Still looking for Linux Options for WinXP Users?!

With April 8, 2014 having already come and gone, the world continues to spin on the appropriate axis in the same orbit that it always has. Perhaps XP-mageddon isn't what everyone feared it would be; perhaps it's still in the making; or maybe I'm just late to the party?! Regardless, I know there are still a significant number of WinXP users out there who have decided to continue using WinXP, despite the discontinuation of support. Eventually, given enough time, WinXP will be hacked, compromised, and corrupted to the point it will likely no longer be usable. Nothing wrong with that, as long as you have made that decision after consciously weighing the pros and cons of each.

I have tried to help as many people as I could offer good advice to, and I have noticed some themes in the help requested, as similar questions tend to keep popping up with regularity. Those questions often revolve around the alternative choice of Linux distro. Some folks are overwhelmed by the sheer number of choices available to them within Linux; other folks want to try a specific Linux distro they have "heard of", but is a bad fit for their hardware.

For WinXP-era hardware users of the first group, I have typically tried to narrow their selection down to Lubuntu, Zorin Lite, LXLE, Peppermint, Bodhi, and/or AntiX distros, allowing them to choose what their personal tastes prefer. These distros are all considered "lightweight" distros with low-resource requirements that are fairly compatible with circa-WinXP machines. Additionally, despite differing appearances, they tend to resemble WinXP in layout, with a bottom task bar, left hand "start" menu, right hand "system tray", etc... However, IMO, none of these look enough like WinXP "out of the box" to make a WinXP user truly comfortable. IMO, there was no "turnkey" distro for WinXP users...until now!!!

Conversely, WinXP-era hardware users of the second group tend to ask for help with Ubuntu, presumably because it is the most popular and/or most well known Linux distro, and a lot of folks like the unique Mac-like appearance with the left hand dock launcher for extra screen viewing area. Ubuntu is a wonderful distro, and I use it myself, but it tends to be a terrible choice for WinXP-era hardware, as the Unity desktop environment (DE) of Ubuntu is one of the more resource-intensive DEs in Linux. This tended to be a big disappointment for those users, as there was not suitable "turnkey" alternative that resembled Ubuntu...until now!!!

For the first group of users, I've been saying for years that someone needs to take a basic Linux Distro and do all the things that need to be done to make it as user-friendly as possible for a Windows user to give linux a try. This includes themeing it to look as much as possible to good-old-familiar-looking WindowsXP, thereby making it easier for a Windows user to migrate to Linux...a "smoothing of the curve", if you will. Years later, no one has truly done it yet, so I figured "what the heck, I'll give it a shot!"

I've been working on an ideal "turnkey" distro for WinXP migrators since late April/early May, and XPubuntu is the results of my effort. There is nothing new or ground-breaking here. For a little background of what I was thinking, I took the base installation of Lubuntu 14.04, using the lightweight LXDE desktop environment. The i386-32bit version was utilized for universal compatibility with all machines. Additional information about Lubuntu can be found here: http://lubuntu.net/ The base installation of Lubuntu was then modified in an attempt to make it look as much like WinXP as possible, including:

Aesthetics:
- WinXP themes (blue, olive & silver XP defaults); blue is my default, but olive & silver can be selected through Start>Preferences>Customize Look & Feel and selecting XP olive or XP silver themes in "widgets" and "window borders"
- Windows wallpaper background
- Windows start menu buttons
- removal of all virtual desktops, leaving the user with ONE to work with (I've seen new users accidentally switch to desktop 2 and FREAK OUT over what happened)
- addition of Lubuntu Control Center, serving a similar purpose as Windows Control Panel

Software:
Default Lubuntu 14.04 lightweight software was utilized, such as Firefox, Sylpheed, Audacious, Gnome MPlayer, etc... However, in order to make it more "user-friendly" for an XP-migrator to find their way, application items were edited to describe their functions, such as:

Sylpheed E-mail
Audacious Music Player
Gnome Movie Player
Xpad Sticky Notes
File Manager PCManFM
AbiWord Processor
Xfburn Disc Burner

and so on... Also AbiWord was modified to save in *.doc format by default.

