OS Suggestions for an old PC?

spirit

spirit

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Staff member
Hi all,
I've got an old PC sitting here right now and I need help in choosing an OS for it. I'd like the OS to be usable on the internet and safe, and still able to run most modern applications. I don't mind if it's Windows or Linux, but would probably prefer Windows.

The spec is
CPU: AMD Athlon 3700+ 2.8GHz (sole-core)
RAM: 1GB DDR (forget what speed)
HDD: 1x 80GB WD HDD, 1x 40GB WD HDD, 1x 40GB Seagate HDD (all IDE)
GPU: GeForce 6600 GT 128MB (AGP)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-K8VT800 Pro
Optical Drive: HP dvd1140i DVD-RW Lightscribe (IDE)

I don't do much on this PC, I play a few old school games so I'd need to have a multi-boot between Windows and Linux if I wanted to use Linux, but it's on XP Pro SP3 at the moment and even without any updates installed, XP manages to be slow. Tried Vista and 7 on here too, didn't run great if I remember correctly, also tried Ubuntu 10.10 on here and that was slower than XP. Could it be the IDE HDDs that is making my machine slow? XP is installed on the 80GB drive. other than play old games, I go on the internet with this PC and read emails, and that's about it.

any suggestions would be great. Thanks
 
Actually, I'd go with an older Ubuntu-- 10.04

My reasoning is that the OS is a little slimmer and therefore would run a bit more reliably.

Mint or Puppy, if you want a minimal Linux OS.
 
OK so Mint or Puppy for Linux and 2000 or XP for Windows? It's got XP on it at the moment and it's a fresh install and it's slow, and I tried Ubuntu 11.10 and that was slow too.
 
right ok will do. never used puppy linux before, but I am guessing when you install it it is possible to make a dual-boot with XP just like it is with Ubuntu or Mint?
 
Reference: How to dual boot XP and ubuntu
http://linuxconfig.org/How_to_dual_boot_Windows_XP_and_Ubuntu_Linux

Use antiX instead on your system
http://antix.mepis.org/index.php?title=Main_Page

Why?
http://linux.wikia.com/wiki/AntiX
http://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20111205#feature (most recent)

Use the script smxi to set up after install.

Check out CrunchBang, too.

Best wishes

linuxisnotubuntu150x84.jpg
 
Dngrsone said:
Actually, I'd go with an older Ubuntu-- 10.04

My reasoning is that the OS is a little slimmer and therefore would run a bit more reliably.

Mint or Puppy, if you want a minimal Linux OS.
Click to expand...
well to be fair, 10.04 is only good for another 3 months. After that it will loose support and be no good.
 
wolfeking said:
well to be fair, 10.04 is only good for another 3 months. After that it will loose support and be no good.
Click to expand...

Just because active support is no longer there doesn't mean the OS goes bad. Heck, were talking about an unsupported Windows OS in the same conversation.
 
when ubuntu stops support, the repositories stop being supported too. After April, you will no longer be able to use the software center at all. You will be fighting with both hands tied up.

With windows, as long as the version you have supports the program your using, then your golden after support is gone. I still use 2k, and it runs golden. I think it is 10x better than XP, and it will use the same software most of the time.
 
wolfeking said:
when ubuntu stops support, the repositories stop being supported too. After April, you will no longer be able to use the software center at all. You will be fighting with both hands tied up.

With windows, as long as the version you have supports the program your using, then your golden after support is gone. I still use 2k, and it runs golden. I think it is 10x better than XP, and it will use the same software most of the time.
Click to expand...

Actually, the repositories will be archived until Apr 2015, IIRC.
 
it hasn't worked that way in the past. 8.04 has no repository support currently, neither does 9.04 or 9.10. The "easy" way of getting software for them ends when support does. The only time this isn't true is like 11.04 and 11.10, where they have the same repositories and software versions.

Anyway you go about it, 10.04 after april is a bad thing. 12.04 is the LTS after that. On top of that, there are better, lighter Linuxes out there. Personally, its Debian (CB) all the way.
 
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