Hello.
I have a 14 years old old MacBook Pro (15" A1260 model, unibody;
2.4 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 GB (667 MHz) of DDR2 SDRAM, 200 GB
HDD, NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT (256 MB of VRAM), & Mac OS X (El
Capitan v10.11.6)) from early 2008. Its software are too old,
unsupported, and too slow.
Thank you for reading and hopefully answering soon. :)
Hello.
I have a 14 years old old MacBook Pro (15" A1260 model, unibody; 2.4 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 GB (667 MHz) of DDR2 SDRAM, 200 GB HDD, NVIDIA
GeForce 8600M GT (256 MB of VRAM), & Mac OS X (El Capitan v10.11.6))
from early 2008. Its software are too old, unsupported, and too slow.
I'm thinking about replacing them with Linux, but which one would be
suitable for it? I still want basic GUI like web browsing. I remember
trying doing the same for an old PowerBook G4, but I couldn't get its
wifi to work with various Linux installations. I hope this won't happen
again with it.
On 2022-06-15, Ant <ant@zimage.comANT> wrote:
Hello.
I have a 14 years old old MacBook Pro (15" A1260 model, unibody; 2.4 Ghz
Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 GB (667 MHz) of DDR2 SDRAM, 200 GB HDD, NVIDIA
GeForce 8600M GT (256 MB of VRAM), & Mac OS X (El Capitan v10.11.6))
from early 2008. Its software are too old, unsupported, and too slow.
I'm thinking about replacing them with Linux, but which one would be
suitable for it? I still want basic GUI like web browsing. I remember
trying doing the same for an old PowerBook G4, but I couldn't get its
wifi to work with various Linux installations. I hope this won't happen
again with it.
I'm writing this on a 2004-vintage Acer laptop of similar specifications,
a Centrino-based system with 2GB memory and an old OCZ "Vertex" 30GB
SSD I had laying around. I'm running Lubuntu 18.04 on it and performance
is not bad. I expect though if I had left the original slow mechanical
drive in this thing it would be a lot more sluggish.
It can even play youtube videos, albeit in SD. The problem is that 18.04
was the last version to support 32-bit CPUs. I think your Core 2 Duo is 64-bit internally but with a 32-bit data bus. It can run 64-bit software
but with reduced performance compared to a full 64-bit CPU.
If a 32 bit version is preferred, Mageia with xfce4 is an option. See https://www.mageia.org/en-gb/downloads/
Select Live, then Xfce, then 32 bit.
Hello.
I have a 14 years old old MacBook Pro (15" A1260 model, unibody; 2.4 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 GB (667 MHz) of DDR2 SDRAM, 200 GB HDD, NVIDIA
GeForce 8600M GT (256 MB of VRAM), & Mac OS X (El Capitan v10.11.6))
from early 2008. Its software are too old, unsupported, and too slow.
I'm thinking about replacing them with Linux, but which one would be
suitable for it? I still want basic GUI like web browsing. I remember
trying doing the same for an old PowerBook G4, but I couldn't get its
wifi to work with various Linux installations. I hope this won't happen
again with it.
Thank you for reading and hopefully answering soon. :)
On 15/06/2022 19:42, Ant wrote:^^^^
I have a 14 years old old MacBook Pro (15" A1260 model, unibody; 2.4
Ghz
Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 GB (667 MHz) of DDR2 SDRAM,
200 GB HDD, NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT (256 MB of VRAM), & Mac OS X (El
Capitan v10.11.6)) from early 2008. Its software are too old,
unsupported, and too slow. I'm thinking about replacing them with
Linux, but which one would be suitable for it? I still want basic GUI
like web browsing. I remember trying doing the same for an old
PowerBook G4, but I couldn't get its wifi to work with various Linux
installations. I hope this won't happen again with it. Thank you for
reading and hopefully answering soon. :)
In general Mint MATE is easy to install and covers most bases.
Hello.
I have a 14 years old old MacBook Pro (15" A1260 model, unibody; 2.4 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 GB (667 MHz) of DDR2 SDRAM, 200 GB HDD, NVIDIA
GeForce 8600M GT (256 MB of VRAM), & Mac OS X (El Capitan v10.11.6))
from early 2008. Its software are too old, unsupported, and too slow.
I'm thinking about replacing them with Linux, but which one would be
suitable for it? I still want basic GUI like web browsing. I remember
trying doing the same for an old PowerBook G4, but I couldn't get its
wifi to work with various Linux installations. I hope this won't happen
again with it.
