Reviving an old PC with Linux?

iamthefurnace · Dec 15, 2013

I have an old PC with an Athlon 64 CPU that I want to just try. I took the hard drive out and formatted it to use in my own system, but as I want to try to boot into linux, I will use that empty drive to do so.

How would I be able to run Linux on the old PC with an empty hard drive? Is there a way I can install it onto the hard drive on my current PC, install it to the old one, and have it work?

I would not steer towards CD installation if not needed.

Thanks!

chamaecyparis · Dec 15, 2013

iamthefurnace :

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NTFS cannot be used to install Linux.

SystemRescueCD is recommended to be used to prepare a hard drive for use by a GNU/Linux distro. It contains many tools, including gparted, for such work.

Suggest trying Zenwalk, to begin with.

A minimum of 512MB RAM is my rule of thumb, for usability.

CDs will prove very hard to do without.

Best wishes!

stillblue · Dec 16, 2013

iamthefurnace :

You do not have to have a hard drive to run most versions of linux. They offer a live version which can run from dvd/cd or USB. If you can boot from the USB you should be fine.

It would be preferable to install linux using the machine that will use it as it then can configure the hardware accordingly but it is possible to do it using another computer. Your first choice should be to download and burn a dvd copy of what you want to use and then use that to install it to a USB flash of minimum 4GB. Or you could use a USB installer in windows such as unetbootin to install from the ISO. Install and burn are the operative words, copy is not the same thing and will not work.

If you still want to install direct onto the drive using another computer then check back with us.

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Reviving an old PC with Linux?

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