Desktop:
Additionally, although I HATE icon shortcuts on desktops, I notice that is EXACTLY what most Windows-users do; so I placed Firefox, E-mail, and My Document shortcuts on the desktop. As a suggested alternative not available to windows users, I also created a "side panel", acting as a "hiding dock", with shortcuts to what I expect will be the most-frequently used & sought after applications. Due to it's "hiding" nature, and invisible opacity, I'm hoping this will be a transition feature for new users...an introduction to a "better way" of accessing programs, but still "out of the way" for those who don't like it. While the LiveCD shows unusual "placeholder artifacts", I can assure you that installation to disk replaces any "placeholder" artifacts on the hiding dock area with the appropriate icons. This seems to be wholly attributable to the edited menu items of software titles, but has not effect on installation.

Please keep in mind that my goal here is simply to build a "bridge" distro that doesn't look "difficult" or "foreign" to WinXP users, thereby removing the "scary" of the unfamiliar and dreaded LINUX! Ha, ha, ha! At a minimum, I'm hoping to provide a stable and secure replacement for their WinXP machines, and get them OFF of WinXP for no charge! Realistically, I'm hoping XPubuntu will be a nice teaching tool, and introduction to the basics of Linux and how to customize XPubuntu with Linux-features they just can't get in Windows, such as virtual desktops, etc... At best, I'm hoping XPubuntu will be a transition distro that will allow them to get familiar with Linux conventions and programs, allowing them to move onto another Linux distro that they like better once they're acclimated!

For those who are interested, XPubuntu is hosted on my SourceForge account, and can be downloaded here:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/xpubuntu/

For WinXP-era users of the second group, I have created a second distro that resembles Ubuntu Unity, but is lightweight and low-resource, which will run in a satisfactory manner on XP-era hardware! The result of that effort is called Pangaea-Lubuntu.

I have utilized Lubuntu 14.04 LTS as the "base" for modification, with support for the underlying "core" of Ubuntu through 2019, and the Lubuntu components through 2017. The desktop environment has been heavily customized with panels, custom icons, and themes to resemble Ubuntu Unity, but with the low-resource usage of the Openbox window manager. In its default state, Pangaea hovers around 270MB of usage on my VM build, as well as an older dual core Atom-powered notebook that could never run Ubuntu Unity without a struggle, but powers Pangaea just fine! Pangaea nearly has two of everything...a set of programs that I prefer for cross platform productivity, and a lower-resource set of programs for lower powered machines. I prefer the Nautilus file manager for various features of productivity, although it has been modified to just act as a file manager, removing its ability to act as a desktop manager in native Gnome desktop environments; PCManFM file manager is still present as a lighter weight alternative that will suffice for most other users. Alternatively, inasmuch as Lubuntu doesn't have a "Dash" search function, a modified Slingscold launcher with a search bar in english is available, as well as a traditional menu button, resembling the Cardapio menu modification in Ubuntu Unity. Also, Lubuntu Control Center was added to mimic the Ubuntu Control Center. Inasmuch as Lubuntu doesn't have a "hot corner" feature like Unity, a hidden workspace switcher is revealed upon mouse over in the bottom right corner. Similarly, inasmuch as the Openbox panel of Lubuntu doesn't provide indicators of active applications, a hidden "active applications" panel is revealed upon mouse over on the right edge. Additionally, Compton window compositor is installed (although not active, by default) and can be enabled simply by removing a "#" comment from the autostart script. For visual aesthetics, as an aspiring beach bum, there are numerous beach-themed wallpapers included for the desktop background. Finally, as someone who prefers to see my network machines in different domain workgroups based on their operating system, the default domain configured in Samba is "Home", to easily distinguish my network linux machines from the default Windows domain "Workgroup". Again, perfect for me, but a potential source of frustration for a new and uninitiated user, although this is VERY EASY to change!

While the previously discussed cross platform software applications were installed as defaults, according to my own preferences, some older lower-resource machines may not be able to run these fully-featured software programs in a satisfactory manner. For these machines, the default Lubuntu software selections are still available, such as Sylpheed E-mail, AbiWord Processor, Gnumeric Spreadsheets, Audacious Music Player, Gnome Movie Player, SimpleScan, etc... For easy access from the left panael launcher, simply modify the left panel launcher to remove the shown defaults, and replace with the underlying lower-resource application. The default panel configuration has been backed up for easy restoration...hack away with no fear of corruption! Speaking of backups, LuckyBackup has been installed for ease of data backups. Additional software has been downloaded and is available as *.deb files in the directory Downloads>Linux DEB Files, such as VirtualBox, Teamviewer, & Skype. There is also a desktop "READ ME" file with instructions to download additional cross platform specialty software, if desired, such as: Draftsight CAD; Serviio DLNA server; Handbrake DVD ripper: etc...

