What Os can I weasle onto this POS?

massahwahl

massahwahl

VIP Member
So in another thread I talked about the Dell Optiplex GX150 that I recently acquired. I have tried like a fool to get something installed on this that doesn't run slow as hell but to no luck.

2000 is on it right now and it works, but my god is it slow. I really just wanted to be able to watch movies and tv shows on it but it can't play any flash videos succesfully without lagging.

So I tried putting the new Ubuntu on it but it won't get past the initial desktop background screen and appeared to otherwise lock up.

Next I tried Fedora 10 and arrived at about the same spot and results. Acted like it might load then locked up.

Finally I went with Damn Small Linux and it did boot up but I can't see much practical use for it.

So anyone have any ideas for an OS to try? Or what else could I possibly do with the 2000 it has?

Here's the specs:

Dell Optiplex GX150
1.00Ghz Celeron
256 Mb Ram
80 GIG HDD
 
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gold333

New Member
Dude, XP will fly on that machine.

I run XP on a 500mhz P3 and it flies.

If you intend to use the thing daily stick 640 ram on it and your set.

If you wan't look up a few links on the net on how to boost XP (disable some services and shorten boot time)
 
speedyink

speedyink

VIP Member
XP Should run just fine. I used to run XP on my old laptop with a PII and 192mb of ram. The CPU was a definite bottleneck but it did it's job as a music, mp3, and video player (needed to use VLC though).
 
I

Irishwhistle

New Member
I've found this to be incredibly fast. I had the same sort of issue a while ago, the PC wouldn't even boot XP, Ubuntu, Shift, Mandriva, anything, but it booted Dreamlinux and ran surprisingly fast. Another Linux that might work is Zenwalk, but I personally prefer Dreamlinux, DL seems to be faster too.... maybe that's just me though.
 
massahwahl

massahwahl

VIP Member
I dont really want to pump any money into this thing unless someone wants to trade me some compatable ram for some DDRII I have lying around unused and never opened :D I dont have a copy of XP to put on it either, no ways to boost performance of 2000pro?
 
massahwahl

massahwahl

VIP Member
My boss has a copy of XP pro he said he would dig up for me to try, hopefully that will get this machine somewhat operational.
 
gamerman4

gamerman4

Active Member
Try Ubuntu or maybe one of those lighter distros.

XP will run on it though, I have a friend with a 600mhz Duron CPU and 384MB RAM running XP fine.
 
H

Hugh9191

New Member
We used to have them running XP at work. They can do it but it won't be particularly fast. I would bump the RAM to 512 if you can.

BTW it uses SD RAM.
 
Quiltface

Quiltface

Active Member
My guess is you have a finicky hard drive. Does it make noise? Do you have another hdd you can use to test my theory?
 
massahwahl

massahwahl

VIP Member
I couldn't explain why the linux distros wouldn't go either.

The hard drive sounds fine and under 2000 it seems to work without any issues its just slow. I have another hard drive I can put in this but ill see if I can get xp to install at all. The case is a slim horizontal type so the hard drive is kind of a pain to remove but we'll see what happens.

Thanks for the tip about SD ram! Ill see how much 512Mb would cost and maybe Ill fork over the money for some if its not to expensive.
 
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