Thank you for reading and hopefully answering soon. :)
On Thu, 16 Jun 2022 12:19:44 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
^^^^
On 15/06/2022 19:42, Ant wrote:
I have a 14 years old old MacBook Pro (15" A1260 model, unibody; 2.4
Ghz
Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 GB (667 MHz) of DDR2 SDRAM,
200 GB HDD, NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT (256 MB of VRAM), & Mac OS X (El
Capitan v10.11.6)) from early 2008. Its software are too old,
unsupported, and too slow. I'm thinking about replacing them with
Linux, but which one would be suitable for it? I still want basic GUI
like web browsing. I remember trying doing the same for an old
PowerBook G4, but I couldn't get its wifi to work with various Linux
installations. I hope this won't happen again with it. Thank you for
reading and hopefully answering soon. :)
In general Mint MATE is easy to install and covers most bases.
I don't think even MATE will run smoothly with 2 GB RAM. Itself might,
but after opening only one GUI browser it might already run into a swap
orgy.
If the install media has enough space, install MATE and something
lightweight like Xfce parallel and choose MATE for login first if it
works. If not Xfce.
Hmm, just remember something called Blackbox (or Fluxbox) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackbox> I used on a 512 MB machine in
2004 (the machine was from 1999 or something). Lightweight, but one has
to get used to it. IIRC most actions were performed with the right mouse
key.
On 2022-06-16, David W. Hodgins <dwhodgins@nomail.afraid.org> wrote:
If a 32 bit version is preferred, Mageia with xfce4 is an option. See
https://www.mageia.org/en-gb/downloads/
Select Live, then Xfce, then 32 bit.
I know there are other 32-bit distributions around. I've become accustomed
to Ubuntu variants though since at least for me they tend to "just
work" for the most part. I'll look for something else if this ancient
laptop keeps working long enough. I've gotten too lazy in my old age
for Slackware.
Hello.
I have a 14 years old old MacBook Pro (15" A1260 model, unibody; 2.4 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 GB (667 MHz) of DDR2 SDRAM, 200 GB HDD, NVIDIA
GeForce 8600M GT (256 MB of VRAM), & Mac OS X (El Capitan v10.11.6))
from early 2008. Its software are too old, unsupported, and too slow.
I'm thinking about replacing them with Linux, but which one would be
suitable for it? I still want basic GUI like web browsing. I remember
trying doing the same for an old PowerBook G4, but I couldn't get its
wifi to work with various Linux installations. I hope this won't happen
again with it.
On 16/06/2022 21:36, Andreas Kohlbach wrote:
On Thu, 16 Jun 2022 12:19:44 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:It will run OK but you will of course be more or less limited to one program or browser window at a time. Firefox itself tends to eat up
^^^^
On 15/06/2022 19:42, Ant wrote:
I have a 14 years old old MacBook Pro (15" A1260 model, unibody; 2.4
Ghz
Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 GB (667 MHz) of DDR2 SDRAM,
200 GB HDD, NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT (256 MB of VRAM), & Mac OS X (El
Capitan v10.11.6)) from early 2008. Its software are too old,
unsupported, and too slow. I'm thinking about replacing them with
Linux, but which one would be suitable for it? I still want basic GUI
like web browsing. I remember trying doing the same for an old
PowerBook G4, but I couldn't get its wifi to work with various Linux
installations. I hope this won't happen again with it. Thank you for >>>> reading and hopefully answering soon. :)
In general Mint MATE is easy to install and covers most bases.
I don't think even MATE will run smoothly with 2 GB RAM. Itself might,
but after opening only one GUI browser it might already run into a swap
orgy.
well over 1GB just for starters. No matter what distro you use.
Here right now with thunderbird and firefox both open I am using about 3GB
Closing Firefox knocks it down to 2GB
Having an SSD for swap will help a lot, but of course its not the best
way to run an SSD.
I note that up to 4GB RAM is possible for this 64 bit machine, using
third party 'upgrade kits'. a tenner or so.
SSD is also not expensive.
Given the above, my advice would be to try and boot a live DVD of mint
MATE, and check Wifi works and see if any issues arise,
Then if it looks a way to go, take out the existing drive, upgrade the
RAM to the max and put in an SSD.
Then install MATE. Should be another decade of usefulness...
On 15/06/2022 20.42, Ant wrote:
Hello.
I have a 14 years old old MacBook Pro (15" A1260 model, unibody; 2.4 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 GB (667 MHz) of DDR2 SDRAM, 200 GB HDD, NVIDIA
GeForce 8600M GT (256 MB of VRAM), & Mac OS X (El Capitan v10.11.6))
from early 2008. Its software are too old, unsupported, and too slow.
