Linux Help

Hey guys, I put Ubutu on this old system but it was too slow so I thought Debian might have lower overhead. I put debian on there and cant install because it cant mount drivers for the CD-ROM. Any sugestions?

Can you list the specs of the system? I just need to get an idea of how old this system is so I can recommend you a distro or a desktop enviroment for a distro you're familiar with so you can have a fast system

Debian uses GNOME by default which is roughly the same resource usage as Unity (and KDE) so it wont be any faster unless you install a low resource desktop enviroment such as Lxde

I think it has an AMD Sempron, just an E machine

I see, so I looked at e-machines computers that have that CPU and found most to have around 1-2 gb of ram it seems. That's really not that much, so maybe try Lubuntu and see how that goes?

I will try it out

Lubuntu should work, but the original suggestion still is most likely the best: Install Debian with LXDE. Has fewer services running in the background -> Uses less RAM.
At least with tje Netinstall-Version, you at some point in the install get to choose the DE. Just untick Gnome & tick LXDE.
For your mounting problem: From what are you installing? CD? Internal or External? Have you tried to use a thumb drive? Any error messages? When do they occur?

I put Lubuntu on a stick and am trying to boot from it, just says Verifying DMI Pool Data....

Have you checked out the bios settings.
I am guessing it is not a UEFI bios so that really should not matter.

However some bios have some quirky settings for different OSs.

What should I look for in the BIOS?

Can't really tell you, might be able to look up the manual if you got the Laptop SN

It says its a T3418 made by emachine. No sure if they would contain the same motherboards

Hmm its worth a shot Ill give it a look.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1025842

Looks like you are not the only one.
Does this look familiar ?

yep, that sounds like it.

So have you removed the quite boot option? Same error message? Uf so, I'd suggest trying to boot from a USB drive, since those issues seem to be with the DVD drive.

I was trying to boot from a usb drive