Hello all. I have an old Acer 400 mhz Celeron PC and want to play w/ Linux. I plan on installing Ubuntu on it but I only have 64MB of RAM. Question is, what is the easiest way to find out what kind of RAM I have? Thanks.
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What kind of RAM
- Thread starter noel4r
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The easiest way would be to open the box, take out the ram, locate the part number and do a google search. Second easiest would be to try the acer web site (www.acer.com).
The easiest way is to get the accurate Acer model number off the machine or your user manual, and use the configurator on websites like Crucial or Kingston or Data Memory Stystems. Or contact a reputable RAM reseller.
Another way that is not 100% foolproof, is to go to www.belarc.com and download and run the Belarc Advisor. This will tell you what is in the machine, but not necessarily what the requirements are for larger modules. Like searching for the existing RAM's part number, it won't tell you what the maximum module size the Acer can take is, and whether it requires low or high density modules, for example.
Another way that is not 100% foolproof, is to go to www.belarc.com and download and run the Belarc Advisor. This will tell you what is in the machine, but not necessarily what the requirements are for larger modules. Like searching for the existing RAM's part number, it won't tell you what the maximum module size the Acer can take is, and whether it requires low or high density modules, for example.
noel4r - I got to thinking more about what you asked. There is a way to play with linux without using an old PC like this, and you could save yourself the time and trouble and cost of getting more memory. Parallels makes an excellent product for the Mac and you can run many versions of linux in virtualization - assuming you have an intel mac. As a user of the product, I can say that it needs memory - I run 2GB. You'll also want a good amount of disk space. I purchased an inexpensive USB 2.0 external and it works very well.
I own an iBook and a Powermac, both PowerPC so that leaves out Parallels. I know I can install Ubuntu in any of those machines but I want to use that old pc for something. Maybe I'll just install it in the PowerMac and use the PC as a file server or something. Thanks y'all.
It's a 400 MHz Celeron. It uses PC-66 SDRAM. This is certain. (By the time the Celeron came out, PC-66 was the undisputed standard. PC-100 had just come out about the same time as the 400 MHz Celeron, but the 400 MHz Celeron was a decidely low-end processor, which used a 66 MHz front side bus. As such, it would have been put on a PC-66 based system.)
If it's a desktop, it takes DIMMs, if it's a laptop, it either takes SO-DIMMs or proprietary.
PC-100 or PC-133 SDRAM is mostly compatible, but it likely will not accept 512 MB PC-100 or PC-133 DIMMs, and might not accept even some 256 MB PC-100 or PC-133 DIMMs. (It would have to be a 'double-rank' module, with 16 memory chips, instead of a 'single-rank' module with only 8 chips.) 256 MB or 512 MB PC-66 modules (if you can find them,) would work fine, though. But they must specifically state that they are PC-66. And rare as they are, they will be horrendously expensive. But if you're running Linux, you probably don't need that much, anyway.
If it's a desktop, it takes DIMMs, if it's a laptop, it either takes SO-DIMMs or proprietary.
PC-100 or PC-133 SDRAM is mostly compatible, but it likely will not accept 512 MB PC-100 or PC-133 DIMMs, and might not accept even some 256 MB PC-100 or PC-133 DIMMs. (It would have to be a 'double-rank' module, with 16 memory chips, instead of a 'single-rank' module with only 8 chips.) 256 MB or 512 MB PC-66 modules (if you can find them,) would work fine, though. But they must specifically state that they are PC-66. And rare as they are, they will be horrendously expensive. But if you're running Linux, you probably don't need that much, anyway.