Older Debian Linux version hangs when detecting hardware
I have an older Debian Linux version that came with Corel WordPerfect 8,
and it had been working satisfactorily on my somewhat ancient 170MHz
Pentium computer system with 128Mb RAM, but Lilo stopped working about a
year ago. Despite several attempts, I've been unable to run it since
this happened. I then tried installing other Linux versions, but none
would work. I am trying to reinstall the Corel/Debian disc but it (a)
will not run the floppy disk intall, because the floppy disks are giving
a "Floppy disks fail" error on bootup (they appear to work normally when
Windows 98 is booted up and running, however!) When I try to install
from the CD only, the CD boots up, and starts the installation but hangs
up after it reaches "Detecting Hardware" (item 3 on the startup menu). I
also tried making a new boot diskette in a different computer from the
CD and this is not working either. The original boot diskette does not
work either. I want to use this version because it will run in 128Mb
RAM, while Ubuntu requires 256MB minimum as doe most other distributions
I've tried. I also want to run Corel WordPerfect 8, as it has features
that are not available in OpenOffice or other word-processing programs
I've tried. The computer is networked and is capable of accessing the
Internet.
Is there a utility program that can determine the faulty system
component and/or install Linux without that component working?
Any other suggestions welcome, but don't talk computerese, please!
Martin Willcocks
Taylorsville, UT. USA.
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