Crash with XP host and PCLinuxOS guest

[David0088]

Computer: Asus 1000HE, Intel Atom , 1.66 GHz, PAE, 32 bit, 2 cores, 1 GB memory, 60 GB hard disks (2), no other storage
Host: Windows XP Home SP3
Guest: pclinuxos-mate-2014.12.iso
VirtualBox Settings: Other Linux (32 bit), Base Memory: 128 MB, Execution cap: 71%, Boot to CD
Behavior: Successful startup and display of ISO splash screen, after default live start, various crashes in guest VM, depending on VB settings. I tried 128, 256, and 512 MB memory. With 512 MB, log file shows "Host memory low". With 128 MB, log file shows "OHCI: Software reset". Screen sometimes shows "general protection fault: 0000 [#1] SMP" followed by a crash dump.
Also tried installing Linux from the ISO file. Similar crashes occur.

[loukingjr]

I seriously doubt you can get a contemporary version of PCLOS running as a guest on a computer with only 1GB of RAM. First of all you should only assign approx. 50% of the hosts available RAM to a guest which in your case would be approx. 256MBs.

fwiw, the template should be Mandriva 32bit, not that it matters. I think the minimum recommended RAM for the Mate version is 1GB

[David0088]

Thank you for stating "a contemporary version of PCLOS". Linux distros like PCLinuxOS don't state this limitation.

Can anyone recommend a suitable free version of Linux with a Windows-like desktop that I can run on this 1 GB memory computer, please?

I thought that VirtualBox would run just about any OS under just about any other OS, but I guess that was my misunderstanding. I don't see this limitation explained on this website.

Thanks,
David

[loukingjr]

VirtualBox can run just about any OS under Windows, Linux or OSX. That's not the problem. You just have so little memory to run anything on.

Here's a few ideas: http://www.tecmint.com/linux-distributi ... computers/

[David0088]

loukingjr, Perfect! Thanks.

[loukingjr]

no problem. you might be able to run Lubuntu in 384MB + 20MBs of VRAM but I've never tried it.

[David0088]

Oh, not so perfect. It's an old article and these OSes are either obsolete or require too much memory. Why can't Linux use virtual memory, so it can fit into 100-200 MB of physical memory under VirtualBox?

[Perryg]

Get damn small linux. It works in that amount of memory.

[loukingjr]

I didn't mention DSL because I don't think it's very "Window's like". But, if the OP is comfortasble with Fluxbox or JWM it may be a good option.