Fast distro

[Brickwizard]

Perhaps this will give you a little push, I have just ran a test on my old dell, using the old plate spinner and the SSD.
Boot time for Linux Mint LMDE from push power button to desktop fully loaded
Plate spinner 2 mins 7 seconds
SSD 45 seconds

 

[jar1]

Plate spinner 2 mins 7 seconds
SSD 45 seconds

thanks for the test and I do know SSD is faster but opening the laptop is beyond this "projects" scope.. i have bad experiences there.......

 

[camtaf]

If you want the system to work fast, try loading it to ram, it will then run from ram quite a bit faster than even an SSD.

The downside is that it will be slower to boot up.

 

[The Duck]

If you want the system to work fast, try loading it to ram, it will then run from ram quite a bit faster than even an SSD.

Nothing is faster than ram.
First place the OS loads is to ram.

The downside is that it will be slower to boot up.

Boot times aren't important imo.
What's important is how the computer runs when it is being used.

 

[Brickwizard]

but opening the laptop is beyond this "projects" scope..

That's a shame, even with my old eyes and stubby fingers it would take me about 5 mins to swap them, so if you haven't done it before I would say 15 mins max.

 

[The Duck]

Perhaps this will give you a little push, I have just ran a test on my old dell, using the old plate spinner and the SSD.
Boot time for Linux Mint LMDE from push power button to desktop fully loaded

Plate spinner 2 mins 7 seconds

Just about the amount of time it takes me to get another cup of coffee or another beer.

SSD 45 seconds

I don't have an SSD and at 45 seconds that wouldn't be enough time to get another cup of coffee or another beer.

 

[Brickwizard]

45 seconds that wouldn't be enough time to get another cup of coffee or another beer.

just long enough to drink one though

 

[The Duck]

That's a shame, even with my old eyes and stubby fingers it would take me about 5 mins to swap them, so if you haven't done it before I would say 15 mins max.

I've changed out some hard drives in laptops and most of them were 2 screws and just slide the hard drive a little bit and lift out.
I have a 10 year old Dell laptop and it's hard drive can only be accessed by removing the keyboard and a pile of screws.

 

[Brickwizard]

I have a 10 year old Dell laptop and it's hard drive can only be accessed by removing the keyboard and a pile of screws.

My dell has the side slide in/out which is handy, I don't screw any hard-drive in so It's quick for me to change over to any of the others I use for testing, I have had badly designed laptops across my bench where you have to disassemble it to get to the main components but the OP's laptop is easy ,remove battery take off ram cover plate take off HDD cover plate take out 4 the retaining screws carefully Lift out the HDD carrier and disconnect the SATA cable, take out 4 more from the carrier to release the HDD, then re assemble in reverse.....simples

 

[jar1]

should I download 32 or 64 bit distro? the laptop is x86 architecture but it said somewhere it supports 64bit

 

[Brickwizard]

You should definitely be using 64 bit, 32 bit is nearing its end of life [we think it may be 2025] and doesn't get as many updates as 64 bit, Also 64 bit is a little more efficient

 

[Brickwizard]

oh just a thought it probably has a broadcom wi-fi, you will need alternative means to connect to the internet to download the BCM drivers

 

[jar1]

I'm having bit of trouble installing the distros, last 3 attempts have failed on some GRUB not being able to install error. What could cause that? I always select the erase whole HD option when installing

 

[Brickwizard]

I'm having bit of trouble installing the distros, last 3 attembs have failed on some GRUB not being able to install error.

Lots of possibilities,
corrupt download [did you check the SHA sum?]
bad burn/write to the pen-drive Rufus can be very iffy with Linux , try Balina-etcher
a dodgy pen-drive, it may be fine transferring files and folders but once they get old [and some cheap makes] just aren't up to the mark [use a good quality newish one, wiped and formatted Fat or X-Fats]
some distributions may work better in legacy mode.

 

[jar1]

Lots of possibilities,
corrupt download [did you check the SHA sum?]
bad burn/write to the pen-drive Rufus can be very iffy with Linux , try Balina-etcher
a dodgy pen-drive, it may be fine transferring files and folders but once they get old [and some cheap makes] just aren't up to the mark [use a good quality newish one, wiped and formatted Fat or X-Fats]
some distributions may work better in legacy mode.

hmm I actually tried several distros with several USB sticks. could it be I need to fix HD partitioning or should the installer fix it for me?

 

[MikeWalsh]

@jar1 :-

Puppy can quite easily be installed to your hard drive. However, we don't have a pretty GUI that will guide you point/click.....point/click.....point/click.....OK.....done, in quite the same way that most mainstream distros do. Puppy is a little bit more "manual" & "hands-on" than most, but if you don't mind digging around in the file-system, it's a very quick process.

(That installer The Duck showed you is almost 20 years old, and it no longer works properly for modern Puppies......reason being the modern UEFI requirements. Why it hasn't been removed - or re-written - heaven above knows...)

Rather than attempt to explain the whole process to you here, I will recommend that you visit the Puppy Linux forums, and ask the guys over there. They're a very friendly, knowledgeable bunch, and like nothing better than helping newbies to get Puppy working on old hardware. Here, everybody is far more used to talking about mainstream distros, and Puppy is regarded as a bit of a curiosity.

Puppy is sufficiently different to mainstream distros that most of the advice given here won't really work for you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
​

A whole new section has recently been added to the top of the Puppy forum's 'front page' specifically for helping beginners to get their first Puppy up-and-running. Incidentally, when installing to hard drive you do NOT perform a "full" install. The recommended method is to do a "frugal" install. This is still the 'full' Puppy.....still the 'real deal'.....but the 'frugal' install is a special way of doing it that is FRUGAL, i.e., CAREFUL with the amount of space it uses.

Puppy doesn't require a whole partition to itself. All she needs is a single, uniquely-named directory.....which can be on ANY partition, anywhere on the drive.

You can find the Forum here:- https://forum.puppylinux.com/index.php

See ya over there!


Mike.

 

[The Duck]

@MikeWalsh somewhere on the Puppy Linux forum Rockedge has a how to for installing Puppy as a frugal but I can't find it.

 

[Brickwizard]

could it be I need to fix HD partitioning or should the installer fix it for me?

if you're doing a clean single install, then most distributions will do it for you, If you're having problems with 2 or more then look for a commonality, the pen-drive [try a different one, the burning/writing program [try a different one] the hard-drive [test it]

 

[jar1]

@Mike thanks but just the type of person who doesn't want to type in too many commands... that's why i skipped Arch linux too. Long ago i tried installing debian but it was all too complicated for me

 

[f33dm3bits]

Just buy hardware with RGB, it will make your computer faster!