For those who are interested, Pangaea-Lubuntu is hosted on my SourceForge account, and can be downloaded here:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/pangaealubuntu/

If you would like to try or install XPubuntu or Pangaea-Lubuntu, download either from the hosted site. However, be aware that both distro ISO files will NOT fit on a CD, but must be burned to a DVD or a USB device. If you're still reading and you still want to give it a try, Ubuntu has very clear and precise instructions to create a Live medium for testing and installation. However, please note that every reference to "Ubuntu" should be replaced with the downloaded "XPubuntu_14.04_i386.iso" or "Pangaea_14.04_amd64.iso" file name!

If you're a Windows user considering a migration to Linux, download the ISO, and follow Ubuntu's instructions for creation of a Live medium, simply substituting the downloaded "ISO" for the referenced "Ubuntu ISO".

For instructions to create a LiveDVD, click here: http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/burn-a-dvd-on-windows
For instructions to create a LiveUSB, click here: http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/create-a-usb-stick-on-windows

If you're already a Linux user wanting to give XPubuntu or Pangaea a try, you probably already know how to do this but, in the interest of thoroughness, here are the Ubuntu links for creation of Live media with Linux (remember to substitute the downloaded "ISO" file for all references of "Ubuntu").

For instructions to create a LiveDVD, click here: http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/burn-a-dvd-on-ubuntu
For instructions to create a LiveUSB, click here: http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/create-a-usb-stick-on-ubuntu (Ubuntu recommends a 2GB+ stick, which should be fine for XPubuntu; however, given the increased ISO file size of Pangaea, I'd recommend a 4GB+ stick!)

Finally, if you do not have a DVD device, and cannot boot from external USB device, then PLoP bootloader is the last remaining option for a persistent adventurer. I have never had the occasion to use PLoP, but I have come across many references by many users in many forums, with instructions on using PLoP and feedback of its success. Due to the lack of my own experience with PLoP, I make no representations for the prospect of your success. But again, in the interest of thoroughness, the "How To" Geek website provides the most clear and concise instructions for using PLoP the way we intend here (ironically, the PLoP website instructions are quite convoluted, as PLoP can do much more than provide boot services for a stubborn and antiquated machine, FYI). Here is a link to the "How To" Geek website, with instructions on how to try/install XPubuntu or Pangaea using the PLoP bootloader:

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/16822/boot-from-a-usb-drive-even-if-your-bios-wont-let-you/

I believe the try/installation methods provided above will allow pretty much everyone who is interested to give XPubuntu and/or Pangaea a try. For those who are interested, I hope this tutorial is helpful and, more importantly, you enjoy the Linux OS as much as I do!

Lastly, to the moderators, if this thread proves to be popular with a view count, perhaps it could be stickied to the main page, where it can be easily found by those folks looking for this type of help. Otherwise, I apologize for such a lengthy tutorial post.

 

My question is concerning device drivers. What type are included? I've tried/used some Linux distros that didn't configure my computer properly and of course, the XP device drivers don't work in Linux without some "fancy footwork".

 

generally speaking, device drivers in linux are "baked into the kernel" mdonah. when installing linux, your hardware is "probed" by the installer and driver modules for your machine are downloaded for installation.

unfortunately, sometimes a device driver for your specific hardware has not been reverse-engineered and only a "generic" driver is available. and sometimes, only a proprietary driver will make all the features of a specific hardware available.

generally speaking, most machines manufactured since circa 2005-2006ish will perform fine with linux drivers. graphics and wireless chips are the two items you're most likely to encounter issues with, but proprietary drivers are now avilable for many of these devices. a good rule of thumb is that if a "Live" version functions, a hard installation will function better.

is there a specific machine you'd like to experiment with? perhaps I can help troubleshoot any potential issues BEFORE you attempt an installation? I NEVER recommend an installation without a trial run with LiveDVD/USB media, fwiw.

