Old pc's and trying to teach myself but would love some direction

[notentirlynewb]

Yes sir will do..trying to find all the cords had kinda figured I'd made them boat weights lol..but thanks so much..if I make it through this..might try to learn code or programming..I'm just guessing but it's something in the neighborhood of the DOS version on the old Tandy pcs..man I may have said that I'm old lol

Thought I'd throw it out there for a good laugh..got my first lab rat out it's got a big XP on it lol..waiting for the dial-up tones to stop as we speak

Definitely showing my age that was in form of question..dos..tandy

[yancek]

You would likely get more help if you posted some details on the hardware you are using. Trying to install a current Ubuntu on a 20 year old machine is not likely to work. Some Linux systems are designed more to work on older machines, AntiX or MX Linux for example. The manufacturer and age of computer would be useful information and if it had originally some windows OS on it, which it was. Windows XP was released over 20 years ago for example.

[notentirlynewb]

I'm away from them currently but seems like 2 dells that are pentium 4 2.8ghz and an hp with Aathon maybe 64bit..but yes sir I did some research and decided on the mate distro and it seems to run ok on a 20yr old Vista inspiron..but honestly don't know the first thing about the proper or correct way of doing all this..kinda was just seeing if I could and I guess in someway I have but screwed the pooch on a couple before I got there

[TheFu]

Vista isn't 20 yrs old. Incorrect answers don't help. If you don't know, say that instead.

[Morbius1]

Windows Vista isn't 20 years old but the Dell Inspiron it's running on might be.

[oldfred]

What are specs of systems?
If very old & 32 bit, Ubuntu does not support those systems anymore.

If 64 bit but lower spec, then a lightweight flavor may work.
https://ubuntu.com/download/flavours
Light weight flavors:
Lubuntu, xubuntu, Ubuntu MATE, Budgie
Flavors of Ubuntu only come with three years of supported life (five years applies to Ubuntu Desktop, Ubuntu Server but not flavors)

Full Ubuntu is really for newer computers.
I tried to install Ubuntu on a 2006 Intel 64 bit BIOS only system with 1.5GB of RAM. It would not install. Server installed. And I added lightweight gui.
I was a bit surprised I could install Kubuntu as it is more of a mid-weight flavor that I use on my newer systems. But it really only worked reasonable well with my external SSD with 22.04 Kubuntu. Old hard drive was very slow.

Also shows minimum hardware requirements, but better to have more than minimum.
https://ubuntu.com/download/desktop

[TheFu]

Windows Vista isn't 20 years old but the Dell Inspiron it's running on might be.

True. I had a Dell laptop that came with MS-Vista. Fortunately, it was killed by a small drop and CC insurance replaced it. It was a Core2 Duo system. The replacement was a Core i5-2550. The performance difference was amazing between Win7 and Vista. I still have the Dell Win7/Core i5 laptop, though it hasn't been booted in a few years. It worked the last time I needed it.

I don't know **anybody** who upgraded from MS-XP to MS-Vista. Everyone waited until MS-Win7. If a system had Vista on it, it was delivered with Vista. Remember, all the driver issues? Vista broke nearly all peripherals that weren't bought at the same time. Anything older never got updated drivers.

Vista is what forced me to switch to Linux for my desktop. None of my peripherals worked and updated drivers weren't ever available. It was like a parting of the Red Sea - before and after Vista. BTW, I'm still using printers and scanners that never worked again under MS-Windows, but work great under Linux.

Of course, there are exceptions. There always are.

[notentirlynewb]

Thanks for all the replies...and I've said from beginning I don't know anything...but git some specs maybe everything you're looking for...first off the inspiron 531s I've been running mate on roughly a year..64 bit version..currently updated to mantic minotaur...it's got the AMD 64x2 dual core 4000+ x2 nv4c graphics and 675gb drive with only 1.7gb ram

Next is a dell 8300 pentium 4 3 ghz with 1.25gb ram and about 200gb drive..currently finishing up on the mate version 18.04.06 32bit

[notentirlynewb]

And it seems to be moving along better that the 531..just going by lag time from click to action..but what do I know lol

[notentirlynewb]

If yall don't mind..I installed the 8300 alongside the winxp..however I do have 2 drives and put os on one and mate on other..unfortunately mate is the slave drive so it boots xp less I catch f12..was just reading and seen several commands to run to address this..but I was thinking originally that I'd just open side panels and swap cables..will that be OK or do I need to work through terminal..thanks again