It doesn't sound like an OS issue, it sounds like an install issue, I am wondering if he did Install release, which would permanently install Ubuntu to his hard drive thus affecting his ability to install over Ubuntu or run a live version of it.  

I would only recommend switching to a different distro based upon his experience in Linux...clearly the desktop experience is different with Ubuntu then Centos.   Personally I like the ease of Ubuntu and use it as my desktop, however in terms of security, and ability to manipulate program's, I like Cento's alot better, but it isn't as smooth, and you need to use terminal in Cento's, unlike Ubuntu.  

I WOULD NEVER ADVOCATE GOING BACK TO XP.


----- Original Message -----
From: "Sunny" <sloncho at gmail.com>
To: "TCLUG Mailing List" <tclug-list at mn-linux.org>
Sent: Tuesday, August 3, 2010 9:49:37 AM GMT -06:00 US/Canada Central
Subject: Re: [tclug-list] Ubuntu Live CD Fails

On Tue, Aug 3, 2010 at 9:38 AM, Justin Kremer <justin.kremer at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Tue, Aug 3, 2010 at 8:57 AM, Jason Hsu, embedded engineer, Linux
> user <jhsu802701 at jasonhsu.com> wrote:
>> Do you have at least 512 MB of RAM?  Given that the computer came with Windows 2000, I think there's a good chance that it doesn't, in which case it has no business running Ubuntu.  In my opinion, Ubuntu is bloatware.  It has its merits, but running on very old computers is not one of them.  Ubuntu is roughly as resource-hungry as Windows XP.
>
> I really don't think that was necessary.  Your opinion may be that
> Ubuntu is bloatware, but that does not give any actual reason for why
> he would be unable to boot from a live CD for troubleshooting and
> recovery purposes.  Especially considering that Ubuntu's website
> specifically states that the minimum requirement for a desktop system
> is 64MB of RAM.  (They also state that 512 is recommended, but that
> doesn't mean the system won't boot without it.)

Ubuntu will run on 64MB, provided you have swap. On the other hand,
the installer will not, unless there is already a swap partition to
use. Even lubuntu installer chocked on a 128 MB laptop. I had to boot
system resque cd (http://www.sysresccd.org/), shrink the existing win
partition to free some space, and create swap in the free space. After
that, I was able to start the lubuntu live/installer, as it had swap
space to use.


Cheers

-- 
Svetoslav Milenov (Sunny)

Artificial Intelligence is no match for natural stupidity.

_______________________________________________
TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota
tclug-list at mn-linux.org
http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list