XP and the Garage Computer

[Jagmandave]

Another thread on GJ on a similar topic has me posting to ask a few questions of the IT guys on here, you guys seem to have real knowledge so here goes.

I have an old laptop - 2003 vintage Compaq - that I'd like to use in the garage to surf the web and such. I had previously run every malware and reg cleaner I could find to try and help it - it was still bog slow so I decided to reinstall Win XP and format the drive to clean everything out and start over. I am aware that MS has discontinued support for XP but I figured it should still work OK, what I didn't think about was not being able to reinstall service packs 1, 2 and 3.

Without those many websites won't open and of course it's vulnerable.

It has 512 ram, 60 gig harddrive and runs 2.66mgz processor. It's in perfect condition and still works well, it just rubs me wrong to throw away something that is still viable. I have a new laptop running Win 8.1 for the house, this will simply be in the garage.

So, I decided to try one of the Linux distributions - it seems so simple when you read about it but I've had no luck whatsoever, I'm hoping one or more of you fellow GJ guys can help me get it to work.

I did reinstall Win XP and it works really well right now, within limitations.

I was trying to install Ubuntu, as they promise support for 5 more years.

I made up the disc, re-ordered the boot order and all it does is default to Win XP.

I've tried everything I can find on the Ubuntu site with no success, I think I must be missing a step somewhere, so I'm hoping for a simple step by step instruction.

If someone would prefer to email me instructions rather than clogging up the thread, that's OK too.

If there's a local KC IT guy I'd be happy to come to you.

 

[LX-Markham]

what I didn't think about was not being able to reinstall service packs 1, 2 and 3.

download it here

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-za/windows/service-packs-download#sptabs=xp

 

[hackwelder]

Something that old needs the right version of Linux intended for old hardware, current versions of Ubuntu, Xubuntu, Mint, etc. will probably not work. I recently loaded Lubuntu on a similar Dell for a friend and it works well. Had a hard time loading it from a DVD but then used the alternative install burned to a CD and that worked OK. It would probably be best to use 14.04.1 rather that the current 14.10, 14.04 has long term support.

http://lubuntu.net/

 

[ishiboo]

512mb is going to be tough to get by with. It's going to swap a lot. Go with the lightest experience you can find. hack suggested Lubuntu which is not a bad choice.

 

[Jagmandave]

What about Puppy?

 

[Beemer533]

I think the issue is more getting the PC to boot with the Ubuntu disc...

When you first boot up the PC, do you see a prompt that says something like "press any key to boot from CD"?

If yes and you hit any key and nothing happens, other than booting into XP, it sounds like the Ubuntu disk was not properly made...

If you don't see the prompt at all, then it is possible the changes you made to the boot order didn't stick...

What steps did you follow to make the disc and what program did you use?

 

[MotoDave]

Forget trying to make 11 year old tech work, and find a cheap tablet to surf the web on that you can take out to the garage with you. You can find last year's tablets for under $100 now.

 

[Beemer533]

What about Puppy?

I haven't played with it myself, but it would certainly be a good way to go if you have no need to store a lot of files on this laptop... If all you want to do is surf the web and some other basic stuff it would probably be just fine.

I don't know how it would work though if you need to open pdf or word files, fo example..

 

[Beemer533]

Forget trying to make 11 year old tech work, and find a cheap tablet to surf the web on that you can take out to the garage with you. You can find last year's tablets for under $100 now.

Tablets are well and good, but when your hands are dirty or you have gloves on, touch screens ****...

Don't get me wrong, I love my tablets, but for this type of use IMO, nothing beats a beater PC with a real keyboard that you can operate with gloves or filthy hands...

 

[hoyt]

Keep Updating Windows XP until 2019

Forget trying to make 11 year old tech work, and find a cheap tablet to surf the web on that you can take out to the garage with you. You can find last year's tablets for under $100 now.

As a Linux guru, I would have to support this statement.

If you want to re-install WinXP and keep using this hardware, and want support for WinXP through 2019, read Keep Updating Windows XP until 2019

 

[Jswain]

Just install a version of XP with SP3 preinstalled, and enjoy the garage laptop for many years to come.