I'm thinking about replacing them with Linux, but which one would be suitable for it? I still want basic GUI like web browsing. I remember trying doing the same for an old PowerBook G4, but I couldn't get its
wifi to work with various Linux installations. I hope this won't happen again with it.
Do you really believe that Linux, magically,
will make things faster, better?
A modern web browser alone will eat up all
the available RAM in few tabs...
bye,
I have a 14 years old old MacBook Pro (15" A1260 model, unibody; 2.4 Ghz >>> Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 GB (667 MHz) of DDR2 SDRAM, 200 GB HDD, NVIDIA
GeForce 8600M GT (256 MB of VRAM), & Mac OS X (El Capitan v10.11.6))
from early 2008. Its software are too old, unsupported, and too slow.
I'm thinking about replacing them with Linux, but which one would be
suitable for it? I still want basic GUI like web browsing. I remember
trying doing the same for an old PowerBook G4, but I couldn't get its
wifi to work with various Linux installations. I hope this won't happen
again with it.
Do you really believe that Linux, magically,
will make things faster, better?
A modern web browser alone will eat up all
the available RAM in few tabs...
I've run Firefox with with like 6-8 windows (maybe as many as 10-12 tabs total) on a machine with only 2 Gig of RAM (still do [different machine]). I
On 19/06/2022 02.33, Robert Heller wrote:
[...]
I have a 14 years old old MacBook Pro (15" A1260 model, unibody; 2.4 Ghz >>> Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 GB (667 MHz) of DDR2 SDRAM, 200 GB HDD, NVIDIA
GeForce 8600M GT (256 MB of VRAM), & Mac OS X (El Capitan v10.11.6))
from early 2008. Its software are too old, unsupported, and too slow.
I'm thinking about replacing them with Linux, but which one would be
suitable for it? I still want basic GUI like web browsing. I remember
trying doing the same for an old PowerBook G4, but I couldn't get its
wifi to work with various Linux installations. I hope this won't happen >>> again with it.
Do you really believe that Linux, magically,
will make things faster, better?
A modern web browser alone will eat up all
the available RAM in few tabs...
I've run Firefox with with like 6-8 windows (maybe as many as 10-12 tabs total) on a machine with only 2 Gig of RAM (still do [different machine]). I
Oh, come on!
Wasn't enough clear the example?
12 tabs with what? All with heavy javascript,
graphics, animations, videos?
And having also "libreoffice" with some large
document(s) open?
And... And... And...
The point is that the "desktop usage", or
"web browsing" means nothing.
If the system is slow with the current OS,
does not mean that Linux will make it
suddenly faster. By magic.
Clearly, one can strip down everything and
browse the web with "lynx" or "links" or
whatever is that.
Is this what the OP wants?
bye,
At Sun, 19 Jun 2022 12:25:15 +0200 Piergiorgio Sartor? <piergiorgio.sartor.this.should.not.be.used@nexgo.REMOVETHIS.de> wrote:
On 19/06/2022 02.33, Robert Heller wrote:
[...]
I have a 14 years old old MacBook Pro (15" A1260 model, unibody; 2.4 Ghz >>>>> Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 GB (667 MHz) of DDR2 SDRAM, 200 GB HDD, NVIDIA
GeForce 8600M GT (256 MB of VRAM), & Mac OS X (El Capitan v10.11.6)) >>>>> from early 2008. Its software are too old, unsupported, and too slow. >>>>>
I'm thinking about replacing them with Linux, but which one would be >>>>> suitable for it? I still want basic GUI like web browsing. I remember >>>>> trying doing the same for an old PowerBook G4, but I couldn't get its >>>>> wifi to work with various Linux installations. I hope this won't happen >>>>> again with it.
Do you really believe that Linux, magically,
will make things faster, better?
A modern web browser alone will eat up all
the available RAM in few tabs...
I've run Firefox with with like 6-8 windows (maybe as many as 10-12 tabs >>> total) on a machine with only 2 Gig of RAM (still do [different machine]). I
Oh, come on!
Wasn't enough clear the example?
12 tabs with what? All with heavy javascript,
graphics, animations, videos?
Generally not videos, maybe animated ads (depends on what E-bay might be up to). .
And having also "libreoffice" with some large
document(s) open?
I don't use LibrOffice... OTOH, I did use FreeCAD, KiCaD, and Fritzing on the
Lenovo with only 2G and these programs worked reasonably well, as did Gimp. And I did do medium sized C++ compiles and non-trivial LaTeX runs.
And... And... And...
The point is that the "desktop usage", or
"web browsing" means nothing.
