie

#35 Post by Dewbie »

circularL7 wrote:
Now that the '98 is running smoothly
Which Puppy version is it running?

circularL7
Posts: 112
Joined: Sat 02 Feb 2013, 07:26

#36 Post by circularL7 »

Dewbie wrote:circularL7 wrote:
Now that the '98 is running smoothly for all kinds of things that it has never done before
Which Puppy is it running with?
It's not. I read a page, perhaps on this forum, that noted the possibility of causing real trouble. My experience had become so rewarding in fun as I came to understand and experiment more that I wanted to slow down on my aspirations that seem more appropriate to people with more skill and just take it slow, like a hobby.

That project was much too big for me at this time. I'm taking a little time off from it to recuperate; I spent a lot of time researching and working on it this weekend while I should have been working on other stuff. Such is life.

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Sky Aisling
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Which Puppy for an older computer?

#37 Post by Sky Aisling »

Hi circularL7

Another thing to consider is that some older CD/DVD drives won't read new medium disks because of the type of plastic used.
The older medium disk material has a greenish tint to the plastic.
You can sorta see it if you hold the disk to the light and rotate the disk.

That may be the reason the $1 thrift store disk worked.

circularL7
Posts: 112
Joined: Sat 02 Feb 2013, 07:26

Re: Which Puppy for an older computer?

#38 Post by circularL7 »

Sky Aisling wrote:Hi circularL7

Another thing to consider is that some older CD/DVD drives won't read new medium disks because of the type of plastic used.
The older medium disk material has a greenish tint to the plastic.
You can sorta see it if you hold the disk to the light and rotate the disk.

That may be the reason the $1 thrift store disk worked.
Thanks. I had been guessing that, but it was only for the ISO that it didn't read. I downloaded a boatload of programs via the new ones.

During the last week, I've been changing RAM sticks and drives, all of which are garage sale finds. It's up to a cool 192 Megs of RAM, but I'm a little concerned that she kunt tek it; she'll be torn to bits. LOL. I have one stick without any form of ID, one stick that's marked PC 100, and one that's marked PC 133. Apparently, it's sensitive to the order of placement because it wouldn't boot under some orders.

A rather demoralizing experience has been noticing PC's that are exponentially more powerful going for $20 on Craig's, etc. However, she's been upgraded to handle thumb drives, so I'm going to take another run at Puppy but via USB. Blam!

I'll update you in a week or two.

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Sky Aisling
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Location: Port Townsend, WA. USA

Which Puppy for an older computer?

#39 Post by Sky Aisling »

Make sure you add a *swap* file like Dewbie suggests (on page 1 of this thread).

circularL7
Posts: 112
Joined: Sat 02 Feb 2013, 07:26

Re: Which Puppy for an older computer?

#40 Post by circularL7 »

Sky Aisling wrote:Make sure you add a *swap* file like Dewbie suggests (on page 1 of this thread).
Will do.

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