Re: [gentoo-user] [OT] Simple to upgrade Linux distro

[Dale]

Dale wrote:
> Howdy,
>
> This isn't a Gentoo question but most everyone here used something
> before Gentoo.  I need a simple to upgrade distro for someone else.
>
> A friend of mine had windoze XP, which is dead to M$.  She needed
> something and buying a computer or new OS is not a option, even tho she
> needs to upgrade that 10 or 12 year old thing she has.  So, I put Mageia
> on it a couple years ago, used to be Mandrake way back which is what I
> started with.  She has been doing updates every week or so since it is
> GUI based and pretty easy.  Tell it to update or just click the pop-up
> when it tells you one is available and when it is done, reboot.  Yea,
> windowish I know.  lol  Anyway, she did a update and now she can't login
> to KDE.  I drove up, hour away, and tried to figure it out.  It has
> changed so much, I'm pretty clueless.  It is NOT Gentoo by any means.  I
> renamed the user directory in case it was a config that the new update
> was hanging on but nothing.  It just won't let you login.  Also reset
> the password as well.  Thing is, I installed ICEwm during the install
> and it works.  It logs in but the screen doesn't refresh like it
> should.  You close a app, it's closed but it doesn't refresh the screen
> so it looks like it is still there.  The whole thing is weird.  Since I
> couldn't figure out what the problem was, I tried upgrading to Mageia
> 6.  Figured if it was a software bug, maybe that would fix it.  Nope.
> So, she's using ICEwm for the moment but it is weird.
>
> What I'm looking for.  Something that I can install fairly quickly from
> a DVD.  Rig is to old to boot from USB stick.  Something with a GUI
> update process that is fairly easy.  Uses either KDE by default or is
> easily installable, hopefully during install by default.  The big one,
> needs to be able to run on older hardware.  Her rig is something like a
> 2GHz single core CPU and around 2GBs of ram.  The drives are SATA but
> that's about the most advanced hardware it has.  The video is a built in
> Intel of some sort.  Nothing fast or even fancy for that matter.  Yes,
> I'm keeping a eye out for a newer rig but it is what it is right now.
>
> I've used Gentoo for so long, I don't know what other distros offer
> nowadays.  I figure that there are several distros that are graphical
> nowadays but also need good support for older hardware and easy update
> process.  Googling around isn't helping me much.  If I find something I
> like, no KDE.  If I find KDE based and a GUI updater, something else
> won't work.  I figure asking those who have personal experience would be
> best.  :-)
>
> Thoughts?  Suggestions??
>
> Thanks.
>
> Dale
>
> :-)  :-)
>

A bit of a update.  I went to my storage building and found a lot of
rigs mostly with parts missing but found one gem in the bunch that was
all there.  I suspect someone put it there when I wasn't at home and
knows where I keep them but it could be one I forgot about too.  Anyway,
I got four 1Gb sticks of ram in and am running memtest right now.  So
far, no errors.  It has a small hard drive in it but not sure if it will
be big enough for everyday use.  May have to remove the one from the
current rig she has.  It should be big enough for me to test some
distros out tho.  ;-)

Oh, single core running at 2.8GHz.  It ain't blazing fast but it's
likely faster than what she currently has plus the memory will help a
lot.  It's a older Dell.  It has that flip up front that covers the
CD/DVD drives.  Some may recall all the torn up CD/DVD drives that
caused.  :/ 

Dale

:-)  :-)