Dell Dimension 4100

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dimension4100

New Member
Hello all:

Let me start by saying I'm in no way a computer whiz...I know my stuff, baisics, etc. So this will be my first endeavor of the pc building sort.

I'm going to acquire a Dell Dimension 4100 here pretty soon. As you may know it's an older machine...The one I'm looking at has Windows 98 SE, 256 RAM, a 10GB HDD and a Pentium 3.

What I plan to do with this dinosaur is install another 256MB of RAM to bring it up to a respectable 512MB. I also want to paint the cases a newer black color, and buy a wireless adapter and set it up for my home network. I know this won't be a speed demon with it's older hardware, but I think it will be capable of running Mozilla, OpenOffice, baisic functions.

There is one question I have. I would like to know if a newer Dell HDD for an Optiplex will work with my machine. I looked on eBay and found that the upgrades for my HDD are compatible with the newer Optiplex Series. The HDD's I have in question have XP I think. This is why, (in addition to more storage) I would like to see if this is really possible. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Questions and comments welcome.

Thanks!
Tyler.
 
That's not going to be very fast on the internet. Anything that uses lots of flash and/or streaming probably will not run on it. (examples include Youtube, Pandora, and Facebook)
 
hmm...I read something about the ram on ebay, it was similar to what you said. if nothing else I'd just like to leave it as is with 98se and see how it goes. my last pc wasn't fast either. (Sony Vaio PCG-F680 running winxp on 256mb RAM and 20 gb hdd, not sure of processor) it ran okay on the web, not great like you said, it struggled a bit just as this one will. but, it's free to me so not a big deal, I'm just trying to fill a space between a new pc I'm looking to buy and not having one at all. oh, and thanks for the advice, i appreciate it.
 
dimension4100 said:
hmm...I read something about the ram on ebay, it was similar to what you said. if nothing else I'd just like to leave it as is with 98se and see how it goes. my last pc wasn't fast either. (Sony Vaio PCG-F680 running winxp on 256mb RAM and 20 gb hdd, not sure of processor) it ran okay on the web, not great like you said, it struggled a bit just as this one will. but, it's free to me so not a big deal, I'm just trying to fill a space between a new pc I'm looking to buy and not having one at all. oh, and thanks for the advice, i appreciate it.
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I know that system only has 2 memory slots, so do you know how many sticks are in it now and what size they are?

Reason I ask is I have a ton of sdram in my spare parts box that I would be happy to send you.
 
If you use a really light version of linux, like DSL or Knoppix or something, you might get better speeds out of it.
 
Drenlin said:
If you use a really light version of linux, like DSL or Knoppix or something, you might get better speeds out of it.
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Interesting you mention that. I have an AOpen AX6BC with a slot 1 800Mhz P-3 and 768mb ram that runs quite nicely on Puppy. It is even reasonably fast for a boat anchor. ;)
 
I like puppy. I used it on my fiancee's laptop when xp got too big for her hard drive. (sp3 wouldn't fit, lol)
 
With IceWM (I think that was the one I used) you can even make it look like XP (if that is your thing). Though I prefer to use JWM on that rig.. It is lighter and faster and runs a lot like Win 98 as far as the interface. I should dig up the screenie for it.
 
Wow guys I never expected this much support, I've been on a couple forums and when I posted I got "0" replies. But anyways. schw32m, It has one stick of 256mb ram. I don't see a huge need to upgrade the OS on a near free system. I agree win98se is old, and driver support is slim. However I have found a lot of Wifi adapters that still support 98se. (assuming they come with an installation disk) I also learned that this pc has a tape drive? I was told it was for backing up data back then, but idk. Again, Q&C really appreciated.

Oh, and please explain what these OS's you're talking about are? I know of Linux but not a lot...any help appreciated.
 
They're different linux distributions. The ones in question are very lightweight, and will run fairly fast on an older computer because they need far less resources than windows to operate. They're also free.
 
Same as windows. You pop the disk in and boot from it.

Most of them can run straight from the CD drive without installing, though obviously it'll be limited that way since there's no way to save information.

For many of them, you have the option to either install it, or boot into the OS so you can try it out before installing. Some even let you install while you're still trying it out.

Puppy linux is pretty easy to get running:
http://puppylinux.org/main/index.php?file=Overview and Getting Started.htm
 
well thats just amazing. I never would have figured that possible, but does it have a web browser/whatnot or can you install your own? i'm interested to say the least.
 
dimension4100 said:
well thats just amazing. I never would have figured that possible, but does it have a web browser/whatnot or can you install your own? i'm interested to say the least.
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The one I mentioned is fairly full featured and has an excellent support forum where you can find programs for it. It comes with a mozilla based browser. E-mail client, media players, basic word processing and spreadsheets. You can even install firefox, open office (an office suite like MS office), Gimp (a photoshop clone for linux) without too much trouble. The screen shot below is running on an 800Mhz P-3 with a wireless card for networking/internet. As you can also see there is a widget program that allows for monitoring, calendars and a whole slug of other widgets.

This particular setup is installed to a HDD which allowed me to do the modifications to the interface. The full install of the basic package is only about 100mb total.

schw32m-albums-case-mods-picture356-screenie.jpg


EDIT: Sorry if the screenie is not totally clear. It was reduced from 1024 x 768 to whatever the limitations are for this forum, so I lost a bit of the clarity from the original shot.
 
schw32m said:
The one I mentioned is fairly full featured and has an excellent support forum where you can find programs for it. It comes with a mozilla based browser. E-mail client, media players, basic word processing and spreadsheets. You can even install firefox, open office (an office suite like MS office), Gimp (a photoshop clone for linux) without too much trouble. The screen shot below is running on an 800Mhz P-3 with a wireless card for networking/internet. As you can also see there is a widget program that allows for monitoring, calendars and a whole slug of other widgets.

This particular setup is installed to a HDD which allowed me to do the modifications to the interface. The full install of the basic package is only about 100mb total.

schw32m-albums-case-mods-picture356-screenie.jpg


EDIT: Sorry if the screenie is not totally clear. It was reduced from 1024 x 768 to whatever the limitations are for this forum, so I lost a bit of the clarity from the original shot.
Click to expand...

wow...I knew about oo, I love that program. I might just look into this when I get the pc.
 
Yes, that will work and will allow you to offload data from it or you can use it as extra storage for your desktop computer.
 
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