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@Liam Proven

> You won't be able to. The Vaio P is a 32-bit Atom. There's no 32-bit version of Elementary; like any other Ubuntu remix, it's 64-bit only.

---->> So much for bringing old but still functioning PC hardware back into use with thin, light and frothy OSs, which Ubuntu isn't either :(

> I think I'd just use a CF card, myself. o_O

---->> I used a IDE>CF converter to do that many years ago on a Pentium 90 laptop - it extended battery life by about 30%, and the laptop became quite spritely, also wonderfuly silent. Longevity is the worry with CFs, because of the many read/writes when used in computers; cameras don't thrash them to death as swiftly with such rabid R/W rates, and of course SSDs have better built-in mitigations for memory R/W failures over time.I didn't need a massive mSATA (240gb Integral mSATA is an upgrade to it's existing 80gb HDD), because if I run short of space, the Sony VAIO P has so many USB ports for micro USB drives which can simply be safely left plugged in, if small enough.

> TinyXP is working fairly well on mine, _pace_ some limits. (E.g. the Intel Poulsbo drivers seem to override Windows' font-size settings.)

The 2nd OS is currently Raspberry Pi Desktop, the latest version, with the go-faster tweaks I described here:

https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/18/improve_linux_performance/

It works but it's not quick.

---->> Ver ver interesting indeed! I might try TinyXP. Must say I'm looking forward to swapping VAIO P OSs by simply writing an .ISO to the mSATA.

>I unpacked the Vaio over the weekend but as of yet I have no internet at my new home.

---->> Are you in a cellular dead zone? The aerials of 4G routers are better than that of most phones, might be worth a try? I use mine on those rare occasions when the fibre connection borks. Plus the VAIO P has a SIM slot, which works with GiffGaff.

> My plan is to try Haiku soon.

---->> You might beat me to it! The online massive river souk operated by ferocious single-breasted warror women has intimidated Royal Mail into delivering this morning an Integral mSATA I ordered less than two days ago... I'm waiting for the other items to arrive, before I can schedule VAIO P surgery. They weren't kidding about the "m" in mSATA, it's tiny. Hopefully tiny enough. If the first ZIF>mSATA converter and mSATA card combination is too big for the available tiny space, I'll have to keep trying with various others. While I'm at this upgrade, I'm considering buying a third battery for the VAIO P I've just spotted at an absurdly low price, but it'd be the first non-original I've bought for it, and I'm nervous of how the VAIO P would react. The oldest original charges to 90% capacity, and I worry that it could soon develop a fault bad enough to put the motherboard into protection sleep mode, which it might not ever not wake from, as has happened with another of my laptops - no amount of CMOS clearing or long discharge by removal of CR2032 battery (or replacement) would revive it. I shudder trying to imagine how miniscule Sony VAIO P motherboard jumpers might be. I doubt there's a CR2032 in there... didn't see one when I was putting a ribbon cable back into position to connect the screen, after it was dislodged by sticking to a tiny blob of hot glue which had dripped off from somewhere else inside the VAIO, the source of which I couldn't determine - there are no fans, the hot glue must have got too hot at some point, causing it to soften melt and drip to near the cable with the subsequent jostly carriage in my jacket pocket, which I have asked my tailor to enlarge and add dual-sidedd lockable zips to.

My long game cunningly posting endlessly on this widely read forum is, of course, to drive up demand for the Sony VAIO P and increase it's resale price in case I ever sell mine (Never! From my cold dead hands!) and also draw attention to the fact that such small form factor PCs are and would be useful to large numbers of people, should manufacturers got their fingers out to make modern versions of the same size or preferably smaller, perhaps even as small as the Psion Series 5mx, featuring keyboards as excellent - I'm pretty sure suitably electrickeried shrunken innards could be stuffed into that! E-ink screen option or switching for long battery life, would be nice. Otherwise it's a choice between a whole bunch of similarly sized devices running horrible increasingly intrusive OSs intended primarily for consumption and the increase thereof, not creation, which is fiddly to do if not nigh on impossible on Android and iOS. I find the entire situation wildly exasperating tbh. Well, at least my operating theatre is now ready...