I have an old desktop PC - AMD Sempron 2300+ with 1Gb RAM and XP
I want to get rid of XP and try a free OS to see if I get an improvement to make it worth donating it to my grandson for web browsing.
Suggestions please (I guess some experts here on this group). What system should I go for. Do I have to download it onto the Desktop - or should I make a CD on my Laptop.
How do I delete Windows?
I'm using a box of that vintage for Web browsing(+Debian Linux)... it's a bit sluggish The gfx drivers are often problematic in Linux.
I believe you have to get a cd image from their website or use a program to assemble the install image .iso from pkg files on the web. Then write it to a CD. I think their minimum installer requires you to setup internet connectivity to be able to complete the installation.
The installer will do that for you. The real question is if it can boot again after the installation.
I have done several Ubuntu installations, and that has never been a problem.
Go for it. Make a CD or DVD on your desktop, and install to the 'new' PC using that. It can also be done from a USB stick nowadays, I believe.
Try the newsgroup uk.comp.os.linux for more detailed and targeted help.
As a matter of interest why get rid of XP? Seems to still work here - I have one machine which is dual boot XP/Win7 - to use some older XP only progs.
AVG Free and Spybot seem to still be working, so it's as well protected as my Win7.
I think that the simplest install would be Linux Mint, if the system can boot from DVD.
Cinnamon is perhaps the easiest for an ex windows user.
As far as graphics goes, if you cant get the thing to work at a decent speed, a new GFX card is not that expensive,
+1
I suspect part of the problem is that modern web pages have got to complicated and needs lots of processing. I am not sure that changing the OS will address this issue. I would point out that installing from a USB stick may be an alternative. Use Pendrive Linux to load an iso file onto a stick.
Likely you could also boot the old desktop from a CD/DVD or stick loaded with say Ubuntu. It might run a bit slower than when running from a hard drive, but you would get an idea of what a full linux installation would be like.
Another option to improve performance would be to fit an SSD if the PC has a sata port. Small SSDs are not so expensive these days.
Just being curious, which programs won't work in Win7?
Linux Mint is, I think, flavour of the month. The MATE desktop is less reso urce hungry than Cinnamon.
Preferred way is to make a bootable USB stick, then put that into the compu ter and boot from the USB (change the boot order settings in BIOS if necess ary), that will run Linux from the USB drive allowing you to test it (and m ay in fact be fast enough for everyday use).
*Occasionally* Linux Mint will work OK on USB, but need a slight text file edit in the boot script to set up the graphics properly for hard disk booti ng.There'll be an icon on the Linux desktop to install to hard drive and usual ly you can either wipe the Windows disk completely or adjust the partitions and set up dual-boot options.
Owain
I would say don't do this.
Older BIOSes and making boot-able USB sticks is a step too far for most people
Use if you must a USB DVD drive, but most older kit has a DVD drive already so use it. Boot from DVD is in every BIOS that understands a DVD at all!
Once booted with mint anyway, you are in a 'running out of RAM and off DVD' style linux, which allows you to play a bit.
I definitely prefer MATE to Cinnamon because you can tweak it more, but first time users may not want to. The resource difference is negligible. I have cinnamon running on an Atom powered Asus EEEPC netbook with IIRC
512M of RAM, and its no slower than MATE was.
Although I don't actually think it's the web pages getting more complicated - my phone is miles quicker than my otherwise reasonable Netbook - but that PC browsers get bogged down in updates introducing ever more un-optimised coding. Chrome, which was nippy when it first came out, runs like a dog these days on the same hardware.
Hardware that was sold with XP is, sadly, only good for chucking these days as far as anything web related goes.
Not at all.
Ive got linux machines running happily on XP hardware that perform totally adequately. CPU performance platueaued about 10 years ago and although its got a BIT better, its not that much better.
the only significant stuff that's happened since then has been
- SSDS and a ten time upspeed in disk access.
- More cores and 64 bits - well that's been a fair bit faster, but not
10 times.- better graphics cards at saner prices. If that is an issue for you. For most people it=f it runs a flash video without being jerky, its fast enough. Only gamers and 3D renderers need more.
Of course we expect bags more RAM and disk, but that doesnt beyond a given point make stuff faster.
and i prefer Mint Xfce as you can tweek it even more
i realy dont like the look and feel of most Buntu distros
En el artículo , The Natural Philosopher escribió:
Mint with the MATE desktop would perhaps be a better choice for older hardware as it's not reliant on all the pretty effects that Cinnamon offers.
I've got a similar specced machine here (might have 2G RAM, occasionally used when DD2's friends come round and they play minecraft.). Running Win7
I sometimes use it for web/email etc. and it is absolutely fine. (as long as I'm sensible and don't have 30 tabs open if Firefox or whatever.)
This makes it very simple:
.from.hr/
I havn't usually got the luxury of spare USB sticks, got plenty of DVD R-W disks which is what I usually use for image deployment, then use the disk for something else.
+1. Gnome 3 is not my cup of tea.
isn't Xfce up to 17.3 yet?
Apparently not, but at least 17.2
well that is the easy way to make a bootable usb, but not to make it boot!!!
The machine in question was put together from various bits, I can't remember if it ever ran XP (though the hardware is of XP age). The win 7 licence is one of a few purchased sometime ago.
Yes, I wasn't particularly suggesting the OP use Win7, more disagreeing with Michael and Scott that the hardware was insufficient.
I managed to buy some Kingston sticks which they admitted could not be made to boot.
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