04-19-2014, 09:32 PM
So.... I thought I would try to run a LiveCD session of Linux Lite on the older of my two laptops. It is a Dell Inspiron 8600 with an Intel Pentium M 1.5GHz CPU and 512Gb of RAM. Old, but not ancient, and it works fine with XP (I'm not into gaming or other heavy-demand high-speed usage).
Didn't get past first base. The live session wouldn't load. Instead I got a message which said "This kernel requires the following features not present on the CPU: pae. Unable to boot - please use a kernel appropriate for your CPU".
Now as far as I am concerned a kernel is what you find inside a nut. That's all.
Do I conclude that I can't run, or install, Linux Lite on this computer? Period? Or if I do want to run some sort of Linux OS, do I have to go for one that is as old and obsolete as the laptop seems to be? If so that's depressing. I had until now believed that Linux would work well on older machines that were unable to cope with increasingly resource-hungry versions of the Windows OS.
Is there a way forward that doesn't require serious geek qualifications? I just want to get an alternative to XP which works more-or-less straight off. Like wanting to drive a car just by sitting in it, turning on the ignition, and using the controls in front of me - not having to tune the engine, adjust the carbs, and fiddle with the spark plugs before I even turn the key!
I am still trying to be optimistic about Linux, and I'm keen to learn. But I can only work with the hardware I've got, and it isn't looking easy at the moment...
Didn't get past first base. The live session wouldn't load. Instead I got a message which said "This kernel requires the following features not present on the CPU: pae. Unable to boot - please use a kernel appropriate for your CPU".
Now as far as I am concerned a kernel is what you find inside a nut. That's all.
Do I conclude that I can't run, or install, Linux Lite on this computer? Period? Or if I do want to run some sort of Linux OS, do I have to go for one that is as old and obsolete as the laptop seems to be? If so that's depressing. I had until now believed that Linux would work well on older machines that were unable to cope with increasingly resource-hungry versions of the Windows OS.
Is there a way forward that doesn't require serious geek qualifications? I just want to get an alternative to XP which works more-or-less straight off. Like wanting to drive a car just by sitting in it, turning on the ignition, and using the controls in front of me - not having to tune the engine, adjust the carbs, and fiddle with the spark plugs before I even turn the key!
I am still trying to be optimistic about Linux, and I'm keen to learn. But I can only work with the hardware I've got, and it isn't looking easy at the moment...