lubuntu-qa team mailing list archive

[alan c <aeclist@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 05/03/12 00:11, alan c wrote:
> It looks as if even my PII is more modern than I thought, it is pae
> compatible, so it is not good for these particular tests.
> 
> I think I have another PC a gateway P5 120 buried deeper in the
> shelving system,  however it is noted as 43MB ram  and I do not know
> if I have any suitable to get up to 128MB ram, or even if that PC
> works. Will try.

Bad news
I  am sorry to report that the  Gateway brand P5-120 is not suitable.
I have managed to get it running, which took quite some work, however,
at this era of bios it was unusual to boot from a CD, and although -
tantalisingly - the bios I have does show a CD boot option for first
boot device, it does not actually work. :-(
The machine does boot  from a win 95 floppy, but  the thought of
proceeding from boot floppy to installing Lubuntu 12.04 is pretty much
out of my capability.

Even if it was something I could easily do,  there is another reason
for missing out this PC. It only has 43 MB ram fitted. The ram slots
are full, and sims are required in pairs, and I do not have 128MB to
suit. As a guide, there is on sale  suitable RAM but it is around 100
uk pounds for a pair 2x32 (=64MB) and of course, double that would be
needed for a 128MB test.

My experience yesterday with a faster machine, Pentium II 400 128MB
ram, strongly suggests to me that even if I could magically get the
P5-120 installing Lubuntu 12.04, then it would not be a practical machine.

Is it heresy to think that
1) there might be  almost no non pae  machines  out there
2) that PII (happens to be pae ok) 400 128MB is a practical minimum spec?

This exhausts my options for non pae testing, because although I
thought I was knee deep in old PCs, I find that they are all pentium
III, and that even the PII IS pae compatible.

-- 
alan cocks