Installing Linus on an old Toshiba laptop?

Well, the first thing you need to realize is that Linux is open source – the source code is publicly available and free for anyone to edit.

This means that anyone who knows how to can take it and build his own operating system using the Linux core.

This in turn means that there are many different versions (“distributions”) of Linux. If it’s a really old laptop then you’ll probably have to take a distribution that’s tailored towards older computers, but that will mostly mean that it will be a lot more difficult to set up.

If you could post specifications of the laptop we could recommend you a distribution :)

Do it…. its really the best way to revive an old laptop, and if you want the least hassle (set up wise) use ubuntu (http://www.ubuntu.com/). But a warning is, linux can have quite a steep learning curve at times, so approach with caution. This is the minimum for Ubuntu: “Ubuntu is available for PC, 64-Bit and Mac architectures. At least 256 MB of RAM is required to run the desktop install CD. Install requires at least 4 GB of disk space.” ... good luck.

Youch – did I mention really old laptop? 32 MB RAM type of old… I’ll go fire it up and get more technical data… thanks for the info!

32 MB RAM? Well, good luck :P

Personally I know of two distributions that are aiming for really low-spec machines: Puppy Linux and Damn Small Linux. Looking at their webpages though, I think you’re going to have to go through a lot of trouble to install them ;-)

well, it’s a good little machine so I think it deserves the shot :)
thanks for the tips & expect me back beggin’ for more!!

puppy’s great.