<div dir="ltr">Hi Derek-<div><br>I've had problems before when trying to run Linux on a box with S3 Unichrome graphics, in that they are pretty terrible graphics cards and modern desktops tend to require decent GPU support for the fancy effects (Windows 7 is no different).</div>
<div><br></div><div>I'd suggest, given the specs of the machine, that you try a more lightweight distro. You have many (many, many...) options, but here are a few:-</div><div><ul><li>Lubuntu (Ubuntu remix with the LXDE desktop)</li>
<li>Xubuntu (Ubuntu remix with the XFCE desktop)</li><li>Linux Mint MATE (Mint is closely related to Ubuntu. MATE is their fork of the older Gnome 2 desktop) <a href="http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=2627">http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=2627</a></li>
<li>Linux Mint XFCE (Mint with XFCE, obviously)</li></ul><div>Of these, I'd recommend Mint/MATE by personal preference, and I think it's the most beginner-friendly of the above ... but you can download and burn live CD's or USBs for all of these and try them out without installing</div>
</div><div><br></div><div>If you only have access to a working Windows machine at the moment, you can use UNetBootin to make bootable USB sticks - <a href="http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/">http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/</a></div>
<div><br></div><div>(Note, for some of the Mint versions above, you may need to download the ISO and then tell UNetBootin to use it. I don't know if it includes the various Mint versions in the distros that it knows about).</div>
<div><br></div><div>Good luck!</div><div><br></div><div>John</div><div><br></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On 3 September 2014 15:06, <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:amanglo@utvinternet.com" target="_blank">amanglo@utvinternet.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><u></u>
<div>
<div align="left"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12pt">Hello,</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12pt"> </span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12pt">A complete Linux novice, I recently installed ubuntu 14.04 LTS (from Live CD
purchased from Canonical) - and downloaded 330.2 Mb of updates - on my desktop.
The idea was to remove dependence on XP, which was done very effectively as XP
was wiped completely by the installation of ubuntu. This was unintended - the
hoped-for result was to have XP and ubuntu 'side by side'.</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12pt"><br>
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12pt">The ubuntu program operates VERY slowly, often in jerks. Everything - typing,
browsing, opening and closing programs - is ultra-slow.</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12pt"><br>
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12pt">If anyone can suggest a fix I shall be grateful.</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12pt"><br>
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12pt">The PC details are:</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12pt">AMD64 Athlon processor, 3.2 GHz. 120Gb hard disc. 4Gb installed RAM. Graphics
card VIA S3 UniChrome Pro KT8237.</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12pt"><br>
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12pt">Selecting "System Settings" > "Details" produces -</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12pt">Memory 1.4Gb</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12pt"><br>
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12pt">Entering 'top' at the terminal produces - kiB Memory 1468416, kiB Swap 1505276, </span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12pt"><br>
</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12pt">Thanks - Derek</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12pt">Graphics Gallium 0.4 on llvmpipe (LLVM 3.4, 128 bits)</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12pt">Processor AMD Athlon (tm) 64 3200+</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12pt">OS Type 64 bit</span></font></div>
<div align="left"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12pt">Disk 119.4 Gb</span></font></div>
<div align="left"> </div>
</div>
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<br></blockquote></div><br></div>