Re: [lubuntu-users] Using Pentium 3 Machines on Lubuntu

[Aere Greenway]

On 05/13/2017 03:28 PM, Ian Bruntlett wrote:

Hi All,

I, too, am chasing down a problem with Firefox on Lubuntu problem. It 
keeps on crashing with SIGILL (illegal instruction). Now it is late, 
I'm off to bed but I do have a couple of insights.


* If you are running a GUI based programme and it fails to start 
correctly, fire up a terminal and run it from there. You might see 
some useful error messages.


* If you are left without a functioning web-browser, do a "sudo 
apt-get install lynx" in a terminal (removing the quote marks) and 
then use lynx, a text based web browser, to access the Internet.


* If Firefox is giving problems, start it in a terminal with the 
command "firefox --debug" (again, removing the quotes). This starts it 
in a debugger. I'm going to explore this further tomorrow and will try 
to provide more helpful info about this.


BW,


Ian



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Ian:

The Windows version of Firefox, running on Lubuntu using wine, installed 
using winetricks, works well enough for what I need.  This version of 
Firefox does not crash on Pentium 3 machines.


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Aere

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Re: [lubuntu-users] Using Pentium 3 Machines on Lubuntu

[Ian Bruntlett]

Hi All,

I, too, am chasing down a problem with Firefox on Lubuntu problem. It keeps
on crashing with SIGILL (illegal instruction). Now it is late, I'm off to
bed but I do have a couple of insights.

* If you are running a GUI based programme and it fails to start correctly,
fire up a terminal and run it from there. You might see some useful error
messages.

* If you are left without a functioning web-browser, do a "sudo apt-get
install lynx" in a terminal (removing the quote marks) and then use lynx, a
text based web browser, to access the Internet.

* If Firefox is giving problems, start it in a terminal with the command
"firefox --debug" (again, removing the quotes). This starts it in a
debugger. I'm going to explore this further tomorrow and will try to
provide more helpful info about this.

BW,


Ian



-- 
-- ACCU - Professionalism in programming - http://www.accu.org
-- My writing - https://sites.google.com/site/ianbruntlett/
-- Free Software page -
https://sites.google.com/site/ianbruntlett/home/free-software
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Re: [lubuntu-users] Using Pentium 3 Machines on Lubuntu

[Aere Greenway]

On 05/13/2017 05:25 AM, Ralf Mardorf wrote:

On Sat, 13 May 2017 11:32:21 +0200, Basil Fernie wrote:

On Mon, 8 May 2017 20:54:00 -0600 Aere Greenway wrote:

But on attempting to browse the web (using Firefox) to download my
latest music software, the browser crashes!

I tried Chromium, and it also crashes.

I tried Qupzilla, and Midori, and they, too, crashed.

I remember that I had noticed browser crashes when I tested Lubuntu
16.10, as well.

Maybe an older version of Opera, somewhere between 9 and 12, before
they (temporarily) deserted Linux...

Hi,

without troubleshooting, what makes you think that the browsers are the
culprits?

Do we know how much RAM is available?

I don't think just about how much RAM is displayed by e.g.

   $ sudo hwinfo --memory

and/or

   $ free

etc., but what actually does running   Memtest 86+   for several passes
display?

Is there any output when running Firefox, Chromium, Qupzilla and Midori
from command line and/or in   ~/.xsession-errors  ?

There are tons of other possible culprits as well! E.g. is the HDD or
SSD intact?

Not the best guides, but starting points:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/TroubleShootingGuide
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Troubleshooting
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LinuxLogFiles
https://www.linux.com/learn/troubleshooting-command-line-tips-linux-beginners

Regards,
Ralf


Ralf:

Thank you for your insight.

The machine has 512 megabytes of RAM, and the only thing I was running 
was the Internet browser, which I was always able to do in the past.


I had assumed the system was fine, having run my other tests.  In these 
cases (where I upgraded), I didn't need to browse the Internet to 
install the application.