If the system is slow with the current OS,
does not mean that Linux will make it
suddenly faster. By magic.
I've only ever used Linux, so I have no clue as to how the machines(s) would work with other O/Ss.
Clearly, one can strip down everything and
browse the web with "lynx" or "links" or
whatever is that.
Is this what the OP wants?
No clue. I was just describing my experience. OTOH, if he keeps he current O/S, he is stuck with out-dated and unsupported O/S, which is probably bad. He would be better (?) off with a modern up-to-date Linux system. Maybe not super fast, but usable for basic web-browsing and light e-Mail.
The idea that one needs a zillion gig of RAM is as silly as the need for a car
< 2 years old. Many people drive cars 10 (or more) years old. The "obsession" with getting a NEW computer every 2 years is insane. There are lots of older machines that are quite usable for most use cases. Not, not so good for heavy gaming or high end office work maybe, but certainly for use for
lightweight use cases.
bye,
If the system is slow with the current OS,
does not mean that Linux will make it
suddenly faster. By magic.
Clearly, one can strip down everything and
browse the web with "lynx" or "links" or
whatever is that.
Hello.--
I have a 14 years old old MacBook Pro (15" A1260 model, unibody; 2.4 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 GB (667 MHz) of DDR2 SDRAM, 200 GB HDD, NVIDIA
GeForce 8600M GT (256 MB of VRAM), & Mac OS X (El Capitan v10.11.6))
from early 2008. Its software are too old, unsupported, and too slow.
I'm thinking about replacing them with Linux, but which one would be
suitable for it? I still want basic GUI like web browsing. I remember
trying doing the same for an old PowerBook G4, but I couldn't get its
wifi to work with various Linux installations. I hope this won't happen
again with it.
Thank you for reading and hopefully answering soon. :)
Thanks to all who answered! I wanted to try a live media before
installing. I couldn't even boot up MBP far with random errors. I used
Rufus, in an updated 64-bit W10 Pro. PC with https://cdimage.debian.org/images/unofficial/non-free/images-including-firmware/11.3.0-live+nonfree/amd64/iso-hybrid/debian-live-11.3.0-amd64-xfce+nonfree.iso,
to make a bootable 8 GB USB flash stick.
Photos: https://matrix.ross154.net/_matrix/media/r0/download/ross154.net/UtCzzdimSDXsSDkejfRsAlPb/ima_9c157e3.jpeg
https://matrix.ross154.net/_matrix/media/r0/download/ross154.net/rEXcninIChudPWCTIOsKTkGT/ima_70e42e4.jpeg
https://matrix.ross154.net/_matrix/media/r0/download/ross154.net/pGRdlmZycRXJoJOrUJsyCHJu/ima_97650d7.jpeg
I tried the same USB flash media on a 2012 MBP, and it had no problems booting up. :/
In comp.os.linux.misc Ant<ant@zimage.comant> wrote:
Hello.Dang HDD's SMART errors & failed tests meaning it's from 2016, heat
I have a 14 years old old MacBook Pro (15" A1260 model, unibody; 2.4 Ghz
Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 GB (667 MHz) of DDR2 SDRAM, 200 GB HDD, NVIDIA
GeForce 8600M GT (256 MB of VRAM), & Mac OS X (El Capitan v10.11.6))
from early 2008. Its software are too old, unsupported, and too slow.
I'm thinking about replacing them with Linux, but which one would be
suitable for it? I still want basic GUI like web browsing. I remember
trying doing the same for an old PowerBook G4, but I couldn't get its
wifi to work with various Linux installations. I hope this won't happen
again with it.
Thank you for reading and hopefully answering soon. :)
wave, body (tired, achy, & noisy), life, etc. Every1 is BUSY! :(
Uhhhhhhhh ... bad SMART test = DO NOT USE !
I'd suggest SCRIPTING those SMART tests weekly at least.
Just run it from root cron, maybe have it send e-mails.
I can provide a fair example of such a script if you really
badly need it (personal/company particulars excluded, of
course)
You can do it all with bash ... basically run the smartctrl
short test on each drive and send the results to a file -
then probe the file for certain keywords and prepare your
final report from the results. I have several boxes that
do it every morning on all drives before biz hours. Some of
the others have web interfaces and run such tests themselves -
so you can just look at the reports. Anyway, a TAD clunky
but WORKS real good. You can smarten-up the tests using
something like a Python script instead, I've got one of
those, makes it easier to find keywords and format/mail
the reports. Simple, crude, gets it done.
Need to smarten-up the reports a bit so they'll ignore
really OLD, usually ATA, errors probably related to
bad shut-downs. The SMART report DOES list power-on
hours ... just gotta compare TODAYS power-on hours
vs when the ATA errors happened. Over, say, 250 hours
diff and it's not worth reporting.
