I have one of the above which was often useful, but now lives in a cupboard because it runs XP Home, which is no longer 'secure', and cannot be upgraded to W7 or above.
It occurs that perhaps there is an up to date version of Linux that could replace Windows? Linux 'Lite' or something?
Only really needs to be able to connect and load a browser, although word processing and spreadsheets (doc and xls) would be useful, but mail not required.
This is the basic spec.
type : Intel® Atom? processor N280 clock speed : 1.66 GHz Front Side Bus : 667 MHz
2nd level cache : 512 KB
standard : 1,024 MB maximum expandability : 2,048 MB technology : DDR2 RAM (800 MHz)
Hard disk capacity : 160 GB certification : S.M.A.R.T. drive rotation : 5,400 rpm
No. It will probably be the best OS choice you ever made.
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is your first port of call. It looks daunting, and it is a bit, but spend some time looking through it and what it offers, although you might not need to go further than this:
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Note that there are some very good Linux NGs on Usenet, and some very poor ones. The latter are best avoided. You'll soon find out which are which!
There are 100s of linux distros, with a suitable one it should work very well. Mint is too fat for 1G of RAM, you'll want a lighter one.
Most linuxes now come with 'live,' meaning you can try them out by just booting direct from cd without installing a thing. Just bear in mind that reading everything from cd makes that very slow - once you decide one looks ok & install it you won't have that issue.
The only bit of the process that can catch the unfamiliar is setting up the hard disc. If it doesn't do all that automatically you might want us or someone else to walk you thru that bit. The rest is as easy as it gets.
If you are going to wipe XP anyway, it might be worth trying W10 on it. You can install it using a W7 if you happen to have one unused. ;-)
The W10 media can be downloaded for free with the 'Windows 10 media creation tool' and can be put onto a USB stick (by the tool):
There is no Linux that can 'replace Windows' for many people but it can be a solution for some [1] (especially if your list below is complete).
Sounds like what this Windows XP machine is still doing pretty well (plus loads more). ;-)
It would be interesting to know if it has been expanded as the Atom (single core, 32bit) isn't fast and 2GB of RAM would help.
Depends on how much fun you will get out of trying (or not). I would, just 'because', especially if you haven't played with Linux before.
I think the 32bit Linux Mint with the MATE desktop would be a good starting point:
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Specifically:
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Download the file and then use a 'burner' to create a bootable USB stick (or DVD if you have an external DVD ROM drive to boot from), something like this:
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Once done, boot the Netbook with the USB stick plugged in and if it doesn't boot from it automagically, you may have to access the boot menu and select the USB stick (pressing F11 or summat at boot time). If you can't find a popup boot menu, you can go into the BIOS and change the boot order to put the USB stick before the hard drive.
Cheers, T i m
[1] I've just reverted a laptop back to W10 for a friend who has been running the Linux I installed for him for 6 months or so. Ok, he is fairly old and most of the reason for going back is all the stuff he couldn't do on Linux he could do easily on Windows (his main video editing machine is W10, as is his 'second' PC). I did offer to try to find Linux equivalents for the Windows only things he wanted but in the end, it was all too much for him. W10 installed automagically and without the need to install a single driver and it all 'just worked' (and authenticated automatically because it previously had W10 on it).
It may have 2GB if upgraded so that would help a bit, as might a SSD?
Not so easy on a Netbook, well not without an external optical drive. ;-)
That bits true and very handy (I did so tonight).
A USB 2/3 pen drive in a USB2/3 port can be quite quick though.
On a 160GB hdd I might make 40G for the root, 100G for /home and what's left for swap?
It certainly can be, depending on how lucky you are (eg, if you haven't gone out and bought 'Linux compatible' hardware and are just using stuff that was 'Designed for Windows').
Even sound and network are pretty automagic these days but you can still come a cropper installing even 'Recommended' drivers for the graphics and unless you are a Linux geek, it's often easier / quicker to re-install (and not touch the graphics) than try to get out of that sort of situation (when it won't boot back into the GUI).
