Dumping Windows.

[KC5AV]

What's a good version of Linux for a computer with a 900 MHz processor and 384 megs of RAM? A buddy of mine wants to take a look at it, and has a spare PC that he wants to install it on.

[pbwalker]

What's a good version of Linux for a computer with a 900 MHz processor and 384 megs of RAM? A buddy of mine wants to take a look at it, and has a spare PC that he wants to install it on.

If you want to get really speedy performance, go with a straight kernel installation and only install the necessary packages. Ubuntu adds a lot (albeit useful ones) to begin with. I'd check out Xubuntu (XFCE interface as opposed to Gnome) too.

[KC5AV]

I tried to install Ubuntu on it, but kept getting an error stating that the BIOS date was too old. I'm going to see if there is a more current BIOS for his motherboard, but I'm not optimistic.

[pbwalker]

I tried to install Ubuntu on it, but kept getting an error stating that the BIOS date was too old. I'm going to see if there is a more current BIOS for his motherboard, but I'm not optimistic.

If it give you the error along the lines of 'BIOS age fails cutoff', try disabling ACPI in the BIOS.
Have you tried the text only install?

[KC5AV]

That's the error it gave. I haven't had time to mess with it since that first shot.

[kd5zex]

What's a good version of Linux for a computer with a 900 MHz processor and 384 megs of RAM? A buddy of mine wants to take a look at it, and has a spare PC that he wants to install it on.

Try arch linux, you pick the packages you want/need post install so there is little bloat.
------------
For all the Slackware defectors out there.

Slackware forever!! I honestly don't know what I would do if I didn't have to spend hours getting my ATI Raedon working again after a glibc update. I popped in an OpenSuse live CD the other day (after a kernel recompile of course as I can not taint my uptime with frivolous reboots) and I was bored because it auto-detected the Raedon, loaded the correct drivers, configured the X server and the acceleration was enabled by simply ticking a box. Pfft, kids these days...