In comp.os.linux.setup 25.BZ959 <25BZ959@nada.net> wrote:
Uhhhhhhhh ... bad SMART test = DO NOT USE !
I'd suggest SCRIPTING those SMART tests weekly at least.
Just run it from root cron, maybe have it send e-mails.
I can provide a fair example of such a script if you really
badly need it (personal/company particulars excluded, of
course)
You can do it all with bash ... basically run the smartctrl
short test on each drive and send the results to a file -
then probe the file for certain keywords and prepare your
final report from the results. I have several boxes that
do it every morning on all drives before biz hours. Some of
the others have web interfaces and run such tests themselves -
so you can just look at the reports. Anyway, a TAD clunky
but WORKS real good. You can smarten-up the tests using
something like a Python script instead, I've got one of
those, makes it easier to find keywords and format/mail
the reports. Simple, crude, gets it done.
Need to smarten-up the reports a bit so they'll ignore
really OLD, usually ATA, errors probably related to
bad shut-downs. The SMART report DOES list power-on
hours ... just gotta compare TODAYS power-on hours
vs when the ATA errors happened. Over, say, 250 hours
diff and it's not worth reporting.
That's a different computer, not 2008 MacBook Pro.
Hello.--
I have a 14 years old old MacBook Pro (15" A1260 model, unibody; 2.4 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 GB (667 MHz) of DDR2 SDRAM, 200 GB HDD, NVIDIA
GeForce 8600M GT (256 MB of VRAM), & Mac OS X (El Capitan v10.11.6))
from early 2008. Its software are too old, unsupported, and too slow.
I'm thinking about replacing them with Linux, but which one would be
suitable for it? I still want basic GUI like web browsing. I remember
trying doing the same for an old PowerBook G4, but I couldn't get its
wifi to work with various Linux installations. I hope this won't happen
again with it.
Thank you for reading and hopefully answering soon. :)
Over the hot weekend, I tried live Debian Bullseye v11.3 (https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current-live/amd64/iso-hybrid/debian-live-11.3.0-amd64-xfce.iso
and https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current-live/amd64/iso-hybrid/debian-live-11.3.0-amd64-standard.iso)
since I didn't want to touch the internal HDD yet. I used 8 GB USB flash stick with non-default DD option in Rufus in an updated 64-bit W10 Pro
PC. Without DD, it wouldn't boot correctly which was weird/odd!
Over the hot weekend, I tried live Debian Bullseye v11.3 (https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current-live/amd64/iso-hybrid/debian-live-11.3.0-amd64-xfce.iso
and https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current-live/amd64/iso-hybrid/debian-live-11.3.0-amd64-standard.iso)
since I didn't want to touch the internal HDD yet. I used 8 GB USB flash stick with non-default DD option in Rufus in an updated 64-bit W10 Pro
PC. Without DD, it wouldn't boot correctly which was weird/odd!
After connecting USB flash drive and pressing command+E when booting up MBP to get its boot drive selection, I had to:
1. At grub's menu, press E to edit kernel parameters.
2. Add "nomodeset" and "loglevel=7", and remove "quiet" before booting. https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxquestions/comments/vdapv9/whats_the_best_lowend_supported_and_updated_linux/idrtbx5/ for the details.
On Mon, 27 Jun 2022 15:13:13 -0400, Ant <ant@zimage.comant> wrote:
Over the hot weekend, I tried live Debian Bullseye v11.3 (https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current-live/amd64/iso-hybrid/debian-live-11.3.0-amd64-xfce.iso
and https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current-live/amd64/iso-hybrid/debian-live-11.3.0-amd64-standard.iso)
since I didn't want to touch the internal HDD yet. I used 8 GB USB flash stick with non-default DD option in Rufus in an updated 64-bit W10 Pro
PC. Without DD, it wouldn't boot correctly which was weird/odd!
It's not really weird. Normally rufus will alter the mbr of the usb stick after copying the iso, to try and make it bootable.
When an iso image is already bootable, those alterations stop it from working as the changes alter what were already correct values.
That's why dd or similar must be used so those values do not get altered.
Interesting. I wonder Rufus doesn't say that.
| Sysop: | Keyop |
|---|---|
| Location: | Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, UK |
| Users: | 294 |
| Nodes: | 16 (2 / 14) |
| Uptime: | 246:46:24 |
| Calls: | 6,626 |
| Calls today: | 2 |
| Files: | 12,175 |
| Messages: | 5,320,794 |
