What OS Should I Use?

[trelarah]

I have a used Compaq Armada 1750. It's a Intel Pentium II 400Mhz, 128MB of RAM, 40GB Hard Drive. I would like to install whatever version of Mandrake Linux, unless anyone else can tell me a better OS to use. It has on in Windows 98 right now. What would be the best OS to use in order to get the best performance out of it?

[HyperTF]

Heck, you could get away with installing XP on that machine, but I have lost touch with the Linux family now sorry. Edit: Leave Windows ME alone btw.

[Karnevil9]

Probaly the OS you have on it right now is the best choice for that computer. It should also be plenty for most versions of Linux, though like the prvious post, I am not up on the most recent version of Mandrake. I did have a PII 350 mhz, with 128 ram on it that ran Mandrake 9 fine. But most Linux systems as I remember were never very resource hungry.

[rightcoast]

If your looking to use mandrake, I used Mandrake 9.1 for a little while and liked it. I don't know if it will work on that machine, but I really like suse 9.1. I am fairly new to linux, only using it for about a year and half. For me its a good mix of ease of use, and power. I agree with the previous poster who said Windows 98 is your best bet out of the Windows lot.

[trelarah]

Windows 98 comes already installed on the laptop, and I would like to wipe the machine and have a clean start. I own XP Home, and Professional, I can also download whatever different OpenSource version of Linux (ie. RedHat, Mandrake, etc.)

HyperTF mentioned I could run Windows XP on this Laptop. Is this wise? Will XP not drain resources and performe quite slowly?

Does anyone else have any suggestions about what version of Linux or Windows to install? What would allow me the best performance?

(I posted this message at the same time rightcoast did, though I would still appreciate some more opinions please. )

[HyperTF]

Originally Posted by devintohara ...HyperTF mentioned I could run Windows XP on this Laptop. Is this wise? Will XP not drain resources and performe quite slowly?...

Sorry, my poor mistake, I double checked your machine and it may not be the best of choices. Win98SE takes my vote. Sorry about that

[trelarah]

Thanks HyperTF. So Windows 98SE looks to be the winner for Windows based OS so far (other opinion welcome).

How about a good Linux OS?

[bailey]

w2000 should run very nicely on it too, and may be better than w98se.

[glc]

How do you figure it has 128mb ram? That notebook comes with 32mb nonremovable and has one expansion slot - and I've never seen a 96mb module.

[trelarah]

when i right click on my computer, is says 128mb of ram

[trelarah]

Now, how about a good Linux OS?

[mrmister1]

I would use any version of Mandrake Linux. They shouldn't have too much trouble running on that machine, and are very easy to learn. If that is too much you can try out DamnSmallLinux.

[mairving]

I would probably go with Fedora although it won't run great with only 128M of RAM.

[trelarah]

Thank you very much everyone, for all your help. I will most likely be going with Fedora or Mandrake 9.1 . Though, I am still going to look a bit more into both.

[Karnevil9]

If you have the ability to download a LinuxISO's to disk, give the latest Knoppix a try. You can leave W98 and run Knoppix off of the disk and not even have to install it. Knoppix has about the best hardware recognition of any Debian based Linux Flavor I've tried. Aboutas good as Mandrake and SUSe. There is also a knew Linux out called Ubuntu. It is Debian based and has been put out by some rich guy who likes the open source idea. He promises to update it every six months on schedule and not only can you download it free, he will send you copies for free. I haven't really got deep into using it yet, but it seems to be very promising. I went to their site for a free version and they recommended to order more than one and give it some to your friends. I ordered five. They didn't even charge shipping. They sent me five copies with two disk each. One regular version and one live CD.