Replacing XP with Linux. Not as easy as it sounds

[Ramzez]

I have an old laptop which has Win XP Pro installed. It works reasonably good enough. However, like everyone probably knows, support for XP is ending in couple of weeks. I decided to replace the XP with Linux. I decided to go with Ubuntu. Installation went smoothly. It almost felt like the transition was totally painless. However then the problems started. Ubuntu seems to work really slowly on this particular laptop. It freezes all the time and isn't stable. I looked for a solution and it seemed like the problem was with the GPU driver. I tried installing different drivers but with poor results. I then switched to Ubuntu LTS. Didn't work any better. Then I installed Linux Mint, Xubuntu and finally Lubuntu. Every distro had the same issue: really slow. So am I in a situation where the outdated XP is the only choice for this particular laptop?

 

Specs:

 

Acer Aspire 7003WSMi

AMD Sempron 3400+ 1.8GHz

Nvidia Geforce Go 6100

120GB HDD

512MB DDR2

 

I have been using this laptop in a garage where I fix my cars. It has been used for light browsing and listening Spotify for years now.

[ttam]

Re-install xp.

Xp will still be usable. Just no more security updates.

[joshuamurphy]

First off if you're laptop doesn't have much horsepower which most of these xp machines will have, then you will need to go for a light distro. Xubuntu and Lubuntu are generally really light but if they are not useable then I suggest you go even lighter. Maybe check out damn small linux

[Ramzez]

First off if you're laptop doesn't have much horsepower which most of these xp machines will have, then you will need to go for a light distro. Xubuntu and Lubuntu are generally really light but if they are not useable then I suggest you go even lighter. Maybe check out damn small linux

 

I don't think the problem is with the hardware itself. According to Ubuntu system requirements, the laptop should be capable to run it smoothly. So lighter versions like Xubuntu and Lubuntu should work even better. However, it seems like no Linux version works smoothly in this laptop. Everytime the laptop is very slow and crashes regularly. When I was using the XP, these problems didn't exist. So it's not a hardware problem.

[joshuamurphy]

I don't think the problem is with the hardware itself. According to Ubuntu system requirements, the laptop should be capable to run it smoothly. So lighter versions like Xubuntu and Lubuntu should work even better. However, it seems like no Linux version works smoothly in this laptop. Everytime the laptop is very slow and crashes regularly. When I was using the XP, these problems didn't exist. So it's not a hardware problem.

Hmmm maybe you need a newer kernel version. Have you tried Ubuntu 13.10?

[Ciccioo]

which graphic driver are you using?

if i recall correctly, there are the "noveau" drivers, and the proper nvidia driver, maybe you're having problems with the noveau

[CornOnJacob]

Then I installed Linux Mint, Xubuntu and finally Lubuntu. Every distro had the same issue: really slow. So am I in a situation where the outdated XP is the only choice for this particular laptop?

I'm surprised that Xubuntu and Lubuntu were so slow. It looks like you'll need a real minimalist distro. Gentoo and Arch are complicated (but great for learning how things work), so I would recommend something like Crunchbang or another distro with Openbox, LXDE, or XFCE.

[Ramzez]

Hmmm maybe you need a newer kernel version. Have you tried Ubuntu 13.10?

 

I currently use Ubuntu 13.10.

 

which graphic driver are you using?

if i recall correctly, there are the "noveau" drivers, and the proper nvidia driver, maybe you're having problems with the noveau

 

I've tried changing the GPU driver but it doesn't seem to fix the issue. The noveau driver doesn't work at all with the GPU.

 

 

The most annoying thing is that everything takes so long time to work. Even opening system settings takes about a minute. I've seen people running Ubuntu even slower hardware with more speed. So there are something more going on here than just slow hardware.

[Ciccioo]

So there are something more going on here than just slow hardware.

that's for sure, going for a lighter OS is not the answer, if you won't manage to get linux to work, just go back to xp (or 8? it runs great on old hardware)

 

can you provide the specific driver version? where did you install it from?

[MatheusSanzo]

That's because newer ubuntu versions are shit on low end pcs.

 

Try something more lightweight, like crunchbang or even some lighter distros based of ubuntu that i can't remember of the top of my head right now.

[Ramzez]

that's for sure, going for a lighter OS is not the answer, if you won't manage to get linux to work, just go back to xp (or 8? it runs great on old hardware)

 

can you provide the specific driver version? where did you install it from?

 

Win 8 needs at least 1GB of RAM. The laptop only has 512MB of RAM. So it's not an alternative.

 

I'm new to Linux so I don't know the best way to get things done. I changed the GPU driver by going into system settings --> software updates --> additional drivers. There I choose a driver from a list. I chose the driver other people have reported working. When I do this, the laptop gets considerably faster. However, at some point it crashes and then it won't even boot. So briefly it works fine then it crashes. The next step for me is to remove the noveau driver alltogether.

[NaftaLord]

Test with non ubuntu based distro like Manjaro, maybe the issue is with ubuntu's own kernel.

But it sounds more like gpu driver issue, but you never know.

[Ciccioo]

Win 8 needs at least 1GB of RAM. The laptop only has 512MB of RAM. So it's not an alternative.

dunno, it seems like many people are living happily with 8 on a 512mb system

you know, CoD ghosts needs 6gb... yup

 

anyway yes, try uninstalling the driver to avoid any conflict, and if it does not work you should ask in some forum dedicated to ubuntu

those places are full of gurus who actually understand the madness that linux is

[MrAlexOneill]

I put lubuntu on a old xp desktop and it works fine. I just need to figure out what to go with it that's interesting. Im also turning another desktop into a router using pfsense.

[MrFoX114]

may you check linux mint debian based mate version... It has the pros of a classic UI and a good debian kernel. Distrowatch is a good page to find some more unknown distributions if this failed..

[Ramzez]

I'm almost at the point where I install XP back to the machine. I managed to get Xubuntu working on the laptop but it feels slower than XP. Also there's numerous issues with other drivers. Wireless don't work, neither sound card. Looking for drivers seems to be much more difficult in Linux than it is in Windows. Maybe there's a way to make the laptop work with Linux but easy it ain't.

[IdeaStormer]

@Ramzez

 

First off, you didn't install a different distro, but a different UI, those buntu OS's are all the same kernel just different Window Manager and name.

 

Second, Nvidia drivers, depends which one you are using, the one from Nvidia.com or the one from Ubuntu. You can't run both or install both its one or the other. There's a bazillion posts on this in the Ubuntu forums and the fix.

[Probenja]

I'm almost at the point where I install XP back to the machine. I managed to get Xubuntu working on the laptop but it feels slower than XP. Also there's numerous issues with other drivers. Wireless don't work, neither sound card. Looking for drivers seems to be much more difficult in Linux than it is in Windows. Maybe there's a way to make the laptop work with Linux but easy it ain't.

Just install linux mint 16 xfce, if you need wifi drivers just search them in the store and put in the brand of the wireless adapter. You did it all wrong starting with ubuntu in such an old pc, use xfce and you will be fine i have in my netbooks with the specs below.

[Ramzez]

GOOD NEWS! I downloaded more RAM from the Internet so the laptop is now much faster!

 

 

Just kidding!

 

I remembered that I had an old HP laptop (broken) in my garage which had two 2GB sticks of RAM installed to it. I took one of the 2GB sticks and installed it to this another working laptop. Now there's much more RAM available which was an issue before. Now even Ubuntu is much faster than XP in this particular laptop.