 

I've only got the one machine, a Dell Preision M70, unlike you and plodr who have 8 or 9 machines. If you recall, I had many questions about Zorin OS a while back. The first iteration of Zorin configured devices well. The second iteration, not so well. And when I tried to go back to the first iteration, there were all sorts of issues and I could not get Zorin to work.

I've downloaded your XPubuntu (live?) ISO (I believe I was the first one to do so [weekly downloads at Sourceforge showed 1] ) and will burn it to DVD later. I'll give it a try and report back. But, in the mean time, I'm running XP Pro SP3 with the POSReady reg dword on one drive and Vista Ultimate on another.

 

i've responded to so many linux threads, i'm sorry to admit that I don't specifically remember you mdonah, but Zorin has certainly been one of my go-to recommendations for Windows-migrators; although now, I'd recommend XPubuntu as the top choice! :-D While I don't specifically remember you, we have obviously spoken for you to remember that interesting little factoid about plodr and myself!

Looks like you are the 2nd XPubuntu downloader this week, as the counter resets weekly. FWIW, there have been about 10 downloads in the past 3 weeks, so no worries about being a guinea pig. It isn't very popular, but it was never expected to be. I missed the XP-migration rush in April/May and most folks have already done whatever they planned on doing. I'm just trying to help the stragglers who thought they'd keep on with WinXP, not realizing that it will eventually corrupt beyond use. And the file is too big to e-mail, so it just makes sense to have it hosted on a 3rd party site.

A quick google search reveals that your machine has been linux friendly as far back as Ubuntu 5.10!!! I think you should be good to go, with no special issues requiring special attention. If you go back to my Sourceforge download page, there is a detailed WIKI page for installation. Please follow those instructions for a pain-free installation and thanks for the interest! Good luck with installation! I'm here if you need anything!

 

P.S. What sorts of issues were you experiencing with Zorin? You state the "first iteration" configured devices well (I typically recommended Zorin Lite 6.2 version), but the "second iteration" not so well. What versions did you try, and what issues did you experience? Finally, what were you trying to accomplish by switching from the 1st version to the 2nd version?

I'm just trying to anticipate any potential issues that may be specific to you and your hardware; and I'd like to offer the best possible advice to you and your situation.

 

I approve, but MA makes the decision. I'll ask.

 

I would respectfully disagree with the difficulty of use, although your comments regarding selection of a distro and installation of that distro are absolutely correct. Hence, my attempts to help those that request it.

There's also no dispute that we are at your workplace. I've got no problem with that and, in fact, appreciate the opportunity to acquire knowledge and exchange ideas in your forums.

I thought I had something worthwhile to share with others. I didn't mean to offend; simply trying to help others in the same spirit that I have received help from others on this website. I do apologize. Please feel free to delete this thread if you deem it appropriate. :-o

 

I have a Gericom Ego laptop which I bought in 2004 for the princely sum of £999 - ouch! It was designed for XP and I thought it would make a good testbed for XPubuntu. The original 512MB RAM has been upped to 1280MB but otherwise it's in its original state but unfortunately the only items on the XPubuntu boot menu that work are Memtest 86 and booting from HD. No response at all to any of the others and the boot menu becomes unresponsive when you try any of them. XP is still on the 80GB unpartitioned HD and is working normally.

Any suggestions? I would quite like to try XPubuntu.

 

Hmmm...I have never experienced what you just described. And I have successfully Live-booted the XPubuntu distro on several of my personal machines...just to make sure that it is indeed as user-friendly as I'm capable of making it... I'm not familiar with Gericom (never heard of 'em!), but I'll do my best to help you out, as I'd like for you to be able to try XPubuntu! Whether you like it or not is another issue, but I'd like you to be able to try it out!

While I've never experienced what you're describing, I find it interesting that the 2 menu options you cannot utilize are "try XPubuntu" and "install XPubuntu". The obvious suspects are the Linux ISO image and your hardward. I would immediately suspect a corrupted download/burn, except that you can perform a memtest and boot from HD. Still could be a corrupted download/burn, but less likely, IMO. Alternatively, it seems quite coincidental that you cannot boot the LiveSession from the medium. Is it possible that your BIOS has a setting that will not allow anything but your HD to boot?