 

[Jagmandave]

I think the issue is more getting the PC to boot with the Ubuntu disc...

When you first boot up the PC, do you see a prompt that says something like "press any key to boot from CD"?

If yes and you hit any key and nothing happens, other than booting into XP, it sounds like the Ubuntu disk was not properly made...

If you don't see the prompt at all, then it is possible the changes you made to the boot order didn't stick...

What steps did you follow to make the disc and what program did you use?

Beemer, I do not see a prompt.

I hit F2 on startup to get to the BIOS, and changed the Boot order so that "boot from CD/DVD" was on top, then hit exit and it started up - in
Win XP.

Should the CD not be in the drive when it restarts?

I simply did the download from the Ubuntu site, and burned it to a disc on the slowest burn speed - 4X

Forget trying to make 11 year old tech work, and find a cheap tablet to surf the web on that you can take out to the garage with you. You can find last year's tablets for under $100 now.

I don't need to buy any more computers, if this doesn't work I'll simply retire it and use my new laptop in the shop, but I hate throwing things away when they still work just fine. I'm like that......

If you want to re-install WinXP and keep using this hardware, and want support for WinXP through 2019, read Keep Updating Windows XP until 2019

Thanks for the link, will that support include security patches? Can I re-install Win Defender from there?

Read the link, I'll try that....

 

[Whitworth]

Forget trying to make 11 year old tech work, and find a cheap tablet to surf the web on that you can take out to the garage with you. You can find last year's tablets for under $100 now.

This ^^^^^^^^^^^^^

If you want a laptop you can get a full functioning new one for about $300. Old XP tech won't run up to date browsers without bogging down. People might say " I can get by with IE 6, yada, yada, yada..." Right, if you want obsolete, non supported software prone to malware.

Gary

 

[Jagmandave]

If I can get it up to date with the service packs, can't I just run Firefox or something then?

Some of y'all aren't listening - I'm not buying another computer. I'm trying to get an old but completely serviceable one to work again.

Think of this like trying to revive an old hot rod, lets figure out how to make it work, OK?

 

[Mechtech]

You could try Damn Small Linux. Fairly small and light Debian based system. They claim it can run on 486 hardware with 16MB ram. Mostly you're just going to have to try until you find something that works. If I can get Centos 5 to run on an Acer Aspire One (netbook, remember those?) You should be able to find a small distro to run on yours.

 

[nieuport17]

Its possible to run Ubuntu. Have u tried booting from usb ?

 

[nosnownogo]

Try DSL Dam Small Linux no hard drive required just boot from cd

 

[CNGsaves]

I'm surfing web right now on Thinkpad T41 laptop with only 512 Mb ram and Windows XP. But running IE as your browser is crapshoot and often bogs down when websites want to data harvest, tie in with Facebook BS, etc. Instead, I'm running Mozilla Firefox and it runs well (assuming you have room on harddrive for both browsers). It's good to have backup browser also installed (ie Firefox crashes . . . no problem . . Uninstall and download again with IE).

OP you can get the old computer running again on XP with enough effort and determination . . . . and cusswords !!!

However, first thing I'd do is pull cover on computer and see what slots you have open for RAM memory. At minimum fill every slot with cheap RAM from Ebay. Better yet, fill every slot with maximum RAM that motherboard will handle. That computer with 2 Gb of RAM will become a screaming Ferrari compared to limping along with 512 Mb.

Also, always keep following 3 protective software: AVAST anti-virus, MalwareBytes, and CCleaner.

 

[MotoDave]

Alright if you're determined and get the XP install sorted out, I suggest you use a browser (Firefox?) that lets you disable flash, shockwave, whatever other fancyness websites try to use now. I haven't used it in a while but as I recall it would let you know when a site is trying to load one of those and give you the option to enable it if you wanted to. This should help with running modern websites on the old machine.

 

[Whitworth]

Some of y'all aren't listening - I'm not buying another computer. I'm trying to get an old but completely serviceable one to work again.

