Replacing Windows at school...
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| DestinysPuppet Mar 31, 2006 5:45 PM EDT |
Well, my mother's a teacher, and she asked me if I could take a look at the school principal's MS Win computer, since it's giving its user a hard time. As is usual with this kind of computers, it's quite outdated (K6-2, 56(?) MB RAM). And, even worse, when I turned it on I found the Win ME screen welcoming me.
Man, I had already forgotten how Win ME had redefined crap in its day. Luckily, before I compulsively swept the hard drive clean, the principal informed me that MS had sent her a free copy of Windows 2000 Pro. "Oh," I said, "that's a robust OS, but I don't know about using it with 56 MB of RAM." And so I began a (fairly short) description of Linux, which I think would be ideal for that abused computer. Just imagine that old piece of hardware breathing again after ME's Dark Ages.
Anyway, I didn't have a lot of time to look at it today, and I had been (wrongly) told that the computer had a broad-band internet connection, so there was little I could do. I installed a firewall, removed a couple of spyware and left it at that. Now, the computer's used to access the internet (browsing and e-mail) via dial-up, and to work on a word-processor and spreadsheet program (obviously, MS Office 2000). Taking the hardware into account, which easy-to-use-light-but-good-looking-for-a-windows-user distro would you recommend? |
| jimf Mar 31, 2006 6:18 PM EDT |
do you mean 512mb? I can't imagine anything running on 56... highly unlikely. Also, you didn't mention the cpu speed, also an important factor. A k6-2 of say 300mhz with 512mb will run pretty much any of the Debian derived Distros, and something Like Damn Small could be used if you need something lighter. Your first task is to get accurate specs on this machine. |
| telephoneguy Apr 01, 2006 10:52 AM EDT |
No, 56 Mb is probably right. I would expect a computer of this vintage to be a "budget" machine with 64Mb, using 8 Mb for an onboard Video with shared memory. One thing you could look into is DSL (google for Damn Small Linux) as it is meant for resource constrained computing, but the user experience would leave a lot to be desired. I have personally had fairly good luck with debian sarge on a machine in the same ball park as this, but a lightweight windowing environment is a must. XFDE might (or might not) give acceptable performance. The requirement for Office 2000 seems like the clincher. you probably won't even be able to run this through WINE without a RAM expansion. OpenOffice.org will be EXTREMELY slow on this machine. |
| jimf Apr 01, 2006 1:04 PM EDT |
If that's true, we still need to know the cpu speed. I'd also say you need to get that memory up to 256mb to be really effective. |
| alc Apr 01, 2006 2:15 PM EDT |
You might take a look at Puppy http://www.puppylinux.com/ |
| jdixon Apr 01, 2006 5:46 PM EDT |
> I'd also say you need to get that memory up to 256mb to be really effective. Agreed. A machine this old probably uses either 100 or 133 Mhz SDRAM. It looks like 256MB should run you about $35 plus shipping. That's an easy upgrade which will significantly improve the performance of the machine, even if it keeps Windows on it. |
| helios Apr 01, 2006 6:19 PM EDT |
I have also been impressed with the Kanotix Mini distro. They have a script to install it fully on a flash/pen/thumb drive...whatever term you prefer. I got a deal on a bunch of 1 gig PNY drives and give them to interested folks with the kanotix pre-installed. As long as the computer can boot to a usb device, it's great. I would take a look at it, they've done a wonderful job. It has everything the everyday user could want. http://www2.informatik.hu-berlin.de/~bading/cpx-mini/ |
| grouch Apr 03, 2006 1:57 AM EDT |
http://edge-op.org/grouch/schools.html |
| DestinysPuppet Apr 13, 2006 8:54 AM EDT |
A big thank you to everyone who replied! I've been taking a look at these light distros; haven't decided on one yet. And yes, it was 64 RAM with 8 MB reserved for onboard video. I haven't yet discussed a memory upgrade with the owner, but I will soon (as you can see, things are progressing very slowly, for several reasons that I won't write here). Well, gotta go. Thanks for your help! |
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