0

I have a relatively old machine that I've been using as a server for years. It's been running Ubuntu 9 forever. However, the disk died, and I figure now is the time to upgrade.

When I boot Ubuntu 18 from a thumb drive, it boots, but when I select the "Try Ubuntu without installing" or "Install Ubuntu" options, the screen just goes blank and that's all she wrote.

When I boot from a DVD (burned on a mac per the instructions at https://tutorials.ubuntu.com/tutorial/tutorial-burn-a-dvd-on-macos#0, it won't even boot, with GRUB "Error 5" (perhaps the BIOS on this system can't handle a DVD this size)

I've confirmed that my old Ubuntu 9 install CD still boots just fine.

Here's what the BIOS reports:

Manufacturer: Intel
Brand String: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU 760 @ 2.8GHz
CPUID:        106E5

Am I SOL here? Do I really need to retire this old server?

Edit: thanks for all the responses so far. The consensus seems to be that it ought to work, but I think maybe Ubuntu18 doesn't like my BIOS or something. I just tried the Ubuntu Server variant, and as soon as I started to boot, my computer just turned off. Short of finding the Linux equivalent of a Genius Bar, I think I'm SOL.

Edward Falk
  • 135
  • 1
  • 9
  • I am running xubuntu 18.04 on a dell inspiron 1545 that does not have an i5 or equivalent CPU. Performance is fine, but I am not doing 'intense' stuff on this laptop. Started with ubuntu and changed to xubuntu due to smaller os 'footprint' and saw an improvement after that change. Working with 4 GB RAM and a swap file. Works just fine. – Craig Jan 22 '19 at 02:15
  • What's the difference between Ubuntu and Xubuntu? – Edward Falk Jan 22 '19 at 03:19
  • 1
    https://askubuntu.com/questions/690/what-is-the-difference-between-ubuntu-and-its-derivatives would be helpful. – DK Bose Jan 22 '19 at 03:41
  • I'm not clear about a couple points: Are you sure that both the thumb drive and the DVD are okay? They are both failing but they fail in different ways. Try them on another machine? You can test the install without moving through the whole process. And I'm assuming that you are working with a new disk (the old one died). Have you verified the new disk? – Stephen Boston Jan 22 '19 at 08:18
  • I'll see if I can scare up another machine to test them on. The thumb drive boots and lets me go through the choose-your-keyboard dialog and then the computer suddenly shuts down. I suspect maybe the window system doesn't like my graphics adapter. I'll try removing it and seeing what happens with the default motherboard graphics. As for the DVD, it can't get past Grub. I burned it on a Mac; maybe I'll try burning one from Ubuntu 9. – Edward Falk Jan 22 '19 at 22:33

1 Answers1

1

I'm getting acceptable perfomance with this very old 32-bit HP laptop. I don't do much with it, but it runs as well as it ever did with its original Windows.

I don't remember exactly when I bought it but here's some bits from the hardinfo report. The SSD was a huge improvement.

The desktop is MATE.

Computer
Processor       Genuine Intel(R) CPU T2400 @ 1.83GHz
Memory  2050MB (433MB used)
Machine Type    Notebook
Operating System        Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS
SCSI Disks
   HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-4084N    
   ATA KINGSTON SA400S3

18.04 32-bit is the last 32-bit Ubuntu but it has, I believe, 10-year support to keep these old hangers-on hanging on. So will be getting at least security updates until 2028. That's pretty darn good and way more than I ever expected to get out of this old laptop.

Stephen Boston
  • 3,944
  • @EdwardFalk xubuntu is a 'leaner' ubuntu installation using XFCE4 window manager. In my case after installing xubuntu, I did see a real performance improvement on my dell inspiron 1545. – Craig Feb 20 '19 at 16:21