Inasmuch as I know nothing about the Gericom devices, let me speak in generalities, and hopefully we can narrow down the issue...or someone who knows Gericom will chime in?! Starting with the easiest, most obvious solutions, and working up in difficulty...

What type of LiveSession did you create? A LiveDVD? or a LiveUSB? I'd like to know what you're working with, as this may provide potential clues.

If a LiveDVD, can you boot a LiveSession on another device in your home? If you can, remember to select "Try XPubuntu" so your installed system is left intact! If you can boot a LiveSession on another machine, we can rule out a corrupt download/burn. If you cannot boot from another machine, and experience the same symptoms, I'm inclined to suggest your download/burn was corrupted somehow. Download again, burn again, and try again.

If a LiveUSB, does your device allow for booting from USB device? If it does, is it enabled in the BIOS? If it does not, you may need to use PLoP Boot Manager. On the XPubuntu download page, the bottom of the Wiki page has a link to instructions for PLoP:

https://sourceforge.net/p/xpubuntu/wiki/Home/

So, in order, I'd suggest:
1. try to boot LiveSession on another machine
2. check BIOS settings of Gericom to enable USB boot
3. try PLoP to boot from USB on device where BIOS doesn't allow USB boot

Try the above steps and get back to me, and we'll try to diagnose from there. And FWIW, XPubuntu is just an aesthetic remix of Lubuntu. While googling your Gericom Ego system, I did come across some posts from a guy who had Lubuntu on his Gericom machine, but wanted to try other distros. Not sure if his machine was an Ego, though.

 

It's a DVD, this 10yr old laptop can't boot USB. I'll try the live version on a different system tomorrow and let you know how it goes.

 

Found it Earthling:

http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-2122951.html

His machine was a Gericom Ego. He had Lubuntu running on it in March of 2013, before his hard drive failed. He replaced the drive and reinstalled Lubuntu, but doesn't reference which version(s) of Lubuntu. XPubuntu is remixed from the latest and greatest 14.04 LTS version.

We can add PAE concerns to the list of potential culprits for your system.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/EnablingPAE

I don't expect you to follow along, or even execute some of these suggested solutions. Heck, some are above MY pay grade! I just put this link in place for you to see how PAE might be the potential problem here.

Let's run down the troubleshooting in the previous post and if it turns out that PAE is indeed the culprit, then XPubuntu 14.04 won't be a good fit for you. I can suggest another distro for you to try, OR we can download a previous Long Term Support (LTS) version of Lubuntu, and I can walk you through the steps I took to make XPubuntu look the way it does. It defeats the purpose of a "turnkey" distro, but if you're that motivated to try it out, I'll help you out the best I can! Your machine...your decision!

 

@Hedon James,

What's PAE? Will it be a problem on my 9 year old Dell Precision M70? Sorry, I haven't had the chance to burn XPubuntu to DVD or try it out yet.

 

I'm not sure PAE is earthling's issue, but it belongs on the list of potential issues. FWIW, I'm not EXACTLY sure what PAE is, but as I understand it, it allow(ed) 32-bit processors to utilize RAM in a 64-bit fashion.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/PAE

If it turns out that PAE is Earthling's issue, I'm gonna have to learn a lot of new stuff...fast!

You will probably be fine mdonah. Dell is a popular manufactuer, and there are a lot of Precision machines in the world, so a large base of user experiences and documented workarounds with any issues. Looks like your machine has been linux-friendly since 2005-ish.

Earthling has a machine made by a manufacturer that I never heard of, and can't find much about. while your install should be fairly easy (knock on wood), earthling's sounds like a potential adventure!

 

You will have Googled PAE by now so I won't attempt to explain it. However it is looking atm as if PAE, or rather the lack of it in this 2004 Gericom Ego's Pentium M 735 processor, may be the cause of the problem. I tried booting two Linux based boot disks, the latest versions of Acronis and Macrium Reflect, and neither boots. Acronis just hangs but Reflect tells me my processor lacks PAE support. When I go back to a 2007 version of the Acronis Linux based boot disk it does boot, presumably because that version does not require PAE. So it looks as if the Linux kernel introduced PAE support sometime after early 2007 and that may prevent some older machines like mine from booting newer Linux software.