It is pretty good and quite rewarding when it works though, as long as you can get away without any 'Windows only' software (and I don't consider WINE or especially running a Windows VM as getting away from Windows.
Dual booting is also quite easy and you can use Linux to manage all of that (including shrinking the Windows partitions) to do it. Best of both worlds. ;-)
Mint's too fat for 2G RAM, and way too fat for 1G. 2G will work ok if you have an SSD for swap space, but a hdd bogs down badly. The OP has a hdd & 1 or 2G RAM, so mint I can't recommend. Yes it'd work, but it would run out of ram repeatedly.
I missed that somehow
You're overthinking it. Linux has come a long way from the days when not much hardware worked with it, most now does, but not all. Wine covers most of the few edge cases where there is no linux app.
But the point of 100s of distros is this: if one doesn't work, just stick another disc/distro in. There's not much point mucking about with them these days.
I thought you turned off swap if you were running an SSD?
Depending on what he was doing with it ... and on a single core Atom, probably 'not much'?
<snip>
I don't think so.
Quite, like I said. ;-)
I'd disagree. Every time I go to use WINE I read the reviews and see that if it works at all, it often works with numerous restrictions and gotchas (like you have to run an old version of something).
The bottom line ... if you want / need to run a Windows app, run Windows. ;-)
Pan is a reasonable copy of Agent but no cigar. There isn't really a Linux replacement for Irfanview and the list really does go on (and that's without touching games).
But whilst there are 'hundreds of distros', they are mainly based on just a few main distros, like Debian, Red Hat, Suse, Slackware and Gentoo etc. All the rest are really respins of the GNU bit, still sharing the base kernel.
See above.
If you have a really low spec machine then things like Puppy would often run ok but then they are a bit 'weird' and further away from the simple Windows experience many are used to.
When visiting EVERY Linux machine I have provided to others, there will be Windows apps in the download folder because most users who would actually benefit from the durability of Linux, don't understand how it's not Windows and why they can't do what the do on Windows.
Part of why it's 'durable' is it becomes more of an appliance, discouraging the users from fiddling with the systems and causing 'finger trouble'.
Part of the reason I haven't upgraded this XP machine is because of the *myriad* of small apps and utilities I have found / installed over the years and would have to re-find / install on any replacement.
In message snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com, T i m snipped-for-privacy@spaced.me.uk> writes
There have been some informative replies - thank you.
However, Mark says just use Mypal browser, T i m says he still happily uses XP, so why would I bother replacing XP with any version of Linux if XP still works and is still 'safe' to use, perhaps within limitations?
not much can still run it out of 1G once a net browser is fired up
'ang on. One does not often need to use wine at all. If you do it usually works ok.
funny! Gimp does what Irfan does & way more. Linux is not currently a games oriented OS. There's steam, but if you're a hardcore gamer, either dual boot or find soething useful to do with life.
overthinking/misleading. Just use another disc & it usually works fine.
Last time I used Puppy & similar (on a 433 IIRC), they were simple windows-like experience. You don't need minimal distros for 1G & 1.66GHz, so it's immaterial.
newbs do that sometimes. Better to use apps from the repository that do the same job.
As a matter of interest which bit is Windows 7 not liking? I have run it on
2 gigs of ram on similar spec machines though needed a bios chip update to do it. Not superfast of course and the hd is a bit small for this, you can probably change that. Brian
Perhaps a fun thing would be to put an x86 build of Android on it
However, It is not going to be great (windows or linux) for any general purpose use, given that web sites are laden with lots of scripting that will choke the CPU, never mind about playing back active content and videos.
Also the battery will be on the way out.
What it will be great at though, is dedication to a fixed task. It has low mains power requirements, so can be left on 24/7.
So loads of tasks, but when I started making a short list, e.g.
Ok, that's *your* experience or the experience of all those who try to use it but find they can't.
And I think it comes down to what you consider to be 'running ok'?
