Old Pentium 150 runs slow

[dpipper]

I have an old Compaq I got for free, the onboard video was shot, so I put in an ISA Trident video card (also free). Originally it had Win 98 and it ran slow. I upgraded the RAM to 72MB and it still runs slow with Mandrake 8.0 (not running X), it's got a 2GB hard drive and 150 Mhz Pentium processor

Could the video card be running it slow, if so any recommendations for a cheap replacement? Not worried about good graphics, just want the PC to run smooth, if the video card is the problem.

Thanks

[FoBoT]

an ISA video card will be tremendously slow with any GUI
either run that box CLI only, or replace the vid card with a PCI card

you can get an old pci card for a few $ from the ars classifieds (http://arstechnica.infopop.net/OpenTopic/page?a=frm&s=50009562&f=57909216)

[ 23 July 2001: Message edited by: FoBoT ]

[Strike]

Mandrake is not really suited for low-end machines. The phrase "everything but the kitchen sink" comes to mind when I think of Mandrake, and that doesn't fly too well on low-end machines. Either lean down Mandrake by eliminating some of the crap it puts in or use a leaner distro to begin with.

[dpipper]

Thanks for the tips, fellas, I'll be shopping this afternoon ;)

Hey, Fobot what is CLI? (sorry for the ignorant question)

[FoBoT]

Originally posted by dpipper:
<STRONG>Hey, Fobot what is CLI? (sorry for the ignorant question)</STRONG>

oops, i am sorry , it is my ignorance of using the anacronym (-2 speeling?)

Command Line Interface, like DOS, no graphical user interface, just text commands, good luck! :)

[The Whizzard]

Originally posted by FoBoT:
<STRONG>an ISA video card will be tremendously slow with any GUI
either run that box CLI only, or replace the vid card with a PCI card
[ 23 July 2001: Message edited by: FoBoT ]</STRONG>
It will still be sluggish with just the CLI using a ISA vid card.
One of those 'Doh! I'm a Windows user stories': My ex-stepmom had me come over to fix her computer after trying to install a cheap digital camera. For some reason, it started to run like crap, had no sound, and the display was screwed. I booted it up. "Gee, this is taking forever to get past the POST", I thought. I just let it boot up. It took nearly 5 minutes to load Win95. So I shut it down and took a look inside. Doh! She replaced the nice(but cheap)8MB AGP card with a crappy 256k ISA vid card. WTF! I also noticed the cause of the no sound problem. She plugged the speakers into the LINE-OUT on the modem. I rearanged everything to it's previous state before the digital camera installation. I booted it up again, re-installed the video drivers, and everything was peachy. BTW, to install the camera, all she had to do was plug it in to the serial port(I said it was a cheap camera) and install the software that came with it.

[MandK_10]

I just have to pop in here. I have a P90 with an S3 trio 2meg PCI card and 96Meg of RAM. I have RH6.2 installed, using gnome/enlightenment as my gui/filesystem. It is slow but not too bad. If you get a cheapy pci card and try using something besides Gnome with Nautilus or KDE 2.0 (try blackbox or enlightenment) you should do ok. With a P150 you will not win any benchmark awards.

Mike

[portablevcb]

I ran RH on a Toshiba 75MHz Pentium (640x480 video). KDE was slow but not too bad (windoz was slow as well). I went to ICEWM and it was like a breath of fresh air. Then went to Slackware and it was even better (but, not for the faint of heart:-)

Fortunately I now have a 600MHzPIII, but, that old Toshiba still runs for many of my "field" work when I don't want to risk the new one.

I agree with previous posts that you might have some "funny" drivers messing things up.

[bdg1983]

"Command Line Interface, like DOS, no graphical user interface, just text commands, good luck!"

or 'Clinton Loves Interns'

Guess that's kinda old now. Sorry...

[dpipper]

Thanks for all of the help. I got a new PCI vid card an S3 trio 64. How can I install it while using the ISA card ?

Any help Greatly appreciated.

[MandK_10]

just take out the old card and install the new one.

[dpipper]

Sorry, that was a stupid question. It has been said, there is no such thing as a stupid question...just stupid people who ask them.

Thanks for the help. The PCI card sped everything up...for a PI with a 150MHz that is.