Fossilized Hardware + Linux Lite = SUCCESS!

[theStreak]

Just thought I'd drop by here to share my little success story with all of you Linux Lite fans. Being a satisfied Linux Mint / MATE ("mah-tay") user, (I use it daily on my primary laptop), I was somewhat disappointed yesterday afternoon to find that I couldn't use the same on the seriously old hardware that I was recently forced into using as my "new" HTPC running Kodi. Yep, my prior 12+ year old Dell Dimension 2400 kind of bit the dust (at least until I can afford a new PSU for it) over a month ago and I've since considered just about everything short of committing a crime to obtain a replacement system -- all to no avail (BTW, the Dell is configured with a 2.4ghz P4 CPU, 1.5 gbytes memory and an added Nvidia Geforce 8400 GS "Verto" PCI graphics card w/512 mbytes memory). Fact is, I can't live without my HTPC and so something had to give. Well yesterday, I finally decided to accept the inevitable and attempt to recommission the "fossil" that I was using as my development computer PRIOR to purchasing the Dell. It's a self-built "tower" consisting of a Gigabyte GA-7VT600-L motherboard with just 1G of memory, an AMD Athalon XP CPU and an ATI Radeon 8500 GPU (if memory serves). Although both desktops are of similar age, I believe the Dell was the more powerful of the two systems but even it would be considered a mere "calculator" by today's standards...

So, yesterday afternoon, when I attempted to install Linux Mint on the fossil, it got half way through the install and the installer app just suddenly closed. Most likely it crashed because there was just too little memory available. "Well," I thought, "that's that!" and I started to just accept that I might have to resort to robbing a bank after all, and then, realizing how poorly I'd likely fare behind bars, I decided to do a little research into some lighter distributions that might just run better on this hardware. Thereafter, I remembered hearing others some months ago recommending Linux Lite and so I burned a live DVD of it and began installing it. I'm happy to say that the install of Linux Lite went without a hitch and the fossil is now proving itself to be a functioning member of the non-extinct. The only issue I encountered at all was that Kodi refused to run, apparently due to the fossilization of the ATI graphics card itself and luckily, I came across a forum post where the solution to a similar problem was resolved by setting the following in the terminal prior to running Kodi:

Code:

export MESA_GL_VERSION_OVERRIDE=3.0

Here's the thread where that glorious hint was found: http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=220055

So in summary, Linux Lite saved the day, and as a result, the members of my household will soon once again be enjoying the fruits of the Kodi media center (that is, once I obtain a VGA to HDMI adapter). Thanks again for fixing my problem and all the best to Linux Lite, its development team and to its many fans!

[Valtam]

Thank you for sharing your story theStreak