Which Puppy for Samsung laptop?

[chrisino]

Hi,

I am an ex Windows XP user. My daughter has an old Samsung Intel (R) 686 laptop that has been running Windows XP.

She can surf the next quickly but video playback is poor and it stutters all the time. She would like to watch internet TV as well but flash also judders and stutters in XP.

I thought that a lightweight Linux solution would be the answer to the issues but I have been struggling to find a distro that the laptop will even boot.

Lucid Puppy installs but crashes after a few boots and wont start after that.

Is there a version of puppy or another small distro that has the following items only?

1.Flash Installed
2.Wireless Network Drivers
3.Video Player such as VLC
4.Google Chrome or another decent browser installed as standard

I cant compile my own as I don't know anything aout linux.

My frustration with many linux distros is that wireless network drivers for my realtek usb wireless adaptor aren't supported and only ethernet drivers come as standard.

Should I throw the laptop in the bin or can someone help me find some sanity with my issues?

Cheers

Chris

[Amgine]

Do you want a full install or just one that runs from USB or CD?

For a full install there are versions of Ubuntu that are very nice.

I just started using Puppy so I don't know too much about it.

Check here for other version of puppy

http://puppylinux.org/wikka/PuppyVersion

There are some there that say they work good on older computers.

[rcrsn51]

How much RAM does your Samsung have?

[Burn_IT]

The model number of the Samsung might help. Have a look on the bottom or get her to download and unzip Everst Home from
http://www.softpedia.com/progDownload/E ... 16369.html (the zip one)
Run it from the Everest.exe - no install needed and look at the Computer -> Summary page. That will show what model it is and what processor etc.
We are interested in the Motherboard information and the Partition Info.

[Peterm321]

How much RAM does your Samsung have?

Also, what is the processor's speed (in MHZ)?

A fast Pentium II should be able to play DVDs (the method of coding is older and less CPU intensive), but sites like Youtube are using more cpu intensive codecs based on H.264. I found my old computer, a PII 350Mhz, would choke on a 480x360 flash video using Mplayer on Linux until I upgraded to a PIII. And to play HD flash video you are looking for at least a Pentium4.

I would read the article referenced in Amgine's post and read Barry Kauler's blog, e.g http://bkhome.org/blog/?viewDetailed=02449
etcetera.

[chrisino]

It's a Samsung Sens V25

Intel Pentium 4 CPU 2.40GHz
512 MB RAM

Cheers

[Burn_IT]

That is quite a useful machine in Puppy terms and should quite happily run the latest version Lucid 5.28 with no problems.
A bit more memory would be nice, but Puppy will run OK and the processor is as fast as mine that I use every day.
A frugal install would let her choose to run XP for those applications she needs XP for and Puppy for things that need speed.

[ttuuxxx]

You could try 2.14X it has the latest flash and Firefox, and online video is sent to gxine via Media Player Connectivity. http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=42553
ttuuxxx

[sfeeley]

Lucid Puppy installs but crashes after a few boots and wont start after that.

I think that details on this is the real question. "crash" is a vague term-- can you give details?

Spec wise, your computer should run the latest puppy. You might also try 2.14x classic recommended by its creater, tuuxxx on this thread. Wary might also be useful. Plus "browser linux" which is a type of puppy also meets your needs.

But again, it may be that there is something else going on rather than the specs on your machine not meeting puppy's requirements.

[chrisino]

Hi,

I have finally managed to install MijnPup 52 on the laptop. Wireless is running as sweet as a nut with flash, but ................I have no sound, it's showing the icon as muted. How do I get, make or install sound drivers?

Also is is possible to access shared files on my Windows PC and if so how is it done? I also need to set up access to a printer that is on my Windows PC. Is this possible? One step at a time I guess.

I stated that Lucid was crashing in my previous posts but that wasn't technically correct. When closing Lucid it obviously wasn't closing down correctly and I just got a black screen but the laptop was still powered on. I then turned the laptop off and rebooted and it said that it had issues with the system files and tried to fix them. No matter how many times I restarted the laptop it gave me the same error. Sorry I can't be more specific about the error but I have slept a few times since then.

Can anyone help me with the issues above sound,file and printer sharing?

I would be grateful if someone can help me out. Sorry for being such a pain in the neck!

Cheers

Chris

[cthisbear]

Specs...small pdf.

http://www.samsungpc.com/gb/support/v20 ... issue1.pdf

""""""""""

MijnPup 52

http://www.browserlinux.com/mijnpup/index.html

Chris.

[aarf]

Check your partitions in gparted or with eg. /fsck/dev/sda2
Partitions need to be unmounted to be checked.
New browsers are easy to install in puppy

[darkcity]

according to this post you may be better with an older puppy version

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 983#501983

(
this thread added to http://puppylinux.org/wikka/PuppyOnLaptops
)