SimplyMEPIS for Old Hardware

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Pentium III 20GB HDD 256 MB RAM with OpenGL

This week I have been working on IBM Net Vista. I got it from my friends who won it from an auction.   He told me it was too old, ( Pentium III) with an OpenGL graphic card. He wanted to dispose it because he told me it was too slow with 256 MB RAM.  20GB HDD and CD ROM.

Details and package versions

SimplyMepis is based on a mix of Debian Sarge and Sid. 

• Kernels 2.4.26 and 2.6.7
• KDE 3.2.3
• OpenOffice.org 1.1.2
• Gimp 2.0.4
• Mozilla 1.7.2
• Skype 1.0
• Quanta 3.2
• K3B 0.11.14
• Audacity 1.2

I told him just give it to me so that I will try to hack it with linux. I had difficult times getting the working linux for this old system.  Luckily I came across simplyMEPIS debian based ubuntu type distro.  Most of the website gave excellent rating for it.  I used to play with Mandrake, Mandriva, Knoppix and this is another challenge for me.  

I burnt the iso from a nearby mirror site.  http://mepis.idrepo.or.id/mepis/released/ 

Burnt it using Nero and walla I had to give it a try.

The problem I encountered was installing the distro to the hard disk via a CD ROM.  After getting through the Net Vista Boot Sequence I still faced the CD ROM won't read or boot up the distro disc.  I opened up the CD ROM and swapped it with my mate's CD ROM and it start to boot up just like any other Live Linux on CD distro.   

All I can say is that the old IBM Net Vista is now able to run online with mozilla firefox and konqueror.  It has preconfigured KDE able to housed 4 separate desktop. 

I put it in my living room and my guest now can access the internet.  I did hook up usb keyboard and usb apple keyboard to replace the old IBM keyboard.  It is neat.  

It is indeed 20/20 for SimplyMepis.  No need to install driver. Just plug the internet cable and etch0 is automatically connected. 

Posted in: Desktop, Gadgets, IBM Netvista, Linux, Pentium III, SimplyMepis, Window