I also tried the XPubuntu disk in a Medion MD8818 bought in December 2006. This machine with its Core2Duo processor can boot the two boot disks above so does have PAE. However although it doesn't hang when I try to run XPubuntu live it doesn't produce a meaningful display either, just a white background with a small black oblong top left. Maybe, as you suggested, it was a bad download or bad burn so I'm trying again. Unfortunately I can't find an md5 for your XPubuntu file so I've no way of proving whether my disk is OK or not.

I won't be persisting with XPubuntu if it doesn't boot on either of these older systems. Already I have Puppy available as a boot option, and Mint in a VM in Win 7, and I just wanted to take a look at what you have produced and judge whether I would recommend it to relatives, friends and neighbours who have older systems and are still using XP - against my advice

It's a big sport day here in the UK so I won't be spending much time on this at least until this evening.

 

I read the link you posted about Physical Address Extension (PAE). My Dell has a Pentium M (Dothan) processor and PAE should be no problem. As far as Earthlings computer, if the processor is earlier than Dothan, say Pentium Pro or Banias, he'd need to use the workaround. Same with Celeron M processor.

 

I'm sorry XPubuntu isn't working out for your machines, but I do appreciate your interest Earthling! FWIW, while I consider myself knowledgable enough to help others, I'm certainly no expert; seems like I learn something new every day. And in the spirit of Linux, I feel compelled to assist others in their curiousity, just as I have been assisted. With that said...

XPubuntu isn't for everyone, or every XP-era machine. In remixing Lubuntu, I'm somewhat limited by the constraints that I start with. And I'm not knowledgeable enough to compile my own kernels. Also, considering my limited skill set, I did make a conscious decision to make XPubuntu have the widest possible appeal to my circle of tech support. I hadn't considered PAE issues, as I wasn't even aware until now, although I did intend for XPubuntu to be useful to machines in the early to mid 2000s.

I certainly wanted a lightweight distro for the limited hardware resources of that era, but I also wanted a long-term-support period of patches and updates. Lubuntu is probably the most user-friendly LIGHTWEIGHT distro out-of-the-box, and version 14.04 (which XPubuntu is based on) is supported through 2017, with the underlying core components of Ubuntu supported through 2019. To pick up PAE support, it appears I'd have to go back to version 12.04. However, that creates 2 additional problems; the first problem is that "official" Ubuntu distros (such as Lubuntu, Xubuntu, Kubuntu, etc...) only have 3 years of LTS support, versus 5 for Ubuntu itself, so there'd only be 1 year left of support for Lubuntu 12.04 before former XP users would be right back where they started with an unsupported distro. The second problem is that Lubuntu 12.04 wasn't an LTS version, for whatever reasons. Version 14.04 is the first LTS version for the lightweght LXDE implementation of Ubuntu, known as Lubuntu. So I'm in a catch-22 situation for machines such as your Gericom Ego. Your Medion machine sounds like a graphics chip/driver issue. If correct, you've got 2 machines that I've never heard of, that I can't help but wonder what components are under the hood? Unfortunately, not every linux distro will work on every machine. And sometimes, no distro will work on a particular machine. I don't know that is your case, but I'm putting it out there for anyone reading this thread. This is exactly why you "try before you buy" the LiveSession. As a general rule of thumb, if the LiveSession runs on your machine with no glaring issues, you're good to go; if there are glitches in the LiveSession, a hard install will also present problems.

You mentioned Puppy & Mint being available to you. They are both fine choices, and I would never say anything negative about someone else's work. Even if I don't personally like it, it still has merit. Everyone has personal preferences and who's to say mine are the same as anyone else's? I'm a big believer in "use what works for YOU!" So, by all means, use Puppy or Mint if your machine will allow it! If you want to try XPubuntu in a VM before recommending to others, perhaps you'll have a better experience in a virtual environment. If so, you'll have another option to suggest, depending on hardware of their machines.

If you really want XPubuntu on YOUR machine, it sounds like we'll have to go back to Lubuntu 12.04, as I read that was the last version available with non-PAE kernels. If you decide to try Lubuntu 12.04, I can walk you through the customization steps to create XPubuntu. It's very simple, and doesn't take very long. It just won't be "turnkey" for your Gericom; you'll have to tinker like the rest of us poor Linux-users!

