My girlfriend and her sister just got this laptop because their parents bought a new one. They are going to use it to do homework, messenger and look up the internet. They gave it to me so that I can fix it because it has windows 98 and it is really slow. If I would like to install windows xp on it I would have to get another 64 megs of ram, otherwise it would be running on lower than recommended but still accepted by xp.

I then thought about using Linux, but right now there are so many distributions that I dont know which one I should try, and even if I should try it. I dont know if there is some sort of program that can work like messenger for linux. I know there is open office though. I dont know if there will be the drivers for it either.

Do you think I should buy ram for it and install windows xp? Or should I try Linux and just give them a guide on the basic programs they would use?

Another plus for installing linux would be that it would sort of be free of more viruses compared to windows. Ive already told them not to open suspicious mail or files, but sometimes a virus ends up in the pc when I check it.


The specifications of the laptop:

amd k6 500 mhz
64 mb of ram
4 gb of disc space


Thanks in advance for any advice given.

I sincerely doubt that Windows XP would be very fun to use on that thing. I have a computer made for Windows 95 with similar specs, and even Linux was slow on it. I mean really slow. However, I'll say what I think about the situation:

They don't sound like they're very good with computers if they get viruses, so I'd recommend using a GUI similar to Windows, like Gnome. Gnome is what I installed (I had a choice of that or KDE, and KDE is way too heavy), and it took a long time to do anything. Because the computer isn't that great, I'd recommend a very simple GUI, like fluxbox or fvwm (I assume they don't want command line), but they're not that good with computers so a very simple GUI could be kind of scary and they'd have to use the command line to do a lot of stuff. The distribution doesn't matter too much if you're going to keep the use of the computer simple. Wikipedia has a lot of information that you probably don't need: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of...x_distributions

All in all, though, I'd probably just get rid of the thing and/or take the RAM and put it in something else. Unless it's their only computer, it's kind of useless.

This post has been edited by beeseven: Sep 7 2006, 12:23 AM

I would recommend just installing windows 2000 or so on it along with avast antivirus and windows defender just because if they only use it for internet and word processing, they probably are a novice user of a computer and will not have any knowledge to understand or work with linux. Give them what they are used to and let it be.

With 64MB of RAM you are going to find it difficult to get XP running, let alone open any applications. Linux is more of a possibility, but adding a GUI to a distribution tends to mean it needs a lot more RAM (for example, Ubuntu linux requires 256MB of RAM and 3GB of HDD). GUIs such as Gnome and KDE can be made to act very much like Windows and are easy to migrate to, but hog resources you just don't have.

lol.. window xp's recommandation RAM requirement is 128.. but right now. when my computer boots up.. it already using 580mb of ram. lol.. .So i don't think you would be spending more time on waiting for application to load than spending time on your homework...

Honestly, i would tell your girlfriend to go buy a new laptop. Laptop arn't really that expensive anymore, compares to back in the days. Linux might be too hard to learn for a girl. Especailly a girl that doesn't know how to... simpily... format her own computer. Besides, she will need a faster laptop sooner or later anyway, so why not get one now and save the misery.

Windows XP is fairly easy to use, but linux is free....an obvious plus. Linux also comes with almost all the software you could ever need. unfortunatly, linux, with all its glory, is quite large, more than 10 gigs sometimes) to fit all the nifty software AND a GUI, but id still recommend it unless you are wary of its ease of use.

on the specs you have to work with almost the only choice is linux however for them as already said they are going to find it very hard to use, at some point they will want to download software, two things will happen, thy wont be able to find it and if they do they wont be able to install it because its not normally as simple as in windows.

Also i dont think bying ram will do the trick atall as i think windows takes up about 2gb on its own without added applications like office etc etc etc...

i think the best thing to do is for them to buy a new computer, i would suggest a desktop id they dont have much cash as although you cant move them a decent desktop with 512mb RAM and 20gb hard drive could cost something like £200-£300 (not sure about prices in other countries but they probably wont be very expensive) I know that not everyone has that money to burn on a computer but itll be worth it.

If you do plan on using the exsisting laptop i think you would need atleast a 10gb hard drive (i dont even know if they come that small nowadays, you might have to go for 20) and 256 RAM because MS word will take up a lot of RAM and MSN messenger can be quite heavy with all its animations and stuff, i remember on my machine of almost identicaly specs the smilies used to crash MSN! haha! but by the time you pay for these upgrades it would be a similar price to buy a new pc with XP pre-installed!

I'd recommend DamnSmallLinux (damnsmalllinux.org) and get either the original DSL distro or DSL-N (the newer, slightly larger distro) liveCDs. You can pop them in and boot with them in the drive, and if you like them, install from the cd.
DSL was my first linux distro, and you can get packages for OpenOffice and Gimp and everything for it.

I, for one, would just like to say, LOL SEXISM. Being a girl doesn't make someone bad at computers. Not having a natural affinity for technology does.