I think I was listening, your first post tells us that the computer is not serviceable. How many hours of time do you wish to expend on this project ?

Think of this like trying to revive an old hot rod, lets figure out how to make it work, OK?

A better metaphor is you're trying to drive a model T Ford onto a modern highway where traffic is going 70 mph

Gary

 

[aandpdan]

I simply did the download from the Ubuntu site, and burned it to a disc on the slowest burn speed - 4X

That's the problem. You can't just copy it to a CD/DVD. You need to create an ISO boot disc. What software are you using to do the burn?

 

[CNGsaves]

I think I was listening, your first post tells us that the computer is not serviceable. How many hours of time do you wish to expend on this project ?

A better metaphor is you're trying to drive a model T Ford onto a modern highway where traffic is going 70 mph. Gary

Don't really think we now have "modern highway." What we have is quadrillion 18 wheeler roadhog data snatchers, roadblock cookie sheisters, scammer bombardment bastages, Facebook "Like" BS marketing bogdown quicksand, Twitter "opinion" BS, Google data gathering, DoubleClick marketing mining, etc. . . . you get the picture. As the road gets modestly improved, whole host of more roadblocks are unleashed and allowed to get through to browser based on market greed, and not for customer performance!! With as much fiber backbone and ethernet speeds today in USA, everyone with computer of OP's vintage should have no problem . . . . but bamboozling and greed has prevented that.

First we were spoon fed the Microsoft and Intel rollouts every year of "new" version and "new" hardware for decades, all the while real innovation was underway. Thin clients, Citrix, VMware, etc could have been used all the while and make screaming Ferrari's out of virtually any box capable of running Windows. Instead propaganda machine fed us "personal computers" and yet clusterfawk "solutions" for data backup, data mobility, personal settings, etc. has really just been ****.

Don't confuse "super highway" with any problems OP having with his perfectly capable computer. The money mining by Microsoft has moved on to gaming rather than just operating systems . . . their "portfolio" has broadened !

If you've never seen performance of Citrix on ancient hardware, you don't know what REALLY could have been possible all these years.

 

[hoyt]

If you want to keep that laptop, upgrade the RAM to the maximum supported by the laptop; any OS runs better with more RAM, especially Windows. WinXP will support up to 2GB, your laptop maybe not that much. RAM for older laptops should be pretty cheap by now. Try looking on Pricewatch.com for the best deals.

Get a bigger drive if you need some space. Pricewatch.com there also.

Read the end of the blog post I linked to earlier for some additional free software choices if you run WinXP.

 

[Kev442]

As a guy running XP on all kinds of ancient ****, all you need is to get SP2 on there minimum, and use firefox. Once you have firefox, get some sort of adblocker on there.
Then use CC cleaner faithfully to clear out the bs and only use it to do garage style stuff.
Save the youtube and **** sites for when you are back in the house and turn it off when you are not using it.

 

[zkling]

Throw lubuntu 32bit on a USB via Unet booting and boot from that. Run as a live USB and then format the entire harddrive for lubuntu.

Lubuntu or XP are going to be your best bets. I run Lubuntu on the shop computer as well as the CNC.

Shoot me a PM with your number if you want me talk you through it.

 

[Jagmandave]

Ok, I must not have been clear in my first post.....

I formatted the hard drive to get rid of 11 years of assorted crud that was making it run like a snail. I tried Malwarebytes, CC cleaner and Win Defender first but it didn't help. I think the real culprit was an old copy of Norton that I could not get rid of any other way. Hence the re-format.....

Reinstalled XP from the original OEM unopened disc, it works just fine. I'm concerned because I could not get to Win update to install Service Pack 1, 2 and 3. However I'm now told there's a workaround to do that, so I'm thinking I can do that and not bother with Linux.

I was thinking of using Linux because it IS supported for the next 5 years in a couple of different distributions...so my original post was to ask how to get Linux to install as I can't seem to get it to.....

I also was going to Linux because as it sits I can't put either Firefox or Chrome on it for a browser, and I was concerned about security. But again, if there's a workaround that will let me get the service packs on then I CAN get Firefox to load.

