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[bennettbrian]

I am hoping to spare a 10-year old HP Pavilion notebook from retirement (RAM: 128MB, HD: 6GB, Processor: 467 MHz) that is currently running Windows 98. My hope is that the lean std VL would run fasterr than Win 98 so I could use it for Internet browsing only. Before committing, I wanted to see VL by booting the 5.8 Beryl-edition standard Live CD. However, I receive the following during the boot:

Corrupted graphics. Only the lower portion of the splash screen with the words Beryl Edition are legible. Everything above that is not.

Messages:
Welcome to VectorLinux Live CD.
Hit Enter to continue booting
or press F1 for more boot options…

Unknown keyword in config file.
Unknown keyword in config file.
Could not find kernel image: linux

From other posts, I suspect this has to do with the age of the machine and Vector's support for the CD. Hence, I have the following questions:

1. I'm presented with a 'boot:' prompt. Are there commands I could issue to get the machine to boot from the CD? Or is Live CD a lost-cause for this machine?
2. The corrupted graphics worries me. Could this mean this machine wouldn't support VL graphics?
3. I could double the RAM (to 256) Mb for very little cost. If I did this, do you think VL would run acceptably well on this machine for Internet browsing?
4. The disk is an IDE-connected drive. Would I anticipate that VL would support this?

[uelsk8s]

try typing vesa at the boot prompt and see how it does

[lagagnon]

1. I'm presented with a 'boot:' prompt. Are there commands I could issue to get the machine to boot from the CD? Or is Live CD a lost-cause for this machine?

Most Live CD's running the X server require 256MB to boot properly - but try uelsk8s suggestion, it might work, it might not.

2. The corrupted graphics worries me. Could this mean this machine wouldn't support VL graphics?

No VL will work, try last poster's suggestion.

3. I could double the RAM (to 256) Mb for very little cost. If I did this, do you think VL would run acceptably well on this machine for Internet browsing?

Yes, very well.

4. The disk is an IDE-connected drive. Would I anticipate that VL would support this?

Yes.

[bennettbrian]

lagagnon & uelsk8s: Thanks for your responses. Entering 'vesa' (w/o the quotes) in response to the 'boot:' prompt does not work, but I'm not going to pursue trying to get Live CD to load with the current memory (128MB.) Instead, I'm going to get the additional RAM and then go ahead and install VL. Thanks again!

[rbistolfi]

Something that may help is booting with the cli option and try to start X from the console for troubleshooting. My friend John gave me an HP Omnibook 900 and 5.9 runs great on it. It has a 650mb cpu and 311mb of ram, wich is the max for this machine. I think you will be just fine   with some extra ram.