I've noticed some similar issues with Ubuntu/Kubuntu.
1) The system fills in the xorg.conf file via autodetect on install, and only puts in modes it thinks you can display. If you are actually capable of better performance, you have to edit it yourself.
2) Make sure you have the correct video driver loaded, since Ubuntu doesn't ship much support for older hardware
3) The sound problem is definitely due to no drivers in Ubuntu. It's been mentioned on the Ubuntu lists once or twice, since SB was really popular some years back. Enable Universe and Multiverse to get the driver.
Note:
You will probably have to enable universe and multiverse in the package repositories to pick up most older drivers. Universe and Multiverse are snapshot copies of the Debian repositories, and should include almost everything Debian can support.
If you can't find what you need there, you'll need to find a .deb package for the drivers you need, or find the driver source and install them the hard way.
For a more old-hardware-friendly distribution:
Try PuppyLinux, DS Linux, or Beatrix for lightweight distributions
FeatherLinux seems to do well on older hardware and is Knoppix-based with less stuff included (under 128M).
dyne:bolic is a live CD that's more multimedia focused, and has the strangest install I've ever seen (just copy a file, seriously. Look at their website for details).
I haven't tried it, but VidaLinux (VLOS) seems to be well suited to older systems.
Slackware seems to do very well on old systems
Mepis seems to do well on limited hardware, but may not have the drivers you need.
Gentoo may work, not sure about driver support for old hardware, however.
Goodgoat linux uses the Gentoo packages in a small lightweight mini-distribution.
Debian would probably work just fine, if you can get the install pared down properly
Suse or CentOS (or Fedora Core) might work, if you REALLY pare the install down to the bare essentials, since all of these tend to include the kitchen sink, the fridge, the neighbor's cat, and anything else at hand in the default base install.
You might also consider OpenBSD or FreeBSD, as both of these tend to do well with older hardware.
links:
Puppy http://www.goosee.com/puppy/
DS Linux http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/
Beatrix http://www.watsky.net/
Feather http://featherlinux.berlios.de/about.htm
Dyne:bolic http://www.dynebolic.org/
VLOS http://desktop.vidalinux.com/
Slackware http://www.slackware.org/
Mepis http://www.mepis.org/
Gentoo http://www.gentoo.org/
Goodgoat http://www.goodgoat.com/distro/
Debian http://www.debian.org/
Suse http://www.suse.com/us/index.html
CentOS http://www.centos.org/
Fedora http://fedora.redhat.com/
OpenBSD http://www.openbsd.org/
FreeBSD http://www.freebsd.org/
Victor Odhner wrote:
> I'm having problem setting up a Kubuntu 5.10
> (Breezy) system on an old Pentium II 350 box
> with an old SoundBlaster card and an Acer
> 7133s monitor.
>
> It is not recognizing the Sound Blaster. I get an
> error message box saying "Error while initializing
> the sound driver: device /dev/dsp can't be opened;
> no such file or directory." That's on the Autodetect
> setting. Other messages on other device settings.
> I installed "esound" because some occurrences of
> this message were reported fixed by that, but no go.
>
> When I try to configure the display, it does not ask
> what kind of monitor I have, and won't offer me
> better than 800x600 resolution. Adding insult to
> injury, the sound setup dialog demands more than
> 800x600 and has no scroll bar!
>
> To that last problem, I know I've had Linux setups
> before where I had "virtual desktop" space so that I
> could pan around by dragging the mouse. Is there
> some way I can use that here?
>
> Any suggestions (or even just sympathy!) would be
> appreciated. I'm doing this for a friend who has
> no money and is no hacker. (I've got half a mind to
> just go out and buy him a Mac mini!)
>
> A recommendation for a better distro for old
> equipment might also solve my problem. I've got
> good bandwidth, so burning a few experimental
> CDs is no problem at all.
>
> TIA,
>
> Vic
>
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