Lastly, sounds like you know more about PAE than I do. Can you educate me in plain english and layman's concepts? I'm reading about PAE, but they're using words and concepts I don't understand, which causes me to google THOSE words and concepts, which are explained in more words and concepts that require more googling. My mind is jello-like right now. I can probably explain it, just like a Parrot speaks english, but I don't understand it. Care to share YOUR knowledge with me?!

 

I've just found THIS PAGE which states that the Pentium M 735 does have PAE, so perhaps that is not the issue here after all. When Wimbledon is over I'll take a look at the BIOS, maybe it's disabled.

But as I said, my main interest in your work is in whether I might want to suggest it to others, but as it hasn't worked on either of my 'Made for XP' machines obviously I'm not likely just at present to be doing that. While Gericom is certainly not a well known name (Austrian and taken over some years ago), Medion (German) is very well known and highly regarded, this side of the Atlantic anyway, so I doubt these failures are due to poor design or quality of the machines in question. Certainly I've never had any indication of that over many, many years of heavy use.

 

I'm not intending to impugn the quality or design of those machines. I apologize if that is the impression I'm giving. My comments are simply meant to convey a lack of familiarity on my part. I've never heard of either brand here in the USA, so I don't have much of a database to draw upon for troubleshooting. More numbers would equal more users, which would equal more experiences to draw upon. But it is what it is...

Conversely, while I can't find much on the Gericom, what little I did find was in European languages, which I cannot read. It seems you're flying blind with XPubuntu, and I'm flying blind with unfamililar hardware. Aren't we a pair?

Regardless, I'm willing to help with whatever suggestions I can offer from a diagnosis. I'm willing to help diagnose & troubleshoot, if only for the practical experience. But that's up to you. If you're not interested, that's cool too. I do appreciate the interest, but perhaps another distro is a better fit for you and/or your machine. And I can certainly understand just wanting something to work out-of-the-box.

As I said before, not every distro is meant for everyone, and some distros will never run on some machines. That's okay; it's all about the right distro on the right machine for the right user. It is my intent to provide 1 more tool for the toolbox.

If you want to pursue troubleshooting the PAE issue, and the suggested workarounds linked below, I'll be here for you. If you do not, I sincerely appreciate your interest and would respectfully request you tuck XPubuntu into your toolbox for another day and another situation with another machine and another user. Either way, it's all good. Thank you!

 

As one who gets frustrated very easily by the problems I have with Linux every time I go behind the gui I have to admire what you have done here even though it isn't - yet - working for me. I'm going to try installing a few distros on the Gericom as and when I have time, and try too to get to the bottom of why Reflect tells me the processor doesn't support PAE when Intel say it does. If I glean anything at all that might be useful for you I will let you know.

 

I understand. FWIW, I do remember reading somewhere in my PAE searches that there are processors with PAE capability, but are not "flagged" for identification when probed. In other words, the capability is there, it just isn't "advertised" properly. This could be a setting in the BIOS; this may require a workaround in the LiveSession boot command, which MAY not exist on my XPubuntu distro, due to my remixing efforts. It may exist, it may not, I have to check it out to say for certain.

Your machine, your rules. Whatever you decide, I'm cool with.

Personally, I'd recommend a different distro for your Gericom machine, as my personal opinion is that you shouldn't have to work this hard just to TRY something out. Conversely, I would like you to be able to check out XPubuntu and decide if it's worth the effort for the XP folks you mentioned. Can you install in a VM? Or at least boot the ISO in a VM?

 

okay, FWIW, I've test-booted the XPubuntu distro using the recommended workaround to "forcepae" that was linked in post #16.

Simply boot the XPubuntu distro; when you get to the boot screen for "try", "xforcevesa", "install", "memtest", and "boot from hd", simply hit the "tab" key before the countdown completes. This will reveal the command line verbage to boot the distro, the last line of which will end in "quiet splash --"

type "forcepae" immediately after the "quiet splash --", without the quotes, such that the last entry looks like this:

This SHOULD allow XPubuntu to boot on your machine in "try before installation" mode. If it does NOT, your issue is not PAE-related, and we're back to a bad burn as the most likely culprit.

