OT - What linux do you recommend for older PCs?

[Richard Gaskin]

I'm glad that worked out, Matthias.

Linux can be every bit as easy to work with as other OSes when you get 
it like we get other OSes: pre-installed with the computer you 
purchased, with all the necessary drivers and configs set up for that 
particular hardware.

Dell, Acer, System 76, ZaReason, and others sell some nice machines with 
Linux pre-installed.

The challenge with Linux is when we ask it to do something we never ask 
of other OSes, to run on a machine designed specifically to run a 
different OS.

Trying to install macOS on a PC not designed for it is as frustrating as 
it is illegal.  And even though most PCs are designed specifically to 
Microsoft's specs, I've seen more than a few cases where installing a 
stock version rather than using the restore disk becomes DLL hell.

I've been lucky with Linux, in that all but one of my installs went 
swimmingly right out of the box.  And for that one, Ubuntu discovered 
the need for a driver for me, and prompted me to click a button to 
install it.

In your case a one-line change to the boot config fixed it.  I find most 
install issues are about that small, if one is the sort who doesn't mind 
a few minutes looking up an answer and typing it in Terminal.

And if you're looking for a simpler out-of-the-box solution, for PCs 
with modest resources you could also try Xubuntu or other lightweight 
distros.  The chances of at least one of those working well on a stock 
Asus with N270 is pretty good.

By expecting Linux to run on everything we throw at it, we're asking it 
to work much harder than we ask of any other OS.  It's a testimony to 
the teams that make it that it generally does.

And with Linux having become the de facto standard of modern computing 
in all areas beyond the desktop, time spent learning it is a good 
investment in the 21st century.

-- 
  Richard Gaskin
  Fourth World Systems


Matthias Rebbe wrote:
> adding that line to grub fixed it. Thanks for that.
> 
> Matthias
>
>> Am 23.01.2018 um 15:08 schrieb Mike Bonner via use-livecode <use-livecode at lists.runrev.com <mailto:use-livecode at lists.runrev.com>>:
>> 
>> If you can switch to the 4.15 kernel the screen issue may be fixed,
>> alternatively..
>> If you can get to a terminal screen with lubuntu, it looks like you can do
>> the following to fix the display problem.. (works for some, not all it
>> seems)
>> 
>> sudo nano /etc/default/grub
>> 
>> Simple editor 'nano' will open.
>> Add line
>> GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=text
>> at the end of file.
>> 
>> Save file and exit from nano.
>> 
>> issue command:
>> 
>> sudo update-grub
>> 
>> reboot.
>> 
>> On Tue, Jan 23, 2018 at 6:00 AM, Matthias Rebbe via use-livecode <
>> use-livecode at lists.runrev.com <mailto:use-livecode at lists.runrev.com>> wrote:
>> 
>>> Thanks to all for your thoughts and comments.
>>> 
>>> My first try now was Lubuntu 17.10.1, Installation was quick and easy, but
>>> unfortunately there seems to be a bug in it which affects my graphic card
>>> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1724639 <https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1724639> <
>>> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1724639 <https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1724639>>
>>> 
>>> Problem is that after startup 80% of the screen are shown black. I need to
>>> hibernate the system and wake it up again to get the whole screen shown.
>>> 
>>> In a next step and when i have again some spare time i will try 16.04, if
>>> this is also not working then i will again “say good bye” to Linux as i did
>>> already some years ago and will move on with Mac OS X and Windows.
>>> At least for some time.  Linux and me - some kind of a love-hate. ;)
>>> 
>>> Matthias