FLYER Forums

I have an old Acer one notebook that has never been used. I want to use it as a simple email, web viewer and ethernet connection checker. But I face a Catch 22 situation that the browser on it is Internet Explorer 8 which doent work with modern web pages . All browsers I try to load need a working browser to install them and also I cannot seem to load from a pen drive.
Am I wasting my time or is there some way to load a simple browser into this machine that will read modern web pages?
With aircraft in bits I have lots of spare time!!

Pat

Stick a simple Linux build on it (you could even create a bootable Linux USB stick if you're worried about wiping what's already on it ... I used to use this when I had a horribly locked down corporate issue laptop)

Download the full Chrome or Firefox install image on another PC and copy it over on a USB stick to run it. You need the full install, not the stub that is the default download

But a good Linux desktop would be faster! The modern desktops even look like Windows...


KE

I think Ubuntu Linux is still free, they issue a new release ~ every 3 years and constantly issue updates it all self-installs, either over the net, or on a free CD. support for any version continues for several years after it's superseded. There are loads of add-ons to choose from....browsers, I use Firefox and Opera (didn't like Chrome) Open office,, shotwell handles photos, vlc media-player...... It all just seems to work, no "blue screen of death" if it seizes -up t all,I just turn it off, reboot and all's good in the world. It supports any printer or all-in-one . I really don't know much about the intricasies of software installation or configuration /maintenance and don't need to. the bonuses? It's all free and virus attacks are almost non-existent.

I totally agree with other replies, the last Windoze I used, was 98. went to xp on a dual-boot when i had a RC-model flight-sim (had a dalliance with RC Helicopters) -it was one of the few things that Linux wouldn't work with and that's the only reason XP was ever booted!.

townleyc wrote:Download the full Chrome or Firefox install image on another PC and copy it over on a USB stick to run it. You need the full install, not the stub that is the default download

This. Yes.

townleyc wrote:But a good Linux desktop would be faster! The modern desktops even look like Windows...

Would it? I bought a netbook with some version is Linux on it. It was slow. Any more than four tabs in a browser would bring it to a grinding halt. I wiped it and put XP on and it speeded up greatly. It's still running XP, still running well. I have a similar spec netbook which came with Windows 7. It was a lot slower until I recently bought a RAM upgrade from 1GB to 2GB (for about £2.50 delivered, ebay!) and now it's reasonably ok. Windows 7 uses about 1GB just to run itself before you start loading other programs, so don't be tempted to upgrade from XP!

Paul_Sengupta wrote:

townleyc wrote:Download the full Chrome or Firefox install image on another PC and copy it over on a USB stick to run it. You need the full install, not the stub that is the default download

This. Yes.

Afraid it won't help. The root certificates are part of the OS and the XP ones haven't been updated for years now. You could spend hours and hours trying to fix this but it's not worth the effort.

And even after you've done all that, you're still running a legacy unpatched OS.

My recommendation for a lightweight Linux with a good GUI is Linux Mint:-

https://www.linuxmint.com

Thank you for all the replies
Looks like Linux is the way to go, which is alien country for me!

Old machine so nothing to lose except time, which I have lots of at the moment

Pat

Presume you've got access to a working machine?

If so, grab a tool called 'rufus' and a spare USB stick.

Download whichever Linux distro you want to try (I recommend Mint as per above), then launch Rufus, choose the Linux image you downloaded, point it at the USB stick and hit go.

On your laptop, just boot off the USB stick. You can actually boot most Linuxes straight off the USB stick to have a play - you don't need to install them first. Once you've found one you like, you can then make it permanent.

We have raspberry pi machines running linux in a few crew rooms at work for staff to check emails / browse web .... I suspect most don't realise they are not a windows machine. Google Chrome looks the same, and largely works the same.

Brilliant!!

After a few false starts it is running Linux Mint Cinnamon. This appears to provide everything I needed and more. Considering moving Linux to the hard drive so it becomes a dedicated machine. Thank you all.
Pat

One upgrade you could probably do for about 30-40 quid is to swap the hard drive for an SSD. That would absolutely transform the performance.

I have Mint running on an old laptop (from 2010) and it runs fine on a hard drive. Only thing I don't like is the lack of an easy upgrade to a newer version of mint. The lightweight Xfce GUI is superb, and pretty much Windows like.
Bit of a pain setting up WiFi

KE