Looking for a Linux Distro suggestion for Pentium 4 2.0Ghz with 1GB RAM, 40GB HDD, Integrated Intel 845 Graphics.

*Features needed = GUI and still supported for security updates.

*** Also this (manufactured in 2002) system is so old that its bios does not support bootable USB devices and it only has a CD-ROM installed so the Distro has to fit ONTO a CD-R 700MB disc.

I was going to put Linux Mint 14 on this system, but they no longer have ISO's for CD's available for download, only DVD ISO's.

I then looked AROUND and found Fedora 17 available as a modern OS that would "FIT" burn to a CD-R and booted off of that before i went to work today and it showed a quick flash of Linux bootloader etc, and then the screen went black and it then came back with green text crushed/distorted on black background. I could barely make out something about Kernel and 86. I then rebooted it and selected an option to boot Fedora 17 Live Distro with minimal system requirements and still got this error screen.

*This system by the way is a healthy system on Windows XP. I added a removable drive bay to it so I can have Linux on 1 drive and the original Windows XP Pro on the other drive to make this tower multipurpose for projects etc.

Also ran Memtest 86 version 4 off the Fedora 17 Live CD and it ran with 7 passes without issues. Just ran this even though nothing suggesting it had to be run since the system runs without issues otherwise.

The Live Distro of Fedora 17 claims to be x86 so I wasnt using a x64 (64-bit) Distro on a 32-bit CPU

*Maybe I need to invest in an IDE DVD-Rom drive. Was thinking maybe of installing an earlier version of Mint such as Mint 9 and then upgrade it once I have internet support to download the recent version, but as my college professor said long ago, its best to install Linux clean than to upgrade its version on the fly. If I performed a Linux Mint 9 to version 14 upgrade, it will be the first OS other than from Microsoft that I upgraded on the fly from prior to newer version as well as the first version upgrade that wasnt via CD or DVD.

Thanks for looking this info over and offering suggestion(s)***UPDATE*** --- I located an IDE DVD/CD-RW drive that I can install into this system. Going to burn the Mint 14 ISO to DVD-R and see if it installs without issues like Fedora 17 Desktop x86/64 Live CD had.Installed Mint 14 x86 without any problems. Was surprised Mint 14 was released about a month ago and already 322 updates to default install.

Was concerned that this 11 year old computer might show signs of not being able to keep up with demands of a newer Mint 14 installation as for the last version of Mint I ran on it was Mint 11 which had lesser system requirements.

Was also concerned about the limited driver support for the Intel 845 GL GPU, which has been an issue with other operating systems, but it was automatically detected and full performance at 1024x768. *Ran into issues with Intel no longer supporting this chipset for modern OS like Windows 7 32-bit. For Windows 7 32-bit I had to install the Windows XP drivers under XP compatability mode checked and run as administrator checked to get anything better than 640x480.

But with Mint 14, this system runs at a good pace. Added some screenlets to monitor the CPU and Memory and add the clock in upper right corner to make it just like my Windows 7 desktop appearance. Pentium 4 2.0Ghz socket 478 CPU idles at around 15% and 400MB of 1GB 266Mhz DDR RAM. Further testing reveiled that this system also can play youtube videos without being choppy. I was thinking that this legacy Intel 845 GL GPU with shared memory would choke on playing videos, but it played them without any issues in windowed playback. The real test will be full screen playback.

Lastly I found it interesting that during the installation process after entering user name and password, the Mint 14 distro named my system "Dave-Imperial" .... I was impressed that it was able to read from system hardware information that this was a Trigem Imperial GL-VE motherboard to lift the "Imperial" name from which originally came out of a dead & dropkicked tower eMachine Celeron 2Ghz that I got for free and stuffed a P4 2Ghz into it from a dead HP and upgraded from 256MB Ram to 1GB from other dead systems that had 512MB sticks in them. ( * A local computer shop use to let me pick through their computer junk before it would go to recycle and take what I WANTED since it would cost them to dispose of the junk. Their policy was I could take anything and as much as I wanted, BUT hard drives had to be wiped clean for OBVIOUS reasons if I were to take to use any.)Though it may be a little late now but Lubuntu is probably worth TAKING a look at. Maybe its too late...but i think you must consider zorin os 6 lite edition...


Never too late to check out Linux Distros! I have a removable hard drive in this system and will try those out on the 3rd drive I have.