So, I guess at this point I will do the workaround, and see where it goes from there - but I'd still like to get someone to tell me how to get Linux to boot.

I did try Ubuntu from a USB, but that didn't work either.

 

[bravvo]

That's the problem. You can't just copy it to a CD/DVD. You need to create an ISO boot disc. What software are you using to do the burn?

I dont know if all old hardware has the ability to boot from USB but this is likely your problem with your attempt at installing from a cd.

 

[Jagmandave]

Huh? I'm confused by that - I tried to make a boot CD, won't boot from it - I musta done something wrong there. Tried to make it boot from a USB, wouldn't do that either - I'm missing a step here somewhere.....

 

[Jagmandave]

download it here

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-za/windows/service-packs-download#sptabs=xp

I found this earlier, all it says is either go to Win 7 or 8, or buy a new PC.

Can't do the former, not going to do the latter

Hoyt, I may have some memory sticks lying around I could throw at it -I agree it can't hurt!

 

[Jack90210]

My home PC (several hours of surfing daily) is a ca. 2005 Dell Pentium D running XP, surfing with Firefox. No problems other than it is slow sometimes.

 

[Jagmandave]

That's the problem. You can't just copy it to a CD/DVD. You need to create an ISO boot disc. What software are you using to do the burn?

See, I thought I was creating an ISO boot disc, the file is an ISO file on the DVD.

 

[LEVE]

My question is "Why not just use XP?" You're familiar with the program and it works flawlessly on your computer. When you attempt to load any flavor of Linux the install fails, or you're failing to to be able to work with it.

Just for simplicity, even if the Linux install is successful, unless you learn basic Linux OS commands you're going to be lost.

I just decommissioned a 8 year old Dell in the garage for a 7" tablet. It seems to suit all my needs. I clean my hands as much as possible when I use the tablet and I have a stylus to use the touch screen. So far I like it... I can surf, look at my Factory manuals and use it for my tunes. What more could I ask for?

 

[Radio Flyer]

I also have an old desktop running XP in the garage.

My "Tune In" radio is having issues between "flash" and XP.

I miss KKYX in San Antonio.....

 

[Jswain]

It's not really that hard, download a copy of windows xp sp3 and burn it to a disc. Your computer came with windows xp and you want to reinstall it, nothing illegal about that. Pick your favourite torrent site, find a good copy and download it. When you reinstall partition the hard drive so you have 20GB on C(windows) and 40GB on (whichever drive letter you prefer)(Storage) Use the 20GB for nothing other then your basic windows programs, firefox, bittorrent and whatever else you need. Then save all your downloads/pictures/music/documents/pron/whatever else you need on the 40gb of storage.

The computer will run fine and if you want it to run even a little better you can adjust the appearance of the computer to - adjust everything for best performance(classic view), keep everything turned off during startup, and keep all your icons off the desktop.

Once everything is up and running, I would suggest Firefox, AVG antivirus, and C Cleaner to start. PM me if you need anymore help obviously half of these people have missed the point of fixing what you have regardless of the cost of a new tablet

 

[aandpdan]

How did you try to make the bootable CD? What application? It's not just a matter of copying the files over.

Download CDBurnerXP from here: https://cdburnerxp.se/en/home

It's free and works with all versions of Windows XP and up.

Just tell it to "burn ISO image" and follow the prompts.

 

[starquestMM]

Another option not mentioned yet might be to use terminal services to connect to your new laptop.

 

[Jagmandave]

OK - Update.....

First, thanks to all who have replied and tried to help, this is what makes this community so terrific!

Zkling called me and walked me thru the right way to burn the ISO file and I have successfully installed Lubuntu on the laptop and it's already up and running!

I'll play with it over the next few days, but I'm sure I'll have questions as I go forward. I really appreciate all the comments and help!

 

[aandpdan]

Great! Enjoy Lubuntu.

 

[y20dth]

and you need to find a way to get autodata, etc... to run on that lubuntu thing?

 

[captaindiode]

One other light distribution to consider for others thinking of using an old PC in the garage is Slitaz:

http://www.slitaz.org/en/