 

The ISO boots fine in a VM but haven't had time to look much further just yet.

 

This determines what is wrong. It appeared when I ejected the DVD after the program appeared to be hung at the start menu after the forcepae command.

ERROR: PAE is disabled on this Pentium M
PAE can potentially be enabled with kernel parameter "forcepae" - this is unsupported, may cause unknown problems, and will taint the kernel.
This kernel requires the following features not present on the CPU - pae
Unable to boot - please use a kernel appropriate for your CPU

As the ISO boots fine in a VM, and as I verified the burn, we can dismiss that too.

End of road on this machine. Thanks for the help though.

 

Hey guys, this kind of off subject, but I've been using Saybayon Linux Live from a usb drive and this is one of the most easiest systems I have ever tried, I just booted into it and it did everything on its own including finding and connecting to my wireless connection. Just thought I would mention it in case you are looking around at other Distros.

 

@Hedon James,

There is an XPubuntu 12.04 ISO of 1.005 GB in size that I just downloaded along with the MD5 checksum from someone's Google drive. Did you create this one as well?

Sourceforge lists the XPubuntu 14.04 ISO's file size as 906 MB. Yet when I go to download it, it's only 864 MB a difference of 42 MB. Does this mean the ISO is incomplete?

 

No I did not, but if that has a non-PAE kernel, perhaps Earthling would be interested in that? I'm not offended if he doesn't use, or even LIKE my version. As long as he's satisfied with what he's got. All these choices, it is both a strength of Linux, and also it's biggest weakness.

With respect to your differing file sizes, I'm not sure if you got it all or not. My file reports as 906MB, but it could just be different operating systems, or file mangers reporting differing measurements of the same thing. For instance: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1871421

I really need to locate my MD5sum file for XPubuntu and upload that to Sourceforge so people can double-check. That's an oversight on my part, and 2x today that info would've been helpful. Thanks for the tip. I'll look for the md5sum file.

 

The file I downloaded from Hedon's Sourceforge page is 884,736 KB and it's md5 is FA6FC6166EAFACC63F6AC23D1EDDEAE8. It boots in my VM and runs just fine. HTH.

 

I don't personally USE any Linux distro, but I do like to take a look at what's on offer and that's why I was interested in your version. The live session runs fine in my VM but I won't be pursuing it further due to its failure to run on either of my two mid-XP era machines. I'm waiting to see how it goes with mdonah's system and hoping for your sake that this time there are no issues.

I do appreciate the effort you made to sort my issues out and take my hat off to you for putting your work out for anyone to try, knowing there would inevitably be some failures.

 

Providing the distro you are using has drivers to suit your hardware your experience is pretty well the norm. You can't know in advance, it's just pot luck really. When drivers aren't available welcome to the world of the Linux command line! Not easy for Windows users.

 

Thank you. As I've said all along, no distro works everywhere for everyone. Lack of compatibility, or "failure" is indeed inevitable.

With that said, I have successfully installed XPubuntu on Dell Vostro, Inspiron, and Precision(?) machines; an Acer netbook; a Gateway laptop; a Toshiba laptop; a home-brewed Frankenputer; and VMs on 2 different machines. A local computer dealer where I live has been installing XPubuntu on mostly Dell Optiplex machines that formerly ran XP Pro (and a few malware-riddled XP machines owned by customers), but have been recycled with XPubuntu. He's been happy with the results and the sales.

The Gericom and the Medion are the first "failures" that I'm aware of. I'm sure there will be others, but I'm trying to work in broad strokes here. I'm sorry XPubuntu hasn't worked for you, but I can't possibly test every machine or hardware combination. And even if I could, I can't possibly remedy every "failure"; even professional distro developers can't do that! I can only do what I have already done and put it out there for others to consider...another tool for the toolbox.

And it's not my intent to promote, nor push, XPubuntu on ANYONE!!! I created this for my circle of family/friends who come to me for tech support. I thought it turned out well, and they've been happy with the results, so I'm putting it out there for others to consider. Just playing it forward. If it works for you, and it suits your tastes, awesome...enjoy! If it does not, I'm sorry and I'm slightly disappointed that I wasn't more helpful...but there are literally hundreds, if not thousands of alternative choices waiting for consideration.

Your machine, your rules!