Pent266 compatability with Mandrake9.1

[AussieJohn]

Just for a change it is I who is asking for advice.

I have a friend on whose computer I am trying to set up Mandrake9.1. The machine has an Intel Pentium 266. The partition is 4Gb (2nd partition) on HDC so there can be no problems in this area.

It seems to go through the install process AOK but after it reboots and comes to the Log-in panel for the first time, it will not do anything. Namely the mouse does not work and the TAB key has no effect.

Normally with a faulty mouse setup, one can use the TAB key and the keyboard to either gain access and/or to reboot the machine and I know how to do this. But this time I can only use the reset button on the computer to reboot.

I have tried 3 reinstalls and have come to the conclusion that a Pent 266 may not be compatible with Mandrake 9.0 or 9.1.

Is this likely to be the case? I seem to vaguely remember reading somewhere that this is the case.

Thanks in advance for any advice. Cheers. JOHN

[oubipaws]

have you tried seeing if it worked w/ any other distros?

[mdwatts]

Originally posted by AussieJohn

I have tried 3 reinstalls and have come to the conclusion that a Pent 266 may not be compatible with Mandrake 9.0 or 9.1.


Have you checked Mandrakes site to see if those specs meet or exceed the minimum requirements for 9.0/9.1?

[klackenfus]

What happens if you boot to a nongraphical login and then start X manually?

[AussieJohn]

Hi MDWATTS. Yes I had checked the Mandrake site but could find no references to the 266 although there was one for a 233 which was reportedly by some anononymus user and not backed up by Mandrake. I have gone back and posted into the Mandrake Expert forum as well.
To the other posters thanks, but I am not interested in trying other applications. None are as user friendly as Mandrake 9.1 and I know that the lady user would have difficulty using them even if I did manage to install them. I do not intend to lose her as a future user of Linux by having her and her daughter experience dificulties first up.

I would sooner encourage her to do a hardware upgrade when she is good and ready and then take it from there. She has seen how my setup works and would like the same ease of use. And they are the key words - "ease of use". She currently has Win98SE and Win2000Pro and shares the computer with her High school daughter so at present EVERYTHING is Windows related and both of them use the computer fairly intensely.

I could be dishonest and say that incompatability is the problem but I am not that type of person so I want to be sure first and then recommend the upgrade (which I can do for her anyway at just the cost of the parts.)


Cheers. John

PS No. She is not my lady friend.

[mdwatts]

Pentiums are supported of course by Mandrake, but the 266 just might not meet the minimum requirements of their recent distro releases or even if you do get 9.0 or 9.1 installed, it will likely run very slow.

How much memory does the pc have?

<edit>

They do list the Pentium I for 9.1 though I certainly wouldn't install any of the latest main distro releases on anything less than a PII 400 and above.

http://www.mandrakelinux.com/en/9.1/features/#14

[AussieJohn]

Thanks mdwatts. The computer has 3 x 128Mbs i.e approx 380MBs. I know because I installed the extra 240MBs. It does seem that my memory was right in feeling this was a compatability issue. I hope you also understand my point about not bothering experimenting with other Linux OSs.

Cheers. John

[mdwatts]

So after booting it completely locks up and you cannot access a VC (console) to check your system logfiles?


after it reboots and comes to the Log-in panel for the first time, it will not do anything


Can you get to a console (ctrl-alt-f1 or f2), login as root and then have a look at

less /var/log/messages

grep EE /var/log/XFree86.0.log

dmesg | less

to see if you can spot any hardware or configuration problems?

[AussieJohn]

I won't be able to try your suggestion for a week or two so do not think it is being ignored. I will come back to you again. Thanks. John