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have a dell inspiron 8600 with intel mobile cpu -- need a distro that runs

kdd
kdd Posts: 4
in Getting Started with Linux

hello,

i have been using linux off and on, mostly off lately, for several years now. i have a dell inspiron with a mobile cpu that has balked at ubuntu and linux mint.

don't quite understand the error message, but it goes something like, there is a feature that the cpu or mobo or bios doesn't support.

if i remember correctly it has something to do with the kernel. yeah, i need a kernel that will support the cpu(?).

any thoughts, recommendations, etc. would be appreciated.

cheers,

kdd

Comments

  • arochester
    arochester Posts: 368
    How much RAM have you got?
  • elptuxman
    elptuxman Posts: 3
    I've had good luck using both UberStudent and Antix. Look for the isos. Could send DVD with either.
    Alan
  • kdd
    kdd Posts: 4
    arochester wrote:
    How much RAM have you got?

    thanks for the quick response. sorry it has taken me so long to respond.

    i have an intel centrino 1.4 ghz processor and 2gb ram. i have not had a problem running linux on an older machine, but i have not used this processor before either.

    the error message i received when trying to run linux mint 15 was:

    cannot boot. pae not present on cpu. use a kernel appropriate for cpu.

    nowthe question is: is there a current distro out there that does not need pae? and which one is it?

    cheers
  • kdd
    kdd Posts: 4
    elptuxman wrote:
    I've had good luck using both UberStudent and Antix. Look for the isos. Could send DVD with either.
    Alan

    thanks for the tips. i'm downloading antix as i write.

    cheers
  • arochester
    arochester Posts: 368
    Look at this: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/PAE

    Linux Mint is derived from Ubuntu.

    A number of older Pentium M processors produced around 2003-4 (the ones with 400 MHz front side bus) do not display the PAE flag, and hence a standard installation fails. However, these processors are in fact able to run the latest (and PAE-demanding) kernels if only the installation process is modified a little.
  • kdd
    kdd Posts: 4
    arochester wrote:
    Look at this: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/PAE

    Linux Mint is derived from Ubuntu.

    A number of older Pentium M processors produced around 2003-4 (the ones with 400 MHz front side bus) do not display the PAE flag, and hence a standard installation fails. However, these processors are in fact able to run the latest (and PAE-demanding) kernels if only the installation process is modified a little.

    excellent!! thanks for this. the link was extremely helpful. so much i have printed it for posterity.

    also, i did install antiX. love it. so far a very user friendly disto of debian. still gathering operations info and "playing" with it. thanks for the recommendation elptuxman.

    cheers
  • elptuxman
    elptuxman Posts: 3
    elptuxman wrote:
    I've had good luck using both UberStudent and Antix. Look for the isos. Could send DVD with either.
    Alan
  • elptuxman
    elptuxman Posts: 3
    AntiX packs quite a punch for an 'old pc' distro. Glad it helped you with your hardware

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