Here is the top Platinum game running under WINE:
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You might consider that 'fine', I don't.
Fact.
Yeah, like Photoshop does more than GIMP and they are both *way* more complicated than Irfanview for the basic things most people want to do (resize, rotate, re-rez etc), which was the point you missed. It's not always about what the app / OS can do, but how easy people find it to do the things *they* (not you) want.
And with the failure of the 'Steam Engine', unlikely to ever be.
Depending if you have a reason to be in Linux in the first place you mean?
Typical Linux fanboy response. If it doesn't work on Linux you don't want / need it ... and why Linux hasn't replaced Windows, even though it has had several chances.
The likes of Mint (and Ubuntu before the Unity debacle) have made (miniscule) inroads into the Windows userbase because they look and feel very familiar to Windows users. Every new release comes with more GUI applets looking more and more like the Windows control panel and minimising the need for the user to enter the CLI, just to do something 'simple'. They often CGAS if it was Linux, Windows or OSX under the DE, as long as it works and they can work it.
Slowly but surely (but still too slowly) Mint (for example) is looking and working (from the user POV) more like what Windows has been for 25 years.
BS. What you aren't doing is 'thinking enough' about what you are saying (classic Linux fanboy denial, when it suits).
I can say that because I've been there and done it. I have downloaded and burnt *hundreds* of Linux CD's (and USB sticks) and carry a Multiboot Linux pendrive in my pocket all the time. I *know* that if a respin has the same kernel and if that kernel has an issue with some hardware than all of them will fail equally, irrespective of what the respin happens to be called.
Because it has a GUI you mean, that's about as close to a 'Windows
-like' experience as it gets. It's funny, everyone but you accepts that Puppy, whilst very good on low spec machines is far from 'conventional', even for Linux.
I know, it was an example, that's what the 'if' meant in my statement.
Some will do that continuously, in the same way they will repeat the same step over and over in the hope that it will eventually work.
Of course, if there is such a thing but there often isn't.
(I'll have a look at that myself but I can't say I've had any real issues with Firefox? It can do Youtube and all the websites I visit so ... ?)
It is now running slower, mostly because it's a *very* mature system and secondly because it's only on 100G of a 160G drive (the other 60 being OSX) and I'm constantly having to prune stuff out to make any sort of space.
I think that might be the biggest issue for most, the thought of 'security'. But then some are paranoid about all that or are looking out for the black helecopters. ;-)
I run a software firewall (Zonealarm) and AVG AV and give it a scan with that, Malwarebytes and Superantispyware every now and again ('just because').
I do have an equally silent, equally low power compact PC running W10 that I built to replace this MacMini ... I just don't seem to be able to get round to actually replacing it (but is running upstairs alongside 3 other PC's via a 4 way KVMA switch).
XP *will* run faster in less memory than most recent Lini and probably do more when it's running than 'most people' can do with Linux, if you aren't familiar with Linux especially.
And even XP has the option to apply updates automatically. ;-)
But if you want to play (and I'd like to if that were my Netbook), boot a Linux on a USB stick and just see how you get on. If it works (audio, video, WiFi etc) you could install it alongside XP and can then choose either at boot time?
You can install from that even without a key - it will run and have a warning in the corner of the screen, but still work ok. Certainly adequate for testing to see what the performance is like.
Not really - potential driver hassles (is there graphics acceleration that Android needs?) and it has no touch screen, which would make it a pain. And apps which are built for ARM only might not work.
That's probably good advice. It's only 32 bit which would make running mainstream distros increasingly annoying in future. But it's fine as an embedded-thing-with-screen.
Yup, if it looks like its going to work ok, then a cheap upgrade would be to slap a SSD in there in place of the HDD (assuming its a SATA interface on the drive).
That's like telling someone to use Photoshop instead of Irfanview. The nearest equivalent to Irfanview I've found in Linux is XnView. If he wants, the OP can download the Windows version to try out.
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Last time I looked Irfanview would run under Wine.
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