Internet browsers do have high RAM requirements, so your idea is 
reasonable.


The browser I first tried was Firefox, which crashed.

The browser I got to work (the Windows version, using Wine) was also 
Firefox.


In earlier testing (on 16.10), I installed a version of the ZynAddSubFX 
synthesizer from the Debian unstable repository, which worked on all my 
other machines, but crashed on this particular machine.  In looking at 
the problem report (from apport), as I recall, it was because of an 
illegal instruction (attempt to use a machine language instruction the 
hardware does not support).


So I was assuming it was the same problem with the browser.

That viewpoint is probably more likely, where in using Firefox 
successfully on Lubuntu 16.04 earlier, but now with the latest updates, 
it always crashes.


I probably should try it again, and see what the detailed crash report 
says.  I did submit the original crash report.


--
Sincerely,
Aere


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Re: [lubuntu-users] Using Pentium 3 Machines on Lubuntu

[Ralf Mardorf]

PS:
>>On Mon, 8 May 2017 20:54:00 -0600 Aere Greenway wrote:  
>>> But on attempting to browse the web (using Firefox) to download my 
>>> latest music software, the browser crashes!  

Do they crash when browsing and/or downloading? If they crash during a
download, are you downloading to a tmpfs?

If so, run

  df | grep tmpfs

to see if tmpfs still provides free space. By default it's limited to
half of the available RAM. You could enlarge it by a fstab entry.
e.g.

tmpfs  /tmp  tmpfs nodev,nosuid,size=3G  0 0
    add the path ;). ^^
 ^^ replace this with a size
 smaller than the available
 memory ;).

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Re: [lubuntu-users] Using Pentium 3 Machines on Lubuntu

[Basil Fernie]

On Mon, 8 May 2017 20:54:00 -0600
Aere Greenway  wrote:

> Lubuntu Users:
> 
> I noticed in the minimum system requirements for Lubuntu 17.04, that a 
> Pentium 4, or perhaps a Pentium M is required.
> 
> I have two Pentium 3 machines, on which I successfully tested Lubuntu 
> 16.10, and later upgraded them to 17.04.
> 
> These machines passed my basic sequence of tests, using them as music 
> workstations.  I concluded that Lubuntu works (for my music software) on 
> Pentium 3 machines.
> 
> But on attempting to browse the web (using Firefox) to download my 
> latest music software, the browser crashes!
> 
> I tried Chromium, and it also crashes.
> 
> I tried Qupzilla, and Midori, and they, too, crashed.
> 
> I remember that I had noticed browser crashes when I tested Lubuntu 
> 16.10, as well.
> 
> So I figured that the reason a Pentium 4 is required for Lubuntu 17.04, 
> has to do with the lack of a working browser.
> 
> I then concluded I would just have to use Lubuntu 16.04 on these 
> machines until its support runs out.  But on testing this, I find that 
> with a fully updated Lubuntu 16.04 machine, when I try to run Firefox on 
> a Pentium 3 machine, it crashes!
> 
> Does anyone have any more information on this?  I am curious.
> 
> But then, not wanting to throw these machines away, though probably more 
> from being stubborn, I found a way to make the Firefox browser work on 
> Lubuntu 17.04!
> 
> I discovered that if I installed wine, and winetricks, I could install 
> the Windows version of Firefox (using winetricks), and it would run 
> without crashing!  It even puts a launcher for it on the desktop.
> 
> Currently, it won't play videos or audio files (I may yet be able to 
> tweak it to succeed at this).  But I can usually download the file 
> (right-click, then Save Link As...), and then browse to where it was 
> downloaded (with the file browser) and then use the file normally under 
> Linux.
> 
> Perhaps some of you out there may find this information useful.
> 
> -- 
> Sincerely,
> Aere
> 
> 
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Maybe an older version of Opera, somewhere between 9 and 12, before they 
(temporarily) deserted Linux...

-- 
Basil Fernie 

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