What OS to us for laptop?

What OS to use for a laptop?

Hej everyone,

I have a rather old laptop (celeron processor 666MHz). When I bought it I had WIN98 installed, but it was rather unstable and some things just didnt work the way I wanted them. Then, some months ago I installed WINXP because I had experienced no problems with it on my normal pc. Now, I only have 64 MB RAM on the laptop and thus XP runs pretty slooooow. Just a sec ago I got an idea. Why not install a different OS, like Linux for example? Should be stable AND fast n´est pas? And since I dont have ANY knowledge about how Linux works, and which one is good and which one isnt, I am asking you guys this question, because I know that some of you have much experience with Linux.

To sum it up: I need a "lean" OS that runs fast and stable. I want to be able to watch movies and listen to music. If possible, I dont want to pay for the software (nope, I am not demanding pirate software here, I want Freeware IF possible). :alucard: I want to have something equal to MS Office, and I want to be able surf the internet. Oh and btw, is it possible to establish a network conection with my WINXP Pc? Shouldnt be a problem now, should it? :fireman:

Ok then, I hope some of you can give me advice on this, your help is appreciated. :bouncy:

Talas

The Khan Artist said:

For an older laptop you may do well with Linux, but you are still likely to have problems. Especially with power management.

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Could you specify what problems? Why with the power management? You think there is no good alternative to WIN98?

remote said:

Check what stuff you have inside your laptop

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Well as fas as I know, its all standard hardware for laptops. Shouldnt be a problem.

pandaemon said:

also consider:
a fresh win 98 install (after a hard drive format) will probably fix most or all of the problems you were having, in my experience that has been the case.

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I thoght about that too, but I wanted to learn some linux anyway, so I would like to install a linux os on my laptop, you have any ideas which one is the best for this combination?

@ALL Thx for your recommendations, but no one told me WHICH Linux I should use. Are there no big differences? Or is red hat and suse Linux and so on all the same?

Clements said:

Hmm, what's wrong with Windows 2000? It's leaner than XP and is about as stable. Much more compatible than Linux with all your software like emulators then.

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Hm... never really thought about that alternative to be honest. So you think that WIN2000 would run smoothly with my celeron 666 and 64MB RAM? Because XP is a pain in the ass with those specs.

To be honest, I am a little surprised. :canadian: I had thought that there would be alot of enthusiasm for Linux. However, no one really has said anything about an actual linux OS. :chef:

Remote said:

Although not a big linux fan myself, through a couple of dist and see what you like / dislike then choose...

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Sorry, I dont really understand your sentence. What does "dist" mean?

Remote said:

dist = abb for distrubution, i.e RedHat, SuSe, Slackware, Gentoo etc

abb is short for abbrevition

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Aaaah ok. But I hoped someone of you could tell me which Linux is best suited for my laptop, so that I dont have to read through all the stuff. :holiday:

Malcolm said:

Talas.::. I would suggest installing Linux on a laptop unless you can get me the exact specs.

The Win2k alternative would be your best option if you don't want to experiment with Linux/BSD. Win2k runs on my PII 300a nicely and stabily.

If you want to test out Linux then post back with the laptops system specs.

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Hm... it truly seems as if Win2K is the best solution. However I´ll give you the exact specs tomorrow, dont have time right now. But thanks to all for the info.

Can I use all those alternative freeware progs on with Win2K? And can I use Emus? :batman:

Malcolm said:

Talas.::.

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And btw, what do those dots means beside my nick? :cowboy:

Alright then, I have installed Win2000. So far, it works great, its really much faster. My question now is: What freeware can u guys recommend? I still am looking for an alternative to WinRAR. Any suggestions or must-haves?

Matata said:

Yeah, much better than Winzip and WinACE (for my experience of course).

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You guys are right of course. But WinRAR is Shareware and can be used only for 40 days, I want Freeware, so that I can use it as log as I want. :shaun:

Matata said:

crack it! :devil:

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Yea, I guess so, but I wanted to know whether there are any alternatives. :wolverine