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presto linux

Presto! In ten seconds, you've got an Internet desktop.

gnowk
Sun, 03 May 2009 10:49:14 +0000

neato

charlie
Sun, 03 May 2009 10:50:53 +0000

Have you guys tried it yet?

I'm downloading it now. I'm going to test their theory that it will work on older and slower computer. I have a perfect candidate . . . Sony VAIO PCG-505R SuperSlim . . . it has a 233 MHz processor. Think it'll work?

Chieh Cheng
Sun, 03 May 2009 10:55:58 +0000

Just installed and rebooted the computer. Then I selected Xandros Presto at the Windows Boot Manager. Unfortunately, I got the following error message:

This kernel requires the following features not present on the CPU:
cmov
Unable to boot - please use a kernel appropriate for your CPU.

That's sad. Looks like Presto won't be running on my older computers after all.

Chieh Cheng
Sun, 03 May 2009 11:29:43 +0000

I sent a support e-mail via this page: Support and System Requirements. That page also list the system requirements as follows:

# A desktop or laptop PC running a valid copy of Windows XP or Vista.
# Windows File System must be NTFS without disk encryption
# Require 3.5GB of free space
# Require 512MB RAM
# Presto cannot be installed on systems with SCSI or RAID hard disks.
# The Presto download is 463mb

Doesn't say what's the minimum processor. So it's hard to tell what's the oldest processor that Presto will run on.

Chieh Cheng
Sun, 03 May 2009 11:40:40 +0000

Quite an interesting idea. My brother-in-law gave me a copy of Windows Unbuntu which does essentially the same thing as Presto. Now I'm curious to see how fast the boot and connect to Internet is.

SpChess
Thu, 07 May 2009 05:52:01 +0000

I filed a Presto support ticket. After several e-mails back and forth and sending them the hardware report of my computer, they responded that the CPU on my computer is too old:

"Error message at the boot time indicates that your CPU is old and it cannot support this command. Command to boot Presto can not be handled by your CPU and hence resulting into this error. As a temporary workaround, try to connect your hard drive to other newer computer and check."

That's too bad, because Presto is being marketed to run well on older CPU's. After all, Windows XP runs on this 233 MHz CPU just fine. Of course, I understand that it's probably too much to ask Presto to run on a 8086 or a Z80, but what's the oldest CPU it'd run on? Presto didn't specify in the system requirements as mentioned earlier. So I asked and I am waiting for an answer.

Chieh Cheng
Wed, 20 May 2009 18:35:28 +0000

what a bummer...

it looks like cmov is part of the i686 instruction set, which was introduced in the Pentium Pro.

http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/peripherals-hardware/126227 . . .

http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=36536

several linux distros require this as well. wonder why.

gnowk
Wed, 20 May 2009 21:15:00 +0000

sad, considering crank-powered laptop (OLPC) can probably run it.

charlie
Wed, 20 May 2009 23:28:57 +0000

After quite a few e-mails back-and-forth with Presto's tech support, I finally got a satisfactory answer:

"Presto installation was tested with oldest laptops with 900Mhz processor. Your system has 128MB of RAM and a 233Mhz processor and it is a untested processor configuration."

Chieh Cheng
Tue, 02 Jun 2009 20:48:40 +0000

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Title: Presto, And you're online !
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Excerpt: Just the other day, I was thinking about the Quick start option on my netbook which allows me to connect to the net in an instant without having to boot up Windows. It is a nifty little option which makes getting online a painless process. Too bad, it is available only on a range of